just murdered one man, but to. >> my father is not here because of her as well the daughters insist that thei father, brian phillips, did no die of a heart attack, the think julia poisoned him when the daughters heard about her arrest, they took thei suspicion to the police. >> there was enough suspicio that was presented to me, that i want the body excellent. >> where their concern revolving around julia phillips? >> there were concerns >> julia denied she killed him and was not charged in tha case three years after he convention in 2016, julia died in prison, she was 72. for the family, that wasn't th end. ronny says the investigation i far from closed. >> now, we have to go after th next one the family believes there is a hitmen still out there and i offering a 10,000 reward t catch him. lieutenant rich cuddle heade the new investigation team tha took a fresh look at the case. >> either someone's gonna tell us something finally or it's

going to be through digita evidence the phone records or something like that. >> for melvin's family, only partial justice has been served >> i will not give up until we know everybody that wa involved, and what he needs to understand is that it's goin to be a lot easier if they com over instead of police havin to find them >> the clock is ticking. >> we are coming >> we're coming. and we're not giving up. >> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales >> this is "dateline". >> i see her laying there, m dad is kneeling, that was th first time i've ever seen hi cry. >> they had a tumultuous marriage >> there would be yelling, and maybe slamming doors >> according to him, he sees lisa with a gunshot wound to the head so initially it was ruled suicide. her sister went to the majorit patrol to express their believ that this impact was a murder. >> she had been having a affair with her boss >> the pocket cuter says after he sought his wife, he washed his hands and watched his. >> they call this back at noon started the trial. >> i thought they made it th worst mistake i headed eve heard of >> it was obviously there wa something that just wasn't right. >> the only thing i've eve wanted was for everyone to hea the truth.

i told him that i would find with everything i had and win. that's the promise i made to him. >> hello and welcome t dateline for many, the holiday season i a special time but for the jennings family, one christmas eve turned int awaking nightmare. there was an argument followed by a gunshot then a frantic call to police. lisa jennings was dead the question for the detective was, did she take her own life or was this murder here is keith morrison with, a crack in everything.

>> it was his secret tha started it a secret gift. it was christmas eve in th year 2006. a little farm not far from a little town called buffalo buffalo man, missouri. and on that farm a fine ne house, brad and lisa jenning had made for their families. the stockings were hung. children were snug in thei beds and lisa was sitting up very late, drinking wine and crying -- well, who knew but for one thing, with lisa i the way, brad couldn't sneak that secret of his into he stocking which is what started th argument of slamming doors and said it in silence before amanda woke up to the sound of her dad on 9-1-1. >> and he's very hysterical. you know he's crying, can't really sa anything other than, get her quick. get your quick

i heard that two or thre times. >> such a complicated tale with its secrets, lies shifting loyalties and here of all places this throwback to an idealized past >> we hunted mushrooms we picked up walnuts >> they were inseparable children brad and his older siste marcia >> he was my playmate. we depended on each other. >> marcia became a nurse, brad ran the farm and the center of thei families in 1863 that christmas 2006, brad an lisa had been married 18 mostl happy years. >> we had a fairly good life >> there were three kids amanda, 16 that christmas eve. >> dallas, who was 11 then >> but lacey, leases daughte from the first marriage, it wa

19 at then just moved into her own place in town. and as amanda said, life was fairly good. >> we would do lots of things. we vacation a lot. go out in the evening. a dad had pretty good money so we were good on that >> it seemed like a very goo and stable environment >> brad loved cars especially classic muscle cars and extra special, the 197 shrivel super sport he s carefully restored >> at the time, he was 12. he was redoing motors an helping put motors in and ou of different vehicles. >> so, brad, opened a used car dealership he was a great people person >> and i guess that's what you

have to be when you deal wit cars and stuff >> and their mom lisa >> very pretty she could be really happy an the life of the party kind o person >> yeah, really fun. >> well, brad ran the farm and his car business, lisa worke at a local internet company. >> she was really good at it >> she became their to employee >> at home, lisa was the mom who actually liked video games with dallas, mostly. video games and movies >> we had a big projecto screen that we would put on th wall watch movies really big. >> did it seem like a happ household? >> overall >> yes >> but of course, there is a leonard cohen used to say, a

