for this crime. we were very disappointed in that. >> i wanted to throw up. that was like stabbing janet all over again. >> he didn't mention, i'm sorry. he admitted nothing. apologized for nothing. it was so cold. >> in trials like this, there are no winners, just two sides, bitterly divided. >> the person who killed my wife right now things he's home free, but i'm trying to clear my name so that we can shift the focus, and know that there is still a killer out there who, right now, is walking on the streets. >> custody of janet in raven sun, caden was granted to ravens mother. janet's mom is left with the memories of the daughter that she loved and lost. how often do you think about janet? >> constantly. the only way i can handle it is i know she's happy. i know she is. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching.

>> the gold coast. the sun, the sea, and this million dollar home, a mystery. >> he was talking on the telephone when he heard a loud bang. >> a woman, murdered. her husband went blind. >> are you bleeding? do you see any blood? >> i'm bleeding all over, yes. >> okay. >> i can't see. >> but who? >> everyone is somewhat of a suspect. >> and why? >> what brings someone to make a decision they are going to do this. >> was it love? >> what we learned was that she was having an affair with the sun. >> was that money? >> nobody knows what happened except for him and garrett. >> what was the truth, hidden here on this tropical paradise? >> it was an assassination, a hit, no question. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> it was august, hot in coral gables. the air was short sticking thick as night fell. the small debris pushed the palms. and the artificial pool of attorney john sutton house was a party already known early.

it was susan sutton's birthday attending their son, his girlfriend, and john's law partner. melissa, off to college in north florida couldn't be there. so she found her mother to say she missed her. >> were you too close? >> extremely. that's my best friend. >> i will ask how old your mom was? >> 57? no, you can't put that on! she was a nice 45, let's leave it at that. >> the guests left, the law partner went home, the son christopher and his girlfriend went out to a movie. john settled into watch tv in the master bedroom. susan in another bedroom, talk

on the phone with a close friend. quiet and pleasant evening. quiet, but not for long. >> coral gables 9-1-1. >> i need police. my house. i have just been assaulted. >> what happened sir? >> somebody came in and shot me. >> they shot you? >> yes. >> who did it? >> i don't know. i can't see. i need police and i need an ambulance. >> okay. where did he shoot you? >> in my head. >> john sutton, a tough as nails techno prisoners lawyer, was barely conscious that he made the 9-1-1 call. he told the operator blood was gushing from his head wounds. he couldn't see.

>> who else is in the house with you? >> my wife, susan. >> and where is she? >> i don't know. >> somehow, he made it out the front door on his own. he was met by a paramedic. >> the holes in his head, in his face. i mean, i couldn't believe how he made it out of the house, walking to us. >> they stabilized sutton, rushed him off in an ambulance. an hour north of sutton's home homicide larry belyeu was getting home after a long shift. >> i was pulling into my driveway when i got the phone call. he was injured but he called 9-1-1 and made his way to the door and opens the door. >> they didn't want to go on until he came out? >> they wanted to know whether the persons involved were inside. they backed off until the swat team arrived and made entry into the house. >> not knowing if a gunman was still in the house, swat teams cleared the house room by room, binding entering the bedroom where susan sutton had been on the phone. >> when they went into the room where mr. sutton was they didn't see anybody. >> miami-dade prosecutor karen kagan was on homicide to do that night i was called out to the scene. >> we saw a mound on the bed covered by a blanket. there were bullet holes in the blankets and they had to yank and blankets down. when they did that, they found

mrs. sudden in bed with our hands up, she had been holding the blanket and covering herself. literally ducking under the covers for cover. >> susan sutton was dead. a bloody phone beside her. she must have dropped it as she pulled up the covers in her vein attempt to hide from her killer. house secured, no shooter around, the swat team were through. a dispatcher warned detective larry belyeu this might be the deadly result of a domestic dispute. sutton's 9-1-1 call an attempt to cover up what he had done. >> when i got the phone call, and said there was a murder suicide down in the city of coral gables, we heard the husband was rushed out to a trauma center, and in critical condition. >> on route was two bullet holes to his side. had sutton killed his wife and turned the gun on himself? no. that theory is quickly dismissed when the paramedic who took him to the hospital put out an update over the

radio. >> we can't provide any info, but does look like he has a gunshot wounds to the head. i don't know if it was defensive wounds. >> he had wounds to his hands, which would make it clear that was defense type wounds that somebody else must of shot because he put his hands up. >> obviously first blue, this is not -- >> this is not murder suicide. >> who or why would anyone want to harm john or susan sutton? the sutton's lived exemplary lives, had it all. a beautiful house with a 31 foot boat out back. an exclusive coral gables, the upscale enclave south of miami. his law practice, susan worked his office manager, it was booming. that, week he received a check for 1 million dollars for a case he'd settled. so, was robbery the motive? and if so, how did the killer get into the house? officers tsai curtain blowing in the wind the race lighting glass door in the rear of the house near the pool. the door last showed signs it had been broken long before that night. >> the killer had gone and

through that sliding glass door, head walked all the way through that house. no ransacking. jurors were not open. in the master bathroom, on the vanity was beautiful diamond and gold jewelry. clearly, early on, it was pretty easy to detect that robbery was not the issue here. it was apparent that they were targeted. it was an assassination. it was a hit. >> an assassination? a hit? that sort of crime didn't happen in coral gables. whatever the motive, there is nowhere to go on, no murder weapon, no fingerprints, no dna. there was one possible lead, susan sutton, as it was obvious from the bloodstained evidence, had been on the phone when she was shot five times. someone heard, the screams and bullets rubbing through the silence of that steamy august night. but who? coming up, what did he know that police didn't? >> a polygraph, wouldn't he? >> he passed on certain

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melissa sutton, 19 years old, i looked away her new college dorm life and northern florida unaware what had happened to her parents tonight before. and where her mother was dead. unaware that in a miami emergency room, doctors were fighting to save her father's life. >> who told you and how? >> i actually got a call from a friend who that i hope your dad is going to be okay, and i went, what? like, maybe a heart attack or something. >> out of the blue? >> out of the blue. >> practically melissa called every never she could back home. >> called my mom, she didn't answer. i called teddy montoto, my dad's partner, extremely close family friend and he didn't answer. i called my brother, he said he couldn't talk right now. >> are you frantic? >> i didn't know what, what level. >> eventually, melissa reached teddy montoto overlooked utley broke the news to her on the phone you brought her back to miami at the hospital her father was an intensive care. her brother, 26-year-old christopher had already arrived. both of them were reeling from

