>> > i'm craig melvin and i'm ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the l'or barista coffee and espresso system. a masterpiece in taste natalie morales and this is dateline. >> my mother called and said michelle is dead.

how is that possible? >> a young mother found brutally murdered. her little girl left to wonder in her mother's blood. police had a suspect and they say that he had a motive. >> we had an intimate relationship. >> ended up having sex. >> could they prove he was the killer? >> it was a circumstantial case, except for that witness, the girl who left those footprints. >> they will never know what cassidy saw and what she did not see. >> maybe she could not tell detectives who the killer was, but maybe she did not have to. >> the fact that cassidy was spared, would that mean anything to a jury? >> person who killed the mother cared about cassidy. >> hello, and welcome to dateline. michelle young was married to

her college sweetheart, four months pregnant with her second child when the unthinkable happened. the young mother was beaten to death in her own bedroom. the investigation would quickly bowl a troubled marriage. but her husband was away on business. and unraveling this complicated case would take years. here is keith morrison with silent witness. >> i think i pause for a second and had to take a deep breath. and just the reality of what was going on sinking in. >> those who saw the footprints would not forget them. they were tiny and they were bloody. >> i had to get my composure to finish searching this house to make sure there is nobody else in the house. >> it was the third november 2006, early afternoon. scott irving was the wake county sheriff's deputy

dispatched to chatted oaks. the outskirts of raleigh, north carolina. here because of the 9-1-1 call from this placed on birch leaf drive. >> i think my sister is dead. >> tell me what happened ma'am? >> i have no idea, oh my god. >> the caller was meredith fischer, she had just discovered on the floor of the master bedroom the savagely beaten body of her elderly sister, 29 year old michelle young, a woman who in death, was about to be famous. >> listen to me mom, i'm going to tell you what to do but you need to calm down. there's blood everywhere? >> yes. >> listen to me, ma'am is she breathing? >> i don't think so. >> have you checked? >> michelle? she's cold. >> okay. >> two and a half year old cassidy who had crawled out from underneath the parents bed just feet from where her mother lay. cassidy's voice, chattering to her aunt was caught. >> she's got boos everywhere? >> had cassidy witnessed the murder? awakened, alone, to find this.

>> just picture a small child walking around in this blood and tracking it across the hallway into the bathroom. >> by now wake county investigators were on the house and having secured the crime scene, his job was done. but on his way out he saw cassidy again. she was still in her pink pajamas, still in meredith's arms. he asked meredith a question. >> i looked over to the child and didn't see any blood and i asked her was did she clean the child? her response was no. i thought a response was odd cause i was expecting her to say yes i did. >> somebody did. >> but who? was it the same person who murdered the little girl's mother? on this november day, all they had was questions. a sergeant with the white county sheriff's office probably knows the case better

than anyone. >> i mean this was just a brutal, vicious beating. there was a lot of time and energy invested into this assault. >> why do you say a lot of time and energy? >> the medical examiner told us it was over 30 blows with some sort of a blunt object. >> so detectives started investigating and everyone else around her. michelle young was born and raised on long island new york. >> she was smiling all the time. she was the life of the party. >> -- grossman knew her from childhood. she didn't like being the center of attention, but created a great atmosphere. for everyone to have a good time. >> michelle was a cheerleader in high school, ans a straight a student. jennifer powers felt drawn to her. >> she had this kind of book or inside to her, where she was very studious and goal oriented. she was also just a great person to be around, a fun, happy spirit. somebody who i wanted to spend a lot of time with.

>> lots of people did. and when she chose a college far from home, north carolina state, she was soon surrounded again by an admiring group of women, best friends, buddies. fiona child was her sorority big sister. >> there's this one picture and it just came out beautiful and we like that because we thought we kind of looked like charlie 's angels posed without intentionally doing that. >> it was sometime in 2001 when friends started hearing about michellele's new guy. a fellow student named jason young. heard how he had grown up in the north carolina mountains, i loved to camp, how he was a life of tailgate parties. michellele fell hard and fast. >> they seemed like a good couple. he was different from other men that he she had dated in the past. was not as serious about a career as she was. he was a little bit less sophisticated than michelle was, but seemed to be very happy with him. >> michelle and jason married in october of 2003.

the day after the wedding they shared a big secret. michelle was pregnant. their daughter cassie was born early the next year. >> i love you mommy. >> i love you to cassidy. >> and when she came along, it was love at first sight. >> michelle was an enthusiastic mother. by all accounts jason was a good dad. >> he was a great playmate. he knew how to sit on the floor and play with his daughter.