crack in everything. and in the jennings house, those were the sudden blow ups where the moon went dark and the kids scattered >> they would fight maybe once every couple of weeks or something. mostly later in the evening, a night. after they had been drinking they would be yelling. and maybe slamming doors things like that but just arguing about anything, nothing. >> we never really thought too much about it. >> anyway, now it was that calamitous christmas eve, 2006 as always, there had been happy dinner celebration wit brad's side of the family. >> christmas eve, we would g to my grandma's. they're in town. >> and then, back home, game and stockings stuffing and of course -- >> a real up real early an open all the presents. >> lisa had no idea that bra had brought her a 3500 dolla

diamond ring and got the kids to help him pick it out. back - he went in for his chance to hide it in her stocking. lisa kept filling on the computer and the kids were playing board game >> i think it was monopoly >> just played downstairs for while and then eventually went up to our rooms. >> it was well after midnigh when they heard the raised voices downstairs. >> i heard all the yelling and everything just a normal fight like the would always have. >> and then a door slammed which meant that had brad ha gone out to his workshop t cool down. >> with lacey, home for th

holiday, was furious another fight like this on a christmas eve no left. and as usual, over some stupid little think she was done >> and i told my sister, g said go downstairs to get into it with. her i think one of the las things i remember my mom eve seeing was something like, i would never disrespect m parents that we. >> lacey was just fed up was she? >> yes, she couldn't believe they would fight on christmas. >> then, more door slamming an lacey was out of their >> she went back to her hous in buffalo >> so by the time she left your dad was outside in the workshop, alone >> he was outside. he does that a lot he would go outside and go out to the shop. >> so amanda side and close he eyes drifted off. and then sometime after 1:30 am, that loud, frantic sound her father on 9-1-1. she ran downstairs to he parents bedroom. >> i opened the door and i see her laying there my dad is kneeling next to her and as soon as i had opened th door, he gets up and kind of pulls me out of the room and he is hugging me and crying >> their mother was dead of that, there was no doubt. but how? why? and who? >> coming up - what had happened in tha bedroom? >> i didn't realize the gravit of it. i thought there had been a accident and she was on the wa to the hospital. >> the truth would be much worse. >> did you have any suspicio that brad might have don something to lisa? >> when dateline continues with a max strength fever fighting formula. the right tool for long lasting flu symptom relief. hot beats flu. want your clothes to smell freshly washed all day without heavy perfumes? try downy light in-wash freshness boosters. it has long-lasting light scent, no heavy perfumes, and no dyes. finally, a light scent that lasts all day. downy light!

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that awful christmas morning i 2000 takes the morning he lost hi mother but it's probably a blessing that something in his brain ha blocked the memory >> a lot of it is a blur to me >> amanda, 16 at the time, remembers every dreadful detail >> just shock, honestly. very upset but didn't know what to do you know >> yeah. >> it was very hard. >> and the ambulance arrived and policeman -- >> they all arrived and we had to leave the house so they could do all of their work so we went outside and waite in my truck. because it was cool. >> just huddled together and just talked much

>> just shock, mostly silence. i remember dallas kept saying, she was going to be okay he didn't really know what had happen because he didn't see her or nothing. no one was really saying wha happened my dad was just sitting over i the passenger seat, just a mess that was the first time i ha ever seen him cry. >> those news of the sor spreads very fast. but often in confused or incomplete, or fuzzy bits. so when brad's sister marcia heard something happened at th farm - >> i didn't realize the gravit of it. i thought there had been a accident and she was on the wa to the hospital. >> it was anything but a accident lisa was gone, dead at 39. killed by a bullet at clos range to the head. >> brad tool local sheriff deputies how he argued wit lisa then went out to his worksho to cool off. and when he came back in, mayb 20 minutes later, he found her on the bedroom floor his hand the nearby. so deputies tested leases hand gunshot residue's. they did the same with brad an lacey. that could tell them too far

the gun. and lisa's right-hand tested positive for gunshot residue brad and lacey came ou negative meaning it seemed to the corner, that lisa for reasons unknown, must have killed herself >> did it make sense to yo that she would commit suicide? >> nothing made sense to m that night >> i bet >> i had heard statements. you know that she was troubled abou reaching 40. she had had cosmetic surgery could be a red flag. >> bright and leases brother-in-law, paul, wa stricken what did they miss >> all the kids loved at lisa. she was just fun >> lisa had seemed so together she loved the family events. loved having kids around >> there was never a time that lisa did not want the kids t spend the night, or to stay. and she might end up with five or six