the loss of their mother and now they kept vigil of their gravely wounded fathers bedside. >> we didn't know if he was going to live very long. to say gruesome is, you know. if i didn't know his hands and no little pieces of him, he wouldn't have known it was him. >> you faced the shocking prospect of becoming an orphan? >> i don't think that ever crossed my mind, actually. he was still alive in my mind. >> melissa wondered why her parents? who could have done this? investigators describing it as a hint. >> did you have any sense at all what may have happened? >> teddi told me what had happened, but i didn't know who had done it. i thought it was some sort of break in. it was my first instinct. it's what i thought for a long time until we talked about my dad's clients. >> homicide elective larry belyeu and arts were also thinking about sutton's clients and those who sued on their behalf. at this point, jon sutton couldn't provide any information. he was cleaning to live in a

drug induced coma. >> i went several times to talk to john sutton. he was on pain medication, he was intubated. we are looking at businesses and his law firm that would've made people angry at him. >> attorneys take money from people and make people mad. >> find out if any of these people had reason for revenge on john sudden. >> john sutton run as long from lucky run most things in life. efficient and hard driving. in fact, detectives heard about one woman who lost in 87,000 dollar lawsuit and was so much she threatened to shoot up johns firm. and the very night of the murder, a neighbor friday boat roaring down the canal behind john's house and it turned out that women own such a boat. >> she was interviewed down the line also. she was not the person responsible. >> what about that phone call susan was on when she was shot to death? detectives found the

bloodstained hands that she dropped when the gun opened fire. who was she talking to? that person heard something? detectives got their answer almost right away. john sutton's law partner teddy montoto had shown up at the house even before the first reports of the shooting hit the news that night. he was also armed. >> he was talking to susan sutton on the telephone when he heard a loud bang, or what he said maybe gunshots, he didn't know. >> that's what he told police? depending on the amount of truth in his statement, he could be a suspect? >> absolutely. >> but that had to be impossible. teddy and susan worked together! they talked often and frequently late at night. >> it is my mom's best friend. i call him my godfather, pretty much. like a relative. >> but police were suspicious. why had montoto arrived so quickly after the shooting? why was he armed with a handgun? a few questions, and perhaps more important, some testing to do. >> we interviewed him extensively.

we do take gunshot residue from his hands. he was given a polygraph, wasn't he? >> yes, he was. >> how do you do? >> he passed on certain information, but he showed that he was deceptive and others. >> which is a red flag? >> yes. >> a red flag this early in the investigation, what exactly did law partner teddy montoto have to hide? perhaps john sutton could tell. the survivor of the slaughter, it was clear, was going to live. and when he came out of his coma, what story would he tell? what did he see? coming up, with his victim defenseless in the hospital, would the killer try again? john sutton's son seemed to think so. >> i do recall him very adamant that my dad be placed under john doe so who ever did this could not finish off what they have started. >> was the killer already closer than anyone could've dreamed? when dateline continues. >> susan sutton was dead, shot five times by a killer who

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five times by a killer who invaded her home after her birthday party. her husband, john, an attorney, had been shot in the head twice and was in critical condition at a miami hospital undergoing many surgeries to save his life. soon after the shooting, detectives had a potential suspect, john sutton's good friend and law partner. >> he had a partner who was on the scene one homicide detectives got their. >> teddy montoto told police

he'd been on the phone with susan, heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire, rushed over to the sutton house with a gun of his own to try and help. was that the whole story? they gave montoto a polygraph. it showed he'd been deceptive, hiding something. >> what we learned was he was having an affair with misses sutton. >> so, montoto hadn't been straight with them or with his good friend and partner, john sutton. but was he off the hook for murder? well, maybe. maybe not. when they checked phone records, it appeared teddy montoto montoto was still being deceptive. he told the affair had been recent and brief. that's not about the phone records said. did teddy montoto have some secret reason to kill his lover and her husband? they tested him for gunshot

residue, and said he might test positive. he was an expert marksman, had been shooting earlier that day. >> another twist in the story, but what did it mean in terms of the likelihood he was involved in this incident? >> again, it was early in the investigation. a lot of investigating to do. >> mostly, for days, they waited with everyone else to see if john sutton would survive the attack, to see if they could ask him what happened? until now, all they heard from sutton, was this -- >> are you bleeding? do you see any blood? >> i'm bleeding all over, yes. >> okay. >> i can't see. >> i can't see. it was almost a week after the shooting. when sutton was awakened by a medically induced coma, he was

going to live. but, he was going to live with the scars of the shooting he lost and i, but worse, far worse, was the news the doctors gave him. he would never see again. he was blind in both eyes. >> shortly before i left the hospital, some ophthalmologist came around and very bluntly told me there was nothing they could do for my eyesight. i was very unhappy, very upset about the eyesight. >> did you know right away he was going to be blind? >> no, i didn't. we didn't even know if he was going to live for a long time. >> we nice to look into his eyes and no he could see back and see you. >> it's different. it's different to look at someone who's blind. it's a different expression. >> for a long time, any expression was masked by a truly dreadful injuries.

how many bullets have been hit by? >> i had to in my head. in the right temple, and i'm told out the left draw. one higher towards my ear, and one in the lower part of the job. >> only the shots to his head, the type of his ring finger was blown. off other shots in his thumb and shoulder. >> six pretty good sized bullet holes. >> when he was well enough to talk to detectives, sutton told them what he could. the story of a man who barely witnessed the attack that killed his wife and almost killed him. he was a former college swimmer, so he was watching an olympic diving event in the master bedroom, he said. >> next thing i, know somebody was standing there and a black cat or visor, black shirt, black pants. face shaded by the visor, and

opened fire. all i really remember was one bang. >> the bullets destroyed his right eye, and severed the optic nerve in his left eye. the optic nerve connected the eye to the brain. without it, site is impossible. but the bad news, of course, didn't and there. >> how did you find out about susan? >> at some point, i ask melissa how is mom doing? and melissa said, well, she's not doing quite as well as you. they are working on her somewhere else. so, we need to hang in there. didn't really mean too much to me. i think i was hallucinating an awful lot. at some point, somebody told me that she had died. >> in fact, for weeks and weeks, sutton drifted in and out of alertness. dependent on others. >> of course, my son was there.

a bunch of my friends were there because i had multiple surgeries in that hospital. >> and as he lay in that bed, sedated, medicated, breathing through tubes, thoughts, half a dream, terrified him. was the killer a hit man? was he coming to try again? >> i thought somebody was trying to kill me one night, so i raised hell. i said, you know, call the police. you know, everything i could say to get some assistance. >> he was wrong. there was no killer. still, christopher demanded the hospital take special precautions. >> i do recall him very adamant that my dad be placed under john doe, so whoever did this could not find him and finish off but they had started. >> so, you were a pretty paranoid guy? >> most certainly! >> and with good reason. because the killer was still out there, and knew exactly where john sutton was. coming up, but unfortunately, police had no idea where the killer was. magnifico lineup starts at $9.99. marco's. pizza lovers get it.