>> the youngest moved into the house on birchleaf in 2005. both of them worked, he is a salesman, she a financial specialist. in the summer of 2006, michellele got pregnant again. they kept the news to themselves, but it was clear that something good was happening. >> the comment he said to me was that he was excited to have another baby. not implying that she was pregnant, but excited about the prospect of. but just a few months later, michellele was dead. >> jason was 170 miles away in virginia on a business trip in the night of the murder. he heard the news the next afternoon and returned to raleigh. -- grossman got word from her mother. >> my mother called and said michelle is dead? >> i said michelle who? some celebrity, what are you talking about? what do you mean, how is that possible, what happened? >> the very question wake county investigators were asking themselves. >> as the investigation heats up, a security camera provides a critical clue. it's not what it caught, it's what it missed and why. coming up. >> there was a camera there had that had been unplugged. >> who had something to hide? when dateline continues.

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ugly. one night in november 2006, when her husband was away on business, michelle young was attacked in her own bedroom and brutally beaten to death. her body discovered the next day by her sister, meredith. along with her two and a half year old daughter cassidy, who had been left to wonder in her blood. for the investigators who set

out to find her killer, no way to get those little footprints out of their minds. sergeant richard, lead investigator. >> those of us who work law enforcement, this is our profession, we are also parents, that certainly strikes a different note with you when you see something like that. >> michelle's husband jason, a medical software salesman was 170 miles away on the night of the murder. even so, investigators had to look at him. >> we know he was the last person to talk to michelle that night. and that he was also the reason why she was found. he called meredith that she should go to the house. >> jason young's business trip that night was routine. security tapes show him getting gas 7:30 pm when he left raleigh. two hours later he was seen on tape at a cracker barrel restaurant in greensboro. later he checked into this hamptons in. this is him at the front desk at about 11 pm. and him again at midnight. he also made a phone call around midnight and that was the last that anyone had heard

from jason young, until he made another call at 7:40 the next morning. >> a normal person would look at this and say he is 170 miles away, he's got an alibi. >> that sounds like a great distance. 170 miles, you can get between the crime scene and the home tell in about two and a half hours. >> perhaps, but there was curious anomalies at the crime scene. a jewelry box was missing from the drawers. so was that a bungled burglary? then there were footprints near the body that seemed to eliminate jason. an obvious print on the pillow was a size ten, but jason wore a size 12. but this was weird, there was another partial footprint that defied easy identification, so they began calling in shoe experts. now they wondered, where their two attackers? investigators discovered early on that michelle's and jason's marriage was strained. in the last weeks of michelle's life, things were not good. >> at our friend shelly's wedding he was so drunk.

just really out of it. when we got to the wedding, our friends were letting us know that michelle and jason were fighting. and they were referring to it as world war iii. >> jennifer powers told investigators about another fight that october. michelle wanted her mother to stay with him for the holidays and jason, who had a tense relationship with his mother-in-law, wanted to limit her stay. said so in an email. along with another nugget. >> he wrote, our marriage has seen better days and i don't see it trending up. and i remember that really struck a chord with me, because i did not know that their marriage had seen better days. >> so of course investigators wanted to interview jason young. maybe he could tell him something. but he refused to talk to them. >> he talked to the lawyer and

then under the advice of counsel he declined to speak with us at all. >> didn't ask about her? didn't ask how his wife died? >> no. >> perhaps investigators thought that business trip deserved a second look. so they went to the hotel, poked around. and discovered some odd activities that night in a stairwell near an exit. >> there was a camera there that had been unplugged. >> really? >> yes. was one of the side exits of the hotel. the fire stairs that go down to the first floor. >> was there any other tampering done? >> the door that was adjacent to where this camera was located, that door had also been propped open that night. >> how do you know that? >> the gentleman working as the clerk that night found a rock that had been placed in the door to keep the door from closing. then they plugged the camera back, and so it's now working again. at about 6:35 that morning,