different children under her room >> it was fine with her? >> yes, it was fine with her >> but now, this accommodating fun loving woman, was dead it was all very shocking >> and it's not -- to get prepared. just sudden and >> the ide that she would commit suicid so are broccoli and violentl like that. >> that wasn't something tha would be expected. no >> but of course, th alternative was quit unthinkable. did you have any inkling, an suspicion, that brad might hav had something to do with it? >> i had none. brad told me on christma morning, and you could tell he was still still there really distraught so, that morning i came over and he told me the whole story and no, i never crossed my mind >> in fact, after all of the lap test results were in, th dallas county sheriff an

coroner and prosecutor, al officially ruled leases deat suicide. the local newspaper in the buffalo reflex quoted th prosecutor who said, there i zero evidence to sho otherwise. so you had no sense, no reason to think that it was anythin other than what the coroner an the sheriff said it was? >> absolutely not. >> but there were others in th family and they were not s sure >> it starts with suspicion. lisa's sister feels compelle to share what she knows. coming up -- >> she went to the mid zur state highway control to express their belief that this event was a murder >> and then investigators prim suspect, brad jennings >> they started asking m questions about brad he goes, what did jennings say to you about his wife having a affair >> when dateline continues keep you up,

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america, buffalo, missouri population 3000 or so. where people tend to know each other's business and where brad could have best friend he met when they were both in diapers so of course, dale potte rushed over to see brad that merry christmas morning.

>> he just kept saying, why, dave why did she do this? he was a mess. >> all of those guns you see i the background there dale owns buffalo's only gun and pawnshop so, when the lisa's death wa declared to be suicide and the sheriff return ballads gone, the one that killed her. brad called dale >> he said i don't really want the gun back >> i can't imagine why h would. >> he said, do you want it >> i said yes, i cleaned it up just put it in the safe an forgot about it. >> and the family tried to mov on and didn't pay much attention. but lacey began saying odd things >> you know, mom was murdere blah blah blah >> murdered? now that it was anything lik an accusation, aggressive or unfriendly >> she did didn't act an different with that. she still came around. he still helped her. >> but sometimes, the smalle yorktown, the less you kno

about what your neighbors ar saying behind your back. nothing in your face nothing like that. >> it was way more subtle than that >> how do you mean >> probably everyone else wa talking about it, but they didn't talk to us about it >> no, they didn't but lisa's younger sister, shawn, was talking >> she saw a rocky marriage an her sister would not be person that would commit suicide. >> this is steve pokin, wh writes a column in the springfield news - called poking around which he did and discovered that leases sister, sean, got busy, soon after that deadly christma morning. >> in early january, she wen to the office of the missour state highway patrol to expres their belief that this in fact was a murder >> she looked into a highl experience detective name da nash >> longtime investigator who has been involved in several high-profile murder cases in the ozarks >> and when sergeant nash took

one look at that file, something forensic seemed off. he was inclined to agree wit sean it didn't look like suicide at all. >> he was just struck by the fact that if lisa jennings had shot herself using her right hand, there would be more blow back from that, then one dro of blood >> three months after that christmas eve, investigato nash drove over to brad's farm told him he was looking at the case again >> and wanted to went into the bathroom that mr. jennings was wearing that >> the real piano on he said when he said he found this a dead and held her in her arms. >> why three months later woul a bathrobe be a useful certainly it had been cleane or something i would suspect?