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others were wounded in an early morning shooting in chicago on sunday.

police said gunfire broke out during commemoration of the man killed in a car crash four years ago. the suspect is yet to be arrested. the grand jury connection with the probe and the former president trump's handling of classified documents is set to reconvene this coming week. multiple people from the investigation tell nbc news the panel was on hiatus. now, back to dateline. now, back to dateline. >> the fact that john sutton was alive at all after that mystery invader killed his wife and shot him in the face was a medical marvel, frankly. the rest of the news was not so good. when he was finally able to talk, sutton received a visit from police detectives. susan, police discovered, had been having an affair with sutton's law partner teddy montoto. >> it's upsetting. i'm not excusing teddy, i'm not excusing anybody. i don't focus on that, i can't change, it i can't change any of. this it's like a bad dream. >> but then the dream got worse. teddy was a possible murder suspect.

>> one of the homicide actives related to me that there had been a problem with the polygraph. >> because he was actually a suspect? >> i suspect so. anybody that was probably anywhere near me was a suspect. >> but as sutton was absorbing the news of his wife's the parent vitriol, montoto slipped off the list top suspect. for one thing, he could not have been the shooter, he was on the phone with susan when it happened. records confirmed he actually called the police before rushing to the sutton house. so as detectives eliminated early suspects like montoto, they went back to the basics of every homicide investigation -- >> everyone is somewhat of a suspect. you start with the family, and you keep working your way out. >> family. >> john and susan met on a blind date and we're married a year later from the beginning they made family a very big

deal, even though they were strikingly good financially, they were stymied. no matter how much they tried they could not have children. >> she wanted a baby more than anyone in the world. >> but if wishing couldn't make her pregnant, it could make her a mother by adoption she got her wish and it was the happiest day of her life when she brought christopher home christopher sutton was born april 13th 1979 of the day they brought him home he remembers every minute every detail, even the green suit he was wearing. >> when christopher came to us, about two days home he is very cute, a lot of fun. >> it was a lot of fun? >> absolutely. >> she quit her job to be a full-time mom, but she kept trying to be pregnant and was suffering through years of

failed fertility treatments. finally adopted a sister for christopher, melissa. >> she was and always has been a little angel, absolutely. she would probably be upset with me saying this, but she was pretty close to perfect. >> which seem to describe the family to, they told the kids they've been adopted and it didn't seem to wear them at all. >> my mom and my dad were my mom and my dad. these are my biological and these are my adoptive. i had a great childhood. >> and there were advantages to having a brother seven years older. especially when he grew to be a six foot 200 pounder. >> he was my protector. someone made fun of me at school one time, he came and he gave the kid a stern look like a big older brother did. i think he was protective of me.

>> after the murder, christopher resumes that protective role, this time for his father who insisted that melissa should return to college in northern florida. >> the day after the shooting was her first day of college. i was then and i'm still proud that she managed to stay in school. >> during the long and arduous recovery, and many surgeries are protectively are formed around john's demeanor. he learned, the hard way, to keep focusing and emotions at bay, it was easier that way. survival mode. >> he just focuses on putting one foot in front of the other, and i think i do the same thing. if you were to break down emotionally all the time, or dwell on what happened, you wouldn't get out of bed. >> the doctors let him go home finally, but since home wasn't

actually livable he moved in with christopher at his town house. >> my house was a mess because it was a crime scene. the most logical place for me to go was not where the incident occurred because we didn't know who was responsible, but the town house was and that's where i went. >> the full-time nurse looked after him and christopher and his girlfriend julia, were there for him the rest of the time. three months after the august shootings when john decided that he was ready to go home to the house in which the shooting happened, christopher went with him. eyes for his blind father. >> at that point, he was more involved in driving me around or some caregiving. >> but now it's was almost christmas, still no arrests. the detective belyeu was following leads trying to find anyone with a motive to kill the sentence. understand the digging they were doing was mostly amount of dry paperwork, records of phone calls, and then somewhere in the middle of that pile -- there it was, and boy was it a doozy. coming up. >> he sits across from me and i

go, we have something here. >> a phone call from a killer. when dateline continues. >> there's a reason of course why parents worried about the company their children keep. it was months after johnson's lost his wife and his wife to how do i love thee? ...let me count the ways. ♪ love can get a little messy... good thing there's resolve. love the love. resolve the mess. ♪ ♪ ♪♪ voltaren. the joy of movement. ♪♪ >> there's a reason of course

why parents worried about the company their children keep. it was months after johnson's lost his wife and his wife to an intruder. miami detectives were plowing their way through miles of phone records, anything they could narrow down their list of suspects. in the pile of material from the phone company, they came

across a name. >> we isolated within a three or four hour period of the murder five or six different names, and one of those came back to garrett kopp. who >> was he talking? two >> on the 22nd, i want to say there were 13 phone calls, they were made between garrett kopp and chris sutton's phone call. >> a lot of? calls >> lots of calls. >> it meant nothing at all probably but still, garrett kopp was 20, a frequent visitor around the sutton house, he didn't seem to have a house or any direction life. but christopher saw some good in him, apparently. hired him occasionally to do our jobs. in fact, after the murder christopher had carpet ripped up the carpet from the bloody scene. >> what kind of person was he? like >> when garrett was in the

house, he was always at a distance. i cannot recall any conversation whatsoever with garrett. >> when they called each other all the time even on the night of the murder, right just one christopher and juliet were coming out of the movie. >> we pulled the video and it showed him getting on his cellular telephone right after all the shooting happened. >> was there a connection here with what happened? again probably not, but just to cover all the bases that this detective ran a criminal background check on kopp and what do you know. >> he was arrested on august 23rd -- >> the day after the shooting? >> the day after the shooting. i still get goose bumps. when i remember that because he was sitting across from me and i go, we have something here. >> indeed they did.

one day after the murder, garrett cop was arrested for aggravated assault after an altercation at this apartment complex. big no no. he pulled a gun on a couple of guys. it happened at homestead florida couple of miles away from the scene. detective belyeu called the police department talked to the arresting officer. >> please tell me it was a handgun? it was. i tell them please tell me was a nine millimeter handgun, he says it was. and then i tell him please tell me you have that weapon? and then he says i do. and i say i have to get that gun. i went down and picked up the gun and we submitted to our firearms staff. >> the report came back clear as day. this was the gun that killed susan sutton and blinded her husband. which obviously connects garrett kopp to that murder

pretty intimately. >> absolutely. >> but detectives did not rush out to arrest kopp, for a very simple but important reason, there was a bigger question that needed to be answer. did his friend christopher know anything, was he perhaps even involved? shocking question of course, because this was the son who was devoted to nursing his son back to health. something about christopher bothered the detectives. and it had ever since they interviewed him after the murder. >> he said i was at the movies. he said do you want to see the tapes. >> he just had them right there? >> basically to me it was a red flag there. i want to prove that i am at the movies. >> odd? perhaps. but it might mean nothing at all. the gun implicated kopp, but

christopher? no real evidence to show that he would do a thing. >> there were a lot of pieces of the puzzle that we were putting together. >> we couldn't prove anything. >> like for example this big piece of evidence, right here. what's in evan's name might an island in the far pacific have to do with the shooting of john and susan sutton? coming up. double paradise, for a young christopher and his family. >> he was kidnapped in the middle of the night and he was 17 years old. >> we knew that christopher son complained that he had been hanging tied, beaten. >> when dateline continues. ere is trying to look cool, things are about to heat up. uh-oh. darn it, kyle! and if you don't have the right home insurance coverage, you could end up paying for this yourself. sorry mr. sanchez! get allstate, and be better protected from mayhem, like me. that's a hard no. martial arts is my passion. i work out whenever i can.