suddenly that camera is pointing straight at the ceiling. >> same camera? >> same camera. it's tampered with yet again. >> if that was jason young's work, is it possible he did make the 340 mile round trip? could he have killed his wife and cleaned up his daughter all in seven and a half hours without ever being seen? to find out investigators played a hunch. they visited every gas station along the route, showed jason's photo, talked to the night clerks, and came across a woman named gracie. in a tiny place called king, north carolina she took one look at that photograph and recognized it instantly. he was the foul mouth customer she said, who came storming into the store to complain that the pumps were locked. what time was it? 5:40 am, murder of the murder. >> there was an altercation between the two of them. so you'd have a reason why she would remember him, opposed to

any customer who had come to the store. >> if that attendant was right, investigators may have undercut jason's alibi. but still, it was not enough. and so they plotted ahead. painstaking work that took time. and then years after the murder, they finally got a match for that partial footprint. >> the state bureau of investigation and fbi were able to eventually identify that shoe as a hush puppy shoe. it was a size 12, which is the same size that he wore. >> throughout the investigation, jason steadfastly remained his silence. and rather than face a legal battle where he would be asked some tough questions, he even gave michelle's family custody of his daughter. >> everyone we spoke with, everyone talked about how much he loved cassidy and what a great dad he was. to just turn over primary custody, that was very surprising. >> investigators had heard enough. they believed they had a case,

circumstantial, but a case. and three years after michelle young's body was found on the bedroom floor, jason young was charged with her murder. investigators and prosecutors knew that very little pointed directly towards jason young, but so far nothing pointed away. >> coming up, the case against jason young as an alleged killer. and as a cheating husband. >> we had an intimate relationship for the two days that he was there. >> we ended up having sex. >> he never settled down. >> when dateline continues. she gets exactly what she wants, and only pays for what she needs. she picks only the perks she wants, and saves on every one. all with an incredible new iphone. act now and get iphone 14 pro max on us when you switch. it's your verizon. i'm kareem abdul jabbar. i was diagnosed with afib. the first inkling that something was wrong

was i started to notice that i couldn't do things without losing my breath. i couldn't make it through the airport, and every like 20 or 30 yards i had to sit down and get my breath. every physical exertion seemed to exhaust me. and finally, i went to the hospital where i was diagnosed with afib. when i first noticed symptoms, which kept coming and going, i should have gone to the doctor and told them what was happening. instead, i tried to let it pass. if you experience irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or light-headedness, you should talk to your doctor. afib increases the risk of stroke about 5 times i want my experience to help others understand the symptoms of atrial fibrillation. when it comes to your health, this is no time to wait. imagine you're doing something you love. rsv could cut it short.

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for the murder of his pregnant wife michelle in the june of 2011. by then he had spent 18 months in a jail cell. the guy who had lived for tailgates, the guy who loved to party, like i was long. becky was the prosecutor who open for the state. >> defendant had a plan, his plan was to murder his wife. his plan was to get away with it. >> with no murder weapon found, prosecutor's case was based on that partial shoe print. knowing that jason once owned a

pair of hush puppies like these, that matched the print they were now missing. they also told jurors about that visit to the gas station and activity in the hotel. but their case was this, jason young was trying in the most violent possible way to get out of the troubled marriage. >> were you aware of tensions in that marriage? >> yes. i was well aware. >> michelle's sister had lived near the couple and for a period was cassidy's nanny. >> as the youngs fights intensified, she took on the role of a marriage counselor too. >> where would you say were the main issues? >> michellele's main issues were jason being more responsible, understanding her more and his main concern was their lack of sex life. >> prosecutors called friends to the stand to paint a picture of a marriage that was unraveling out loud and in public. >> jason made it very well known that he was upset about the lack of sex in the relationship.

>> and at parties, said fiona child's, jason's x rated tricks were famously over the top. >> i never observed it myself, i would just hear about it and he would expose himself and do what he would thought was funny tricks. and i was always just rather embarrassed for michelle. >> he never settled down, it was as if he was still living the single life and that he had never bought into the marriage and put all of that meant. >> in october 2006, when michelle was four months pregnant, jason became deeply involved with another woman. and not just any woman. michelle money was one of michelle young's friends from college, one of those charlie's angels. in an early october, days before his third wedding anniversary, jason flew to florida to see michelle money. testifying that they both knew it was wrong.