>> apparently it had not >> oh. >> mr. jennings had spent little time back in that bedroom. from his perspective, his wife had taken her life >> so brad gave nash the bac bathrobe and sure enough i still had blood on it. so they run some tests and get in touch with brad >> he was questioned a coupl of times >> then, a month later, this was april, now the sheriff cam to call. at dale potter's gun and pawn. >> he says i am here to seiz the jennings gun >> and a few weeks after that, a man with teacher and khaki walked in. >> he was a sergeant withi missouri state highway four. joel i'm here investigating th murder of lisa jennings. i said what are you talkin about murder it was in the paper, was ruled a suicide. and he said, no, he killed her >> that was an all >> then he goes, what di jennings say to you about hi wife having an affair? i said, he never said a word t me about his wife have a affair why? was she? and he said yes, and we ca prove it i said, well that explains a lot. he said, you mean why he kille her? i said no. i said why she did this. i said maybe everything caught up with her. you know

>> meaning, thought dale something about the affair clock pushed her over the edge then dale offered the sergeant a family history >> i said, do you know don't you, that her dad killed himself. and he goes, your full of -- he said her dad is a life an he lives away up i said no your full of crap. her stepdad lives there. her real that killed himself out in kansas years ago. >> another family suicide? an affair? just where was thi investigation going? >> coming up - a determined detective >> he looked at me and told me straight up, i've never been wrong. >> and a confused friend - >> why did you think >> i think thought maybe it wa one of the worst mistakes i ha ever heard of. >> when dateline continues when we first arrived at st. jude, it was just claire and i.

she was still recovering from her brain surgery. and side effects of that surgery meant that she had to relearn how to walk and how to speak. ♪♪ [ male announcer ] you can join the battle to save lives by supporting st. jude children's research hospital. two months after we arrived, my three-year-old came to visit, and claire lit up. she was quiet before. and i thought it was just because cancer's hard, but she was really missing her siblings, and i didn't realize how much. all right, young lady. we're going to see how much you weigh, and how tall you are real quick. ♪♪ mama. hey, claire. [ laughter ] ♪♪ [ male announcer ] families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their child live.

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50% the last two weeks, an hospitalizations are increased by 70% mask upon flying home and test before going back to work or school and ukrainian presiden volodymyr zelenskyy struck at fine tone in his christmas message, telling his country let's enjoy this winter becaus we know what we are fighting for. just hours earlier, ukrainia officials say that ten peopl were killed in shelling in kherson. now back to dateline >> welcome back to dateline, i'm craig melvin lisa jennings had died from single gunshot to the head, he death ruled a suicide, but the file was now in the hands of dan nash, and to him, th details were not adding up he believed needs lisa had bee murdered and that her husban brad, was the trigger man. now nash was about to pay him

visit and the already fracture family would be torn apart onc again here is keith morrison with a crack in everything >> probably everybody at buffalo, missouri knew tha brad jennings the apparent grieving husband was now a murder suspect everybody waiting for somethin to happen. and in july 2007, seven months after lisa's death, it did >> about a mile from his house and two or three highway patro officers stopped him and arrested him took him to the county jail. >> what did you think? >> i thought they made one o the worst mistakes i had eve heard of >> later we were told ther were people around that knew i was going to happen. >> people like lisa's sister sean who went to the highway patrol in the first place, and leases daughter from her first marriage, lacey. we asked for interviews, the

declined >> when my dad got arrested, lacey and sean showed up at th house to pick me and dallas up and then my grandma showed u to pick us up as well, and m aunt and my grandma got into it >> it sounds like that is sort of the moment when the famil broke apart? >> that's when a really blew open that's when lacey quit comin around and everything just fel apart. >> that evening brad's brother-in-law paul, who was married to lisa's other sister said he met with the highway patrol officers who led th investigation. >> i asked one patrol office if he had ever been wrong? and there was a small part o me that wish he was correct, because or not he was going to ruin a lot of people's lives and he told me straight-up i've never been wrong. >> never been wrong? >> never been wrong. >> was this investigator, da nash >> it was. >> brand posted 1 millio dollar bond and it was a lot t remain free until his trial.

brad stuttering knee said th state had no case. >> every time that i spoke wit him he said that it couldn't g to trial, he said it couldn't. >> he was still saying that th friday before the trial was to begin in august 2009 >> he said will go in ther monday morning and we'll see what motions are flying around >> but by midday monday th jury was picked and the tria began. >> how shocking was that >> it was very shocking. and we hadn't been there a hour until i was getting sic to my stomach just listening prosecution was just running rampant with it. >> that is saying terrible things about brad. >> and i was wanting to jump u and object >> because two marcia it seeme like brad's attorney wasn' objecting at all >> mister deputy wouldn't sa