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arrested with a gun that was the murder weapon in the sutton case. the same garrett kopp that talked so often with christopher sutton. >> we're trying to think why would garrett kopp do this? >> he is a 20-year-old kid, obviously there's a tie with

christopher sutton. >> and that's for christopher himself, the detectives had no trouble finding people with an opinion about him. >> the cops should be looking at christopher sutton because of the lengthy family history of problems that john ensued sin had had with their son. he was a handful from a very early age. >> a very early age, actually. as john sutton recalls all too clearly. did he get in the fights at school? >> i can remember that happening early on in preschool. >> it got worse as he got older. did he get into trouble? >> absolutely. there was vandalism. not only of our own things, there was vandalism of other peoples property. >> they sent him off to boarding schools, but he didn't

lasted any of them. failed or got kicked out. the whole family tried, said his sister melissa, the trouble wasn't the lack of love not at all. was it your sense that christopher was loved? >> no doubt about it. >> neither love nor money could prevent christopher from always ending back in the same place. trouble. >> i know that he did drugs, at one point he was arrested for it when i was younger. that was something that my father being a lawyer, as well as a parent, what do we do? >> finally in 1995 when christopher was 16, went to counselors, boarding schools, john and susan looked far away. to find some help. on the pacific island of western samoa there was a place call paradigm whole, a boot

camp for trouble kids. a behavior modification being their specialty. >> so a long way away samoa. it was that an idea that it was gonna be a good idea to -- >> we were very hesitant about samoa, but we investigated it rather thoroughly. >> it was expensive, they charged about $25,000 a year, but -- >> we just had enough. what else could we do? >> the sultans knew that there is no way that christopher would agree to go on his own. attorney son did what attorneys do best. he got a court order to have christopher's forcibly send to samoa. >> he was kidnapped in the middle of the night and he was 17 years old? >> they kidnapped him? >> he was put on a plane and sent to samoa. >> christopher would not brig so easily, and paradise cove was no paradise. there were many reports of

physical abuse and restraints used on those who were uncooperative, something christopher learned when he first arrived. >> we knew that he had complained that he was hog-tied, beaten -- >> when his family was allowed to visit him about a year later, it did seem to be a distinct change. a huge improvement. they found a buff, cleaned up young man who excelled at sports. he was, as you can clearly see, a happy family reunion. >> it was really happy. we cried, we hugged, we said, you know, our hollows, we loved each other, he was proud of what he'd learned and showed off to us. >> five months later, christopher turned 18, time for him to come home. or so he thought.

>> he was banking on getting out when he turned 18. but we also learned that john sutton, being a lawyer, hadn't order signed by judge that when you turn 18 if you haven't completed the course you are going to stay. which infuriated christopher. >> why did you decide to keep him there when he turned 18? >> we had concerns that he wasn't ready to return. he had not quote, graduated the program. >> how did he feel about that? >> he was quite upset. >> he wanted to come home? >> he wanted things his way. he always wanted things his way. >> but this time, finally, tough love seem to work. christopher was 19 and a changed man when he returned from his state and samoa. >> we met him at the airport at l. a. x., on his birthday, april 13th -- >> he was happy to see you? >> absolutely.

>> it was a joyous reunion? >> he was thrilled. >> they went on a family cruise, arwa ward for their son. that's where he met his future fiancã©e, a young woman from boston name julia. julia moved to miami and became a member of the family. johnson even got her a job at his law firm. >> she was, but i would imagine if someone was going to marry into the family. my mother embraced her, julia was a grace influence on my brother and on the family. >> christopher got his act together, enrolled in college, started working. his parents helped out by buying him a 300,000 dollar condo. >> he started up his own company, which in retrospect looking at everything he done

from arrest to drug, this is good behavior. we were all happy that things were better. >> anyway, by the time of the murder christopher's 26, and samoa had receded into his distant past. >> i interviewed melissa at the very beginning. all she knew about her brother was that he was re-bilious as most teenagers are at that age. >> i think i said something along the line of i don't know any reason why he would want to do this. >> a believe her father shared. >> i asked them early on when he was able to talk at jackson hospital, coach or son have something to do with this? >> and he said i don't believe so. >> perhaps garrett kopp acted alone after all. but detectives were convinced christopher had to be mixed up in that awful shooting somehow. someone must know. and they were right. someone did. coming up. johnson survived two bullets to the head. could he survive being home alone with his son? [interpreter] erpreter so you can have clearer skin, and noticeably less itch.

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had a problem, they were pretty sure that the man who shot john and susan sutton was a frequent visitor of their residents. they at least suspected that the sun's own son, now johns caregiver was all mixed up in it somehow. >> i was becoming more concerned. >> john sutton was he a sitting duck of another attack? you must of found it worrisome that john sutton was living with his son christopher, cared for by christopher?

>> sure. >> still they worried but they not act. even though they knew full well that garrett kopp, the shooter they were short, was still hanging around. isn't that right the cop was there? >> and again we still didn't want to tip our head. >> but should christopher had been a suspected all? does that sound like the behavior of a guilty man? gareth and the -- actually called detectives to tell them that they had found new evidence, a bullet casing under the carpet. >> he said we found another casing. come on. >> it is an indication that maybe they didn't do it? >> i don't think so. >> but that's what any good defense attorneys want to point out? >> the casing was underneath something and i don't know if we all missed, but we missed it.

>> we were a little bit pissed. >> detectives remained convinced that christopher harbored and anger towards his parents for sending him to that boot camp in samoa. they talk to some of his alumni's. >> i know he was upset, he was mad at his family for that. >> but when detectives tracked down another pair of residents, he said that christopher was a lot more upset than that. >> christopher made comments that his parents were going to pay. >> when they took a closer look at christopher's more recent history, they could easily see that his improved behavior wasn't exactly lasting. even girlfriend juliette's influence could not keep him from slipping up. he went back to college after he returned from samoa, but soon dropped out and he did

form a company, but the company folded. >> he didn't seem to be motivated. we tried to get him to stay in jobs, nothing seems to be working. >> johnson didn't know that his son had gone back to his one job he seemed to be good at, selling drugs. nor did he know that christopher's friend garrett kopp was one of his best clients. kopp had been buying and reselling the drugs, mostly marijuana and xanax. he and christopher spent plenty of time saddling the hoods, according to the prosecution. >> it wasn't just drug deals, they hung around a lot. doing drugs, playing video games and whatever. >> in the months after the murder, phone records show a spike between the two, 300 calls in two months. calls in two months. calls in two months. calls in two months. calls in two months. calls in two months. calls in two months. calls in two months.

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shooting of john sutton and the murder of his wife susan, which was, that christopher sutton hired his dope smoking buddy, garrett koch to kill his parents. but it was really just a theory, and while the case against cop was fairly strong, remember the murder weapon was found in his possession. the evidence against christopher was circumstantial. a little more than a guilt by association. decimal built camp might have given him a motive, but -- >> i certainly needed more than that. i decided it was time to act.

and given what they had against cop, detective sample that the shooter might roll over on the side. >> they be denied at all? >> wasn't my gun. said it looks like we're gonna be her longtime. >> and they were. hours an hours. >> you know how the house was set up? >> yeah. >> finally i said i don't believe he did this on your own. give me a reason as to how chris got you to do this. >> he said, look, you have to look at for my family because i'm afraid for them. >> he was afraid chris would kill them? >> yes, he was worried that chris would take care of him in his young son. i don't believe it that's a story he said. >> have been giving himself an excuse, cop finally confessed. he said christopher was behind it all. gave him the gun, the money to buy the clothes he wore, hired him as a hit man. >> did he formulate this plan or was it a combined effort between you two? >> he did. >> what planned did he tell you?

what did he want you to do? >> going back door, walk in, and shoot them. >> upsetting to tell you the story? >> no, now that i can tell. >> did he seem relieved? >> >> no. during this time i'm talking to him and he was pretty calm as a matter fact. >> after that confession, koch was charged with first degree murder. he was allowed to see his father, his girlfriend, and their son and then taken off to jail. so, case closed? well you would think given what calk told the detectives in there but it did not give them what they needed to arrest christopher. there is a feature in florida law which says that a things person says in the confession about somebody else could be labeled as hearsay. they needed more. so the terms of the person closest to christopher, his fiancée, julia driscoll. the two are engaged to be married in a few weeks.

invitations were already in the mail. >> she said i don't know anything about it. crisper doesn't tell me. >> doesn't tell or anything? is that what she said? >> that was my reaction. i did not buy it. >> yes not. because he went on grilling this young woman for more than 12 hours. at the end of which the detective played to her heart. relationship with susan and john sutton. >> i said, look, susan really cared about you. she thought of you as a daughter. this woman did not deserve to die like this. john doesn't deserve to be blind for the rest of his life. and i know for a fact garrett did this under the direction of christopher. finally, she started crying and i go i think i have. >> with the tears came a story. but christopher has said to her that just might nail him for murder. >> the parents deserve to die for taking years died of his life.

she said this went on for years. she interjected and said i knew was going to happen i just did not know when. >> that night they put julia, who's living with christopher under protective custody. >> the next day i prepared an arrest warrant for christopher sutton. >> a female officer paid a visit to christopher's father, home alone. >> she says, well i've got good news and bad news. the good news is that we have arrested the assailant. he has admitted it. the bad news is he is implicated your son, and said your sunset him up. >> i go man oh man. that was a bad night. a real bad night. >> what was it like? was it a shock? >> it was 50 emotions, all of the same time. one of which is, well, i finally know. too was, i can't believe this. >> john, everyday attorney,

wanted to know what the evidence was the reports read to him. and he was convinced. >> i think that i was somewhere in between being completely outraged and upset. somewhere where i knew that he had done it. >> melissa, so grief-stricken. was not focused on who did it, so much as what she had lost. >> a lot of people chase the killer. and i think i chased missing my mom. >> police are looking for a 25-year-old, christopher patrick. >> christopher was nowhere to be found. they after day, displaced look for him, john sutton had time to think, remember. one event in particular was perhaps something he suppressed. it happened nine years earlier when christopher was just 16. it was the deciding factor and sending him off to samoa. >> susan was going through christopher's room and found a handwritten note planning our murder. what did it say? >> it's talked about killing us

for insurance. >> a week afterward was taken out for his arrest police found christopher and brought him to the miami-dade homicide group. there, he learned that both his alleged coconspirator garrett koch and his fiancée juliette, somehow implicated him. >> i showed him certain

excerpts out of juliette's statement saying what was going to happen i just did not know and that he made it began to sob but his head on the table and said i messed up did that mean he was guilty or merely that he understood the police believed he was guilty he made comments like there is no comments like there is no magical way i could tell

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200 people left hundreds injured. now, back to dateline. now, back to dateline. john sutton had survived gunshots wounds to his head. the death of his wife. and his own sons arrest for murder. to top it off, he was blind. apparently permanently. >> it still is unbelievable. it is like the big bad dream.

>> a nightmare from which there was no return. but john, if he hadn't noticed by now, is a determined man. it's been a champion swimmer in college. now he swam again. he'd been a skier, now he learned to ski blind. he fell in love again, her name is kathy henley. >> how did you meter? >> blind date. >> am i supposed to laugh at that one? >> it is true. >> what is it meant to you to have her with you? >> it's meant a great deal. it is tremendous i wish you could see her. >> and he went back to the thinking at all was done best. he went back to court to practice law. >> we did not sue for breach of that contract. where his blindness became not exactly the handicap some opponents seem to expect.

>> i like to put myself out so i say, you know, the poor old blind guy. i'm just trying to do the best i can. i'm going to memorize all the citations. i let them decide if i know what i'm doing. >> lately he's been busier than ever. recently won a 9 million dollar judgment for one of his clients. >> i think the blindness is just -- i could not have imagined. i cannot even try to think what that would be like. it's heavy. >> memorizing things is going into court. he's a predetermined guy. >> but adapting, he was successful adapting. using the talking typewriter for example. it was today enough for johnson. as he waited for his son's long delay trial he resumed with something like an assumption. a quest to regain his eyesight. >> most people might have given up by then can't do anything --