anything in brad's defense >> what was it like to be yo sitting back there watchin that >> it was the most miserable time of my life. and i didn't know what i could do i wanted to stop it but didn't know how. and mr. deputy would say tha it is all going to com together, don't worry about it >> maybe the attorney wa thinking of the gunshot residu or - remember, they found gun ris to do on her hand but not on brad's hand, implying that lis shot herself the prosecutor had a explanation. >> so the prosecutor says it i a logical inference from the facts of the case that mr. jennings, after he shot hi wife, before he called 9-1-1 h washed his hands and watched his forearms >> and blood evidence. investigator nash was th expert the state put up and he said that an his expert opinio the way the spotter hit th wall, and brats black road and leases hand, it left no doub that he fired the shot

but why would he do such a thing? an age old reasons that th prosecutor lisa wanted out. >> the prosecution at tria tried to show that she was intent on leaving him and sh had an application, at a apartment complex where lace had lived. >> lisa wooden and her life, said the state, because she wa busy improving it. she bought nice clothes. recently had cosmetics surgery >> the state presented witnesses that sais that she was in good spirits and it i unlikely that someone who ha cosmetics surgery and is feeling good about themselve would take their lives >> the defense didn't mentio that lisa's father committed suicide, or that she herself attempted suicide back in high school, no secret in town, bac then and nobody brought up the rumo that lisa was having an affair but, one curious thing did com

up the defense attorney in hi closing arguments made a fascinating point about th bath road brad was wearing whe lisa was shot. >> the defense attorney in his closing argument said that the had that thing for years, don't know why they didn't tested for gun shot residue, but they didn't. we could wrap this up in a heartbeat, whether he did it o not if they had tested that. >> now that was interesting. and a very good point. after all, if they found residue on the bathrobe, i would certainly point right at brad, but the moment passed an the case went to the jury. two hours and 24 minutes later they found bride guilty of murder and where else would thi happen they let him go home, one last night before the sentencin began the following day. >> the next morning, he aske me to drive him back, and that was one of the most difficul

things i had ever had to do. >> did you want to just say, let's go somewhere else, brad, let's just drive to mexico o something? >> no. that's not who we are. and i told him, that i would fight with everything i had in me to correct it >> but what could one lone woman do no legal training, no contacts no hope. what indeed? >> coming up a search for the truth >> it was obvious there wa something that wasn't right. >> and missing evidence. >> i took the photo, i texte it to dwight and just said jackpot. >> when dateline continues

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stupid dog, rat face. hey you there, get out. yep. hands in crew. go team friendship. -team friendship? i'll workshop it, ok? puss in boots. only in theaters. rated pg. >> the day after brad jennings was convicted of murdering his wife lisa, he returned to cour for sentencing he got 25 years and they let him away on a day that would've been, otherwise, auspicious. >> that was my first day o high school. >> did either review other thing, maybe he did killer >> not even once >> if you know him, even lik at all, he is just not tha kind of a person >> true said brad's big sister marcia she decided she had to d

everything she could to help him. it wasn't easy because he had two kids wh needed to be cured for he had payments that had to be made on the house, on the farm on the cars. he had a business that had t be wrapped up, and he had this huge problem of having bee convicted of a crime you didn' think he committed what does a person do in a situation like this? >> i had no idea i didn't even know where t start. >> but she knew she needed a better income. so she found a job that paid more but required constant travel >> come home on thursday night and leave sunday, and -- >> by the time your home, yo wash your clothes, say hi to the kids, go to prison and see

brad then get back on a plane. >> right >> the first acclaimed claim that brad had not good representation >> that was a no-brainer >> but it failed appeals court didn't agree, an brad's trial lawyer said h served brad well anyway, marcia hired mor attorneys, but - >> i couldn't get them to talk to me. i couldn't get them to answer question i couldn't get him to call m back >> did they send you a bill? >> absolutely. i have lots of bills >> this went on for months years. she heard about a privat investigator named dwigh mcneill, but her then attorney told her, don't call him >> so i sat on it for a little bit. i was having a really bad day, and i called and dwight picked up the phone and i just starte crying because it had been so lon since anyone i called answered