>> not even close. i won't take no for an answer. >> some of the best hospitals in the country, sudden had been told recently nothing he had done. he'd be blind for life. the bullets had personally destroyed his optic nerve. but john had heard about a landmark breakthrough at the harvard affiliate i research institute and boston. we're a renowned researcher had successfully regenerated the optic nerve of mice using stem cell therapy drugs, human trials would be next. >> one step up. >> so in march thousand-ites, almost three years to the day after his son was arrested. sutton and his girlfriend, kathy, run the cold rain swept the streets of boston. on the way to an appointment. >> okay so there is -- >> a doctor evaluated sutton's remaining eye and found that even on the nerve that was destroyed the rest of the, theoretically at least, could

work. >> my son charged with first degree murder. >> he listened to the awful story of the way john losses eyesight. they explained him the amazing thing they were doing here. by growing corneas in a petri dish. of course, working on optic nerve regeneration. john took it all in. amazed. and for the first time since the shooting he felt his search of positive excitement. and a little germaphobic. had launched itself in its stubborn mind. >> and you are thinking -- >> i said i am in the right spot. he talked, the leading researchers. >> have you done any studies with the severed optic nerves? >> he pepper them with questions like he was cross-examined witnesses. they offered sutton a glimmer -- >> we will be able to

regenerate an optic nerve. >> it's also much of can wait but when can we. >> and it was a good news. >> i do not want to mislead you. >> perhaps not for five or ten years. but possibly not too late for john sutton. >> how soon depends on how much funding we can get. how many scientists we can put behind the problem to solve. it >> they thought he would somehow help make it happen. they joined the board of directors. he offered himself as a voice of hope for desperate patients. even though they never helped them. >> there is a chance that they may not be able to restore his vision. there is a chance that on the other hand -- but if he doesn't get behind it

he does know that we're not going to move it as fast as we could. >> well, it is my pleasure to be here today. as we'll hear i almost didn't make it here today. >> southern travel the country speaking at fund-raisers using what he called his shock and awe presentation to tell his story about his 9-1-1 call, the news footage. >> i want to flip this tragedy, this catastrophe, into a positive. >> meanwhile, in miami. it was decision time. the alleged shooter, garrett cobb, would finally agreed to plead guilty and testify against sutton son, christopher. and exchange for a 30 year sentence and no death penalty. sutton confronted the killer, the day he entered a plea. >> there are the next few days, months, years, 20 years.

even 30 years i want you to think about what you have planned it what you did that night. you can be assured that my blindness, every minute every day i will not forget you. >> with that, the murder trial of christopher sutton had begun. florida law again now prosecutors could use the sworn testimony in courts of both the girlfriend and the hitmen. even with that, the case was what prosecutors knew all too well, rather weak. >> this was a circumstantial case, extremely circumstantial. really based on motive. >> sutton wanted the law to convicted his son of murder, but was christopher actually guilty? coming up, in court, the killer returns to the scene of the crime. >> what did you do at the end of the hallway? >> i proceeded to shoot. >> who did you shoot at first? >> john.

>> what did you see mr. south and do when you shot him? >> slip off the bed. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues this is what you want for your family portrait? good point. we bundled the boat with our home and auto first. -hey, team, get on in here. -team? oh. fun. now everyone say "24/7 financial protection with progressive"! 24/7 financial protection with progressive! okay. let's get some singles of me on the bike. honey. yeah. [ leaf blower whirring ] summertime in miami.

pounding heat, unavoidable sun. unavoidable except, of course, inside. six years inside the cell in the county jail, had produced a doughy christopher sutton by the time his trial finally began. it was july 2010. a son charge with hiring the hitmen who murdered his mother and blinded his father. he sound very confident and prepared. ignoring, most of the time, the surviving members of his family. >> i have nothing to say to him. >> melissa sap this father, their father.

at the front row seat. the prosecutor told the jury a horror story. the states version of what happened during the murder. >> the man for whom the gunman had signed on to commit a double murder. a man who was intimately familiar with john and susan sutton. that man was their son, christopher sutton. then graphic as vince. a crime scene soaked in blood and littered with bullet casings. medical examiner place nickel -- to show where susan was shot six times christopher to the breath and recoiled. but how the state prove that christopher was behind it all? >> raise your right hand to administer the oath. here's how it started. this man once worked with christopher. was an occasional pop customer to. but was shocked, he said, when christopher asked them certain questions. >> what did the defendant ask you? >> he asked me if i knew of any hitmen that would kill his

parents. >> what reason or explanation did he give you? >> he said that his parents were about 500,000 $2 million. >> it was a lot more actually. with this, insurance, law practice, chris for stood to inherit millions. so was money the motive? or was the stint at the boot camp and samoa. or both? >> the detective told the jury he tried to find out when questioned christopher. >> did you hate your parents that much and he sets you tell me. he said you just don't know. >> did that answer the question about guilt or motive? or would -- >> miss driscoll would come forward. >> -- wants his fiancée and the love of his life walked by him in the courtroom christopher's eyes went numb. he had not seen her in years. now, her testimony could send him away for life. >> what did the defendant tell you about getting his parents killed or taken care of?

>> same thing i've been here for the last six years. >> which was if he can find someone to kill them? >> find somebody, they deserve it. >> this wasn't easy for juliette. this recall, the last time you saw susan sutton, the night of that birthday celebration few hours before she was killed. >> we went over. it was me, chris, john, susan, and steady. we had dinner. the remember that melissa was her? do you need a minute? >> this will probably be a good time for a break. >> that night, whether giuliani would or not, chris friend's drug dealing hitmen garrett copper already leaving a trail for detectives. a trail phone calls. 17 in all. one just an hour after the murder as chris friendly at left the movie theater that august night. >> the state will call cared

cop to the sand? >> here was the man who began that football. the man who said he did it. 25 years old, short, scruffy, the self confessed killer shuffled into the court and told a horrifying tale. how christopher instructed him to enter the house through a sliding glass door near the pool. how it made a sketch of the house to guide garrett down all way to john and susan's bedroom >> what did you do it in the hallway? >> i proceeded to shoot. >> who did you shoot at first? >> john. >> is that mr. sutton? >> yes. >> where was mr. sutton when you shot at him initially? >> on the bed. >> what did you see mr. sutton do when you shot him? >> slip off the bed. >> after you find mr. sutton what did you do? >> proceed to shoot into the other room? >> who is the person with whom that you were in a plan to shoot john and susan sutton? -- >> and what do you remember the

defendant telling you about how much money you might expect to get? >> upwards of 100,000. >> until this moment, johnson had been a spectator at his son's trial. his thoughts and feelings's own. but he was a victim too. staying out of it was not an option for him. now came the moment he both dreaded hand -- testifying against his own son. first about the night his world went dark. >> the only thing i saw was for an instant a snap. i did not even see the gun. but in an instant, them, and then the next thing you knew i woke up and i was on the floor. >> john sutton answer the questions where the defendant sitting before mom and he had never met. as if this was not the boy he had raised from birth. neither father nor son displayed the slightest emotion. >> it doesn't make any sense to get on the witness stand and

cry in front of the jury. so i dealt with it. i did what i had to do. >> so he did. but was he writes? did the state really have the puzzle solved? or had its key witness been forced to lie? coming up, now, it was the defense's turn. and christopher's old girlfriend one of the prosecutions start this is against them had a new story to tell. about how she was threatened by police. >> >> they told me that if they did hear what they wanted to hear they're going to arrest me instead. they threw my purse across the room. >> what would that due to the prosecution's case? when dateline continues. when dateline continues. ve can get a little messy... good thing there's resolve.

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skill to defend someone charged with first degree murder. in miami, bruce fleischer has all the skill. but what he could see right away long before the trial. was a scene in that courtroom was about as bad as it could be. there they were, just feet apart, his client and a blind father. a survivor of christopher sutton's alleged plot to kill his parents. >> the fact that john survived and blind was to me the greatest prejudice in the case. there he was, right behind the bar the whole time. the jury will hear something bad little wretch on sudden. they had to be thinking, this poor man look what he has to go through life with. for the victim he must display only sympathy. so instead he attacked the murder investigation itself. the way the police come up with

their star witness. juliette and garrett. after all, without them, the states case was week. why do you suppose they came forward anyway? because they were forced to. or so -- . juliet driscoll for example, why did she tell police christopher talked about killing his parents? >> they eventually tell her, if you don't tell us what we want to know you are going to be arrested in this murder. what did she do? >> she tells them what they want to know. >> in fact, the defense attorney got juliet to admit that state wouldn't have talked unless the state had threatened her. >> they told me that didn't hear what they want to hear that they were going to rest me instead. they threw my purse across the room. they slammed their hands on the desk. >> did they tell you was going to be for first degree murder?

>> they told me they're going to arrest me for murder. >> you eventually told them what they want to hear. >> after 13 hours yes. >> for christopher was arrested the two lana wedding and honeymoon and samoa. which begs the question. >> he was going to take the lives of his parents. why would you stay with him and why would you marry him? >> i can't think of how many times i've heard somebody say, oh my god i paid this person so much, i could kill them right now. when you hear force shakes straight years you just don't believe it. >> finally, julia testified that detectives lied and they said she told them i knew it would happen. i just did not know when >> i never believed he was going to do it and that's why the whole thing with my statement, but i knew who's going to do it, and which i've said i didn't know who's going to do it. i'm still confused about the whole matter. i don't know if he did it or

not. nobody knows what really happened except for him in carrots. >> thank you. >> that is what i've been saying. >> why not just play tape of the interrogation. well, they could not. the police didn't record a word of their long talk with juliette driscoll. >> she says certainly said those things. but whether he did it or not is up in the air as far as they're concerned. >> i've been that gives rides to a major reasonable doubt in this case. >> remember, garrett koch, the confessed shooter testified that he was merely christopher 's puppet on a string when he killed susan and tried to kill john. how did he get a jury to doubt the? >> we now have to go after him. >> oh, head he did. the question went after garrett and the cops. >> every time you denied being involved in this. they got aggressive with you, they? >> some. what they are just like, kind

of pushing you a little bit. >> they're kind of push you. they walked over to and push a bit on the shoulder. >> and in my face. >> they just touch? >> filling the against me. >> yeah, like this? >> and when they got close to like this whether they think? garrett -- >> something like that. >> you need to tell us something garrett, because they're going to fry you and the electric chair. >> excuse me. thank you mister -- >> is that objection? >> that is an objection. well then the question is that what they said to you? >> something like that. i'm going out for murder. >> you are going down for murder. >> i'm going to get the death penalty. >> you are going to get the death penalty. >> what finally made you give them some information. >> saying that julia was the person in the room. they told me i was gonna go to jail for murder already. so ended up confessing. >> there was no doubt that

scott committed the murder. but maybe the case against christopher wasn't quite so watertight after all. maybe christopher himself could set the record straight. we're calling chris sutton. would jurors listen? >> coming up, accused him murdering his mother and blinding his father, the sun sheds tears on the sand. for himself. >> i was what they called, and denial. , when dateline continues , when dateline continue

we moved out of the city so our little sophie could appreciate nature. but then he got us t-mobile home internet. i was just trying to improve our signal, so some of the trees had to go. i might've taken it a step too far. (chainsaw revs) (tree crashes) (chainsaw continues) (daughter screams) let's pretend for a second that you didn't let down your entire family. what would that reality look like? well i guess i would've gotten us xfinity... and we'd have a better view. do you need mulch?

what, we have a ton of mulch. we are calling chris sutton. psoriasis really messes with you. try. hope. fail. no one should suffer like that. i started cosentyx®. five years clear. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infection, some serious and a lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reaction may occur. best move i've ever made. ask your dermatologist >> jurors had to be curious about the man accused of putting a hit on his own parents. her one thing, it has buttoned down shirt and wide rimmed glasses he looks more stew than than murder suspect. and besides, for two weeks they

watched his careful note taking, his whispered asides whose attorney. >> he felt that he was wrongfully prosecuted. the only way we can type lot of things and actually prove things, disprove thinks, let's buy him testifying. >> how would he convey his innocence? first, by describing his hospital vigil, a concern sign on the night of the shooting. >> did he acknowledge? >> he could squeeze your hand but you can speak. >> how did you feel when you saw your father at the trauma center? >> shocked, hurt, worried, scared. >> not that chris first claimed to be a perfect son. in fact, he told the jury he was a drug dealer. garrett koch was one of his best customers but had good reason to turn on him. why? because years earlier, christopher said, he turned police informant to give drug

charges dropped. who did he finger? garrett cobb. >> what happened, if anything, with their relationship with garrett koch after he was arrested? >> i didn't speak to him for a while. or i should say didn't speak to me. >> was he mad at you? >> yes. it was a >> play back time now? >> yes, it must have been. the,'s history of the murder. christopher said he had nothing to do with it. told the jury, he never asked a cop to kill his parents. koch made it all up. the police said it all wrong. what really happened he said was that cop stormed into the house that night to steal christopherson stash. boxes full of drugs. >> how much marijuana did you store these boxes. and the top box about two pounds. >> what was the value of that? >> 7000 bucks. >> in fact, very day of the murder said christopher, i -- call them again and again desperate to buy drugs.

christopher told that between his mother's birthday party and the movie that night he couldn't do it. >> why did you tell him that you couldn't get the drugs? >> i told him that i had left it in my room and my parents house. >> that's what gave cop the idea as to where to go to get the drugs. >> but that still doesn't explain what he would in cold blood murder, or attempted murder these two people. >> he went to get the drugs. he found dissidents home, and they could recognize him. he panicked. he wasn't drug stupor. and he shot them both. >> so if you are garrett koch, wouldn't you try to implicate the man who turned you into police? >> here's the thing, said christopher, he could understand cop turning on a. but juliet, his own fiancée? when he heard what she told police she said it broke down in tears. not because of what she said but why she must've said it. >> this was he started reading

parts of gillette stadium it, i started crying. >> are you crying? >> i was crying because women whose would be marrying in five weeks i'd like to say for self. >> there were tears of frustrations to said christopher. how could he defend himself against lies when his police interrogator kept accusing him further? >> i think he's not gonna believe anything i say. just to try to twist my words to use them against me. like you did with julia. because there's no proof. because i know don't do anything. >> there it was, another theory for the jury to consider. but there was one more thing the defense had to do. if possible. knock down the allegation that his banishment i'd give him a motive to kill his parents. but what you're about to see, as crisper describe the program, probably wasn't the defense

strategy. >> i love until your that's got the bathroom on their own, he's allowed to have some more privileges. and then -- >> something in the members on that island struck a nerve. >> how are you feeling, physically, during the time? i was what they called, in denial. we >> need a break? >> strange, stop for the rest of his testimony. yet in the prospect of trying to dismiss so mueller as a murder motive he cried about his experience there. so, revealing? attorney fleischer put the best spin and he could. >> i think that showed his honesty as a witness. >> i cried when i got off the plane. >> when corporal some crisper told the jury that while he was initially upset about being sent a similar, he got over it.