me >> and he did listen but - >> i told you i would not look at the case. >> dwight was a former sheriff he told her his job wa catching bad guys, not getting them out of prison but marcia persisted, and so h agreed to see her in person. >> i explained to her that if concluded, from my review of the file, that there was any basis at all to believe that mr. jennings had murdered hi wife, that i was use whateve influence and whatever pressur i could to make sure that he stayed in prison the rest of his life >> can you accept a deal lik that >> absolutely. >> so dwight scanned the file, just a quick look. and this was strange >> it was obvious that was something that just wasn't right. >> remember what the trial attorney said about the blac bathrobe, too bad they didn' tested for gunshot residue dwight, with his years in la

enforcement lit up when he saw that they must have tested the robe >> it should've been tested fo gunshot residue all the way up to the right sleeve. >> sure, if he fired the gun there would've been gunsho residue. >> no such reporting existed for the testing of that sleeve and that robe. >> it did not make sense the started working with lawye lindsey phoenix who requeste copies of all the crime la reports. >> we've got a letter saying here you go, here is everythin we have. it included every test excep the one i was looking for. >> but, it had to be there so lindsay when in person to the state highway patrol >> i said i wanted to examin every piece of evidence yo have, and i brought a vide camera and a cell phone camera and i photographed everything. trying to be inconspicuous i didn't want to take a chance of finding something in th disappearing

>> and that is when she foun it, too small canisters, and inside - >> the stubbs from the gunshot residue steps that were label, i took the photo and texted it to dwight and just said, jackpot. and then i had to go through the rest of those boxes like i was looking for something else i had to act like it wasn't big deal i was ecstatic >> those little stubbs confirmed, a gsr test had been performed on brad's robe, bu where were the results she has the highway patrols fo them >> and they didn't send them t me >> so she wrote to them again. >> i said all right they are there, i have photographs, i know they are there. send me the results and then they sent them >> and, the tests were conclusive there was no gunshot residue o brad's black bathrobe. just as there wasn't any on hi hands on the night lisa died meaning brad almost certainl did not fire the gun tha killed lisa. but why didn't lea

investigator dan nash revealed that well, he said he never receive those results. plausible? >> not in a heartbeat. no, i was a prosecutor befor this, my spouse is a polic officer. dwight is a police officer, we know the care that goes into building a case. and that is not a step that yo skip dan nash had specifically aske for that test to be done >> so, by now dwight was looking carefully at dan nash, he talked to a retired judge >> he made it very clear tha he had a lot of problems wit mr. nash is reputation for truth and honesty under oath and from there, we started interviewing former prosecutors, and the number of former court personnel who expresse concerns about his reputatio for truth and veracity >> remember her at the trial

nash was presented as a bloo spatter expert he wasn't. in fact nash had not even take a basic bloodstain analysi class when he investigated leases death he took a 40 hour course the following year, but was stil not an expert when he testifie at trial dwight sought out the best i the field. >> i found two of the world' most renowned blood spatte experts. >> he sent the crime scene photos to both of them >> and they both, independently, came to the same conclusion. >> that dan nash was quite simply dead wrong. one of them wrote, the bloodstain evidence in the presence of gunshot residue on the right-hand of lisa jenning are consistent with a self inflicted gunshot wound. but if any lawyer would tell you, undoing a jury's guilty verdict is almost impossible so, what's now >> coming up >> a life interrupted. >> he missed out on me turning 16, on me getting married.

i have a kid now he missed that he missed out on a lot >> will brad jennings miss out even more. >> i don't promise anything to a client other than i will giv you my best shot >> when dateline continues and for those who do get it bad, it may be because they have a high-risk factor. such as heart disease, diabetes, being overweight, asthma, or smoking. even if symptoms feel mild, these factors can increase your risk of covid-19 turning severe. so, if you're at high risk and test positive, don't wait. ask your healthcare provider right away if an authorized oral treatment is right for you.