made the best of it. and when his parents and melissa came to visit, they all had a wonderful time together. hardly a dysfunctional family. in the story the photos told. >> we happened with their parents? >> i was very happy to see my parents. i love them very much. >> so it given the jury an alternative. he had tried, at least, to defuse asylum mueller mode. enough? not nearly, said prosecutor -- >> what motive did garrett koch have to go and attempt to assassinate both of those people? >> none. >> what would've did christopher sutton have to want both his parents dead? plenty. >> what is the story here? they have the statement of garrett koch, the drug praised the hug who gives this story to save himself from the death penalty. and the core statement of juliette driscoll. where is the evidence in this

case? what did they have? nothing. >> seven men, five women on the jury. and real doubts in the air. >> purcell saying his testimony he had forgotten aligned. >> coming up the jury speaks. and sodas christopher sutton. >> i could've been a better guy. >> as his father hopes for a miracle. when dateline continues. when dateline continues. helps lower a1c, and it's covered by medicare. before using the dexcom g7, i was really frustrated. all of that finger pricking and all that pain, my a1c was still stuck. before dexcom g7, i couldn't enjoy a single meal. i was always trying to outguess my glucose, and it was awful. before dexcom g7, my diabetes was out of control because i was tired, not having the energy to do the things that i wanted to do. (female announcer) dexcom g7 is a small, easy-to-use wearable that sends your glucose numbers to your phone or dexcom receiver

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rights for the jury. >> not an easy task, these people were given. they'd christopher sutton mastermind the plan to kill's own parents? >> we battled for a while. >> who knew? that those twelves are butting heads all day and the jury room and split down the middle after seven hours. they went home. it was mostly garrett caught they had trouble with. how could they believe a cold

blooded hitmen who rests on a friend to save his own skin? >> he's making this deal cozy doesn't want the death penalty. >> which would mean what? you can't really believe what he's going to say cause he's an opportunist? >> yeah he's doing it to save himself. >> the next day they tried again. ten hours went by. swept in the air conditioned hallway, a deadlock. and then, seven pm, two world said it all the buzz. a verdict. gianna melissa sutton took their seats in the front row. >> christopher sutton stood stone faced as jurors founded. were those tears from some members of the jury? >> ladies and gentlemen they reached a verdict. >> judge sanford like read the verdict. >> state of i was christopher sutton. we the jury in miami-dade florida the 21st day of july 2010 on the defendant christopher patrick sutton as to count one guilty of first degree murder as charged and

the indictment. >> guilty. with that chris for snap back as if he had been struck. >> count three, guilty of attempted first degree felony murder. >> melissa wept. her father, their father, locked his jaw. stared ahead. silas. >> sentencing would be immediate. john sutton was offered time to speak. and years of stoic resolve crumbled. >> regardless of the result. this is a bad case. we are now we are now at five years and 11 months. i lost a citizen.

i lost christopher long before that. >> christopher did not look at his father. had he done so he would not have seen the tears. the bullet that tore into his head left john sutton unable to cry. >> i lost my eyesight. >> how was it in that courtroom? >> it needs to be over. >> bra, personal, here's a judge. >> i have a son those born the exact same way scripts for sutton. his state during the trial. remember the joy of bringing my son home just like mr. sidon has. so this time as to count one mr. sudden, the court poses sentence of life in prison. >> and that was that. christopher sutton will die in prison. a result he found so shocking

you decided he needed to explain that they got it very wrong. >> the verdict did seem to be a big surprise. >> yeah, i definitely wasn't expecting to be found guilty. i was shocked, you know. to know you don't do something and you have to have people feel you did. >> the words gus from his mouth. as if it just wasn't time to say everything that needs to be said. >> well, i mean, a lot of this comes down to me, and there's garrett. and everybody else just kind of talking about what i did years before, or maybe after. you know, even juliette said that. people don't know anything. >> this idea that he would break it with you four drugs. >> you would have drugs there? >> i had stuff in my bedroom still thus moving out and inept that room. garrett help me move some of that stuff. >> you need some water? >> the jury told us that chris first tires on the witness stand while he talked about samoa made some of them believe his incarceration there on the

island was a motive for murder. >> you seem kind of broken up talking about the camp but, not so broken up when you're talking about your parents. >> when initially talked about outcry locked, it be really hard. now the program i did my best steal that away. >> that is the first met sat there in a long time. i've been like, wow, what really did happen. >> how do you feel about your dad now? >> i'm devastated. that he said things against that are bad. but my dad turning on me and hard times. it isn't anything you. >> that he talked about the circumstances, his fate, and the self control. >> the weight set right now, this is home, you'll never get. >> at some point in time, if you have integrity inside yourself, you have to sign up for what you believe in. even if your life is on the line. >> how does that feel? >> it is hard. it is hard to know them clinical to jail for something i didn't do. i'm not gonna sit here and deny

that i had problems with my parents. whether any of that stuff happened. that's when i went to get their unexplained. explain to the people that you know i may not be the best person, i could've been a better guy, but i was trying and i didn't have anything to do with this. i didn't create the system just stuck in its. >> you're trapped? >> i'll fight to the end. i mean i can't always maintain my innocence. >> john sutton still recalled the suit he wore when he brought christopher home from the hospital. and now how did y'all come to this? and we actually sat down with him he shared his thoughts about the boy he did his best to race. what about christopher? do you still think of him as your son? >> i think he is. someday may go seem. and say what were you thinking of, you know, what a criminal

ridiculous crazy thing all this was? >> reconciling with whatever comes as a long long -- >> that is not happening. no way. >> it is complicated, says melissa. ridiculously difficult. but what choices she have. >> you know. not gonna ignore that fact. i have a billion family pictures with him. >> the brother blew through all vanley? >> that's an be'er sheva mom who passed away. a mother who's in jail. a dad who's blind. that's my family and it is kind of what it is. but at the same time you, know, i believe he did what he did, and i've no intention of ever speaking with him again. >> the wife indeed did go on. melissa moved up north and found a career in media service

since. >> detectives -- and larry value retired from the forest. the value adopted a little boy just like johnson did all those years ago. john sutton continue to pursue his dream to see again. >> i prepared or has it sunk in that you're going to be blind for the rest of your life? >> well, that is not my blind. i may not be that smart but boy i am motivated. >> the enthusiasm coming out of you as kind of inspirational. >> i am ready to roll. i've got plans for this eyesight. eyesight this sunday, the art of the deal. >> the bill is passed. >> house speaker kevin mccarthy and president biden strike a deal. >> both sides operated