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was serving 25 years for murdering his wife but his

sister marsha was convinced he had been wrongfully convicted. she hired a team of privat investigators who uncovere stunning new evidence includin the elusive gunshot residu test on a bathrobe pride war o the night of the shooting. they knew the odds o overturning the verdict was lo but brad's family was stop a nothing to find justice. with a conclusion of a crack i everything, here is keit morrison >> dallas jennings felt like a cheated young man. his father imprisoned, whe neither he nor amanda belief for a minute that he kille their mother >> he missed out on me turning 16 me driving for the first time. my graduation. me getting married i have a kid now, he misse that the birth of his first grandchild he missed out on a lot >> brad sister marcia woul still determined to bring hi back to that world he wa missing.

with investigator dwight's help, she finally found a father daughter team of attorneys who seem to understand the case. and the family >> these were adjust salt to the earth, small town countr people and they were stunned at the way the system had worke against brad jennings. >> first bob and liz ramse read the trial transcripts >> the first thing that jumped out of me was i don't recall seeing a defense attorney do s little for his client, in my 3 years of practicing law. >> come on not the worse, surely? >> it was certainly one of the worse. >> but would also jumped out was the work that highwa patrol officer, dan nash confronted with the gunsho residue that might exonerate brad, he said that he had neve seen the report. >> if that test had been

positive, would it have been lost in a fax machine? >> it was just incomprehensibl that he wouldn't follow up and say what happened to my gunsho residue test that i ordered? he was either grossly negligen or he suppressed i deliberately >> no question about it, the issue of that and reveal gsr test was huge. >> i thought it is a classic violation, it is the kind of evidence that makes difference in a trial. >> so they elected to shoot fo the moon, there one chance t overturn the jury verdict. they claim that with hel evidence could've changed th result of the trial. >> i don't promise anything to a client other than i'll giv you my best shot, and all told him was this gives you shot >> vanishing - still they filed and waited. and against all odds wer granted a hearing.

>> we were very excited, but cautious we it was almost like this little dim light at the end of the tunnel this was the hearing, in november 2017, almost 11 years after that terrible christma eve, here brad's attorneys reveal the gsr result that suggested his innocence and th experts blood spatter findings that did the same. and witnesses who questioned the honesty of detective nash. >> i think that his credibilit was put at an issue for th entire hearing >> lawyers from the missouri attorney's office where they'r two and told the judge tha with the defense came up was not have changed a guilt verdict, that case was s strong we wanted to hear from the attorney generals office, from sergeant dan nash and th highway patrol, and al declined our requests. and then, months went by and they all had to wait for the

judge, until february 8th, 2018 finally, overruling. >> my first reaction was to go right to the last paragraph an see what's the result was. the last sentence of his order is, at a minimum, th suppression of the gunshot residue test undermine confidence in that verdict >> conviction overturned >> the it's the first time tha we have had a positive outcome it was wonderful the >> next day on the judge order, brad jennings walked ou of prison, after eight and a half years and into the arms o the people who never for a minute gave up on him. >> love you. >> it's the kind of stuff that you dream about in law school. and i firmly believe that brad is innocent, so to walk him ou

was one of the greatest honors of my life, i will never forge that day >> we had all waited so long and wondered if it was eve going to happen. it was one of the best days of my life. >> it was really awesome to se him walk out knowing that he was going to come home with us, that wa amazing. >> that ride home had to b something? >> it was. >> it was weird. it was the first time my dad ever see me drive. i drove him home >> brad jennings was a man o few words, when she met us a few weeks later as if he was still afraid to believe that h had been let go. but, we talked a bit about tha christmas eve and the myster of what so upset lisa. >> she was crying, that's th one thing i asked her, why you are crying >> and she couldn't tell you didn't want to tell you.

>> didn't want to talk, didn't want to say anything >> wasn't until years late that he learned she had been having an affair with her boss and that man had just broken i off, meaning she was also ou of the job >> if she had told me sh wasn't coming back to work the day before this. >> he didn't understand this then but now, maybe that was an answer to his long ago question, why did she and her own life once he might've confronted th other men, now, nothing to b done >> i don't even know where he' at the business shut down, closed down >> in july 2018, the state attorney generals office announced it would not retrial brad as for the ones close family when we last spoke with him, they remained badly split. lisa sister, sean, and daughter, lacey, still believe brad wa guilty and for brad, -- >> it feels like starting over >> and he clings to his kids

and his sister and his mom and those who believed in him. to his ancestral farm. and his other longtime love, the old shovel >> i knew brad was innocent, the only thing i've ever wante was for finally everyone t hear the truth >> that is all for this editio of dateline, i'm craig melville, thank you for watching >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales >> and this is dateline. >> he could have complet respiratory failure in a numbe of minutes dizziness, confusion, weakness