>> we basically just hung out at the house and we had an intimate relationship for the two days that he was there. >> jason was crazy about her, his friend josh dalton said. >> basically told me that he thought he was in love with her. >> michelle's mother linda fischer testified. in the final weeks of michelle 's life, she could see the toll that the marriage was taking on his daughter. >> had her head on my lap and she was lying out. and i was stroking her hair. and she was empty. >> what did she tell you? >> things weren't we are working out with jason. >> two days before she was murder, michelle phoned her sister meredith to report yet another blow up with jason. >> she was just, i've had it. she said that more than one

time, i just can't do this anymore. >> jason was telling one of his close friends the same thing. and prosecutors said that just days before michelle was murdered, he indulged in one last transgression. a casual hook up with an old friend named caroline. in his own living room. michelle was away at the time. >> cassidy was put down to bed and i had a couple drinks, we were talking. and we ended up having sex. >> but divorce was apparently not an option for jason. >> he made a statement i want on that he was afraid if he'd ever gotten avoid divorce that michelle take cassidy. and move back to new york.

>> did he indicate to you about ever seen cassidy? >> correct. >> still, one big question remained. was a good time guy like jason young even capable of murder? genevieve was engaged to jason in 1999 before he had met michelle and she took the stand to testify about fight they had had over jason's excessive drinking. >> he became agitated. said something to the effect of, if i'm going to make such a terrible husband, then give me my ring back. >> did you give it to the defendant? >> no. he began trying to pull the ring off and it would not come off. he was throwing me from one end of the bed to the other and pinning my arms behind me. >> prosecutors had hoped to convince that it had added up to a motive for murder. how would the defense counterattack? with a witness who could refute every charge. >> coming up, jason young finally breaks his silence as

he takes the stand to testify. >> did you kill your wife michelle? >> no, sir. >> were you there when it happened? >> no sir. >> when dateline continues. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ it's spring! non-drowsy claritin-d knocks out your worst allergy symptoms including nasal congestion, without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. claritin-d. what are folks 60 and older up to these days? getting inspired! volunteering! playing pickleba...! this is a cranberry. full of ancient, antioxidant, taste bud blasting power.

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top stories. -- interstate 95 in philadelphia saturday. biden voiced to support the railway which collapsed after a passenger took power. pennsylvania's governor saying i-95 is set to reopen in two weeks. another active weekend of severe storms are targeting some 37 million americans from colorado to florida. the strongest target was oklahoma, southern kansas, and arkansas with possible tornadoes. now, back to dateline. ine. >> > welcome back to dateline, i'm craig melvin. jason young was on trial for the murder of his wife michelle.

prosecutors argued that the software salesman killed his wife to get out of an unhappy marriage. to bolster their case. called two of jason's lovers to the stand. of the extramarital of the fares. but the defensive star witness of their own. after five long years, jason young was about to break his silence. here again is keith morrison with silent witness. >> what the prosecution did not tell you. >> there's an art to the business of criminal defense and it would take a true artist to repaint the prosecutions dark portrait of jason young. so good defensive attorney mike do? to begin with, as he told the jury, he agreed with the prosecution. jason young was not a good husband. >> he acted at times like an immature jerk. but that does not make him a killer.

>> the defense was not about to make any more concessions, mind you. that jewelry box in the bedroom, there was dna on it. the suspicious activity at the hotel? there was a fingerprint on that camera. and it was not jason young's. and there was not any forensic evidence that tied jason to the crime scene. no blood in his car, not a scratch on him. >> ladies and gentlemen, jason young did not murder his wife. he did not murder their unborn son. and this case has not been solved. >> who better to make that argument than jason young himself? so far, remember, he had never said a word to anyone. about that november night. and almost five year silent. >> always a big decision for defense attorneys whether or not to call their clients. >> beth is a former prosecutor and legal analyst. and this was a case that begged

for jason want to testify. >> after all this time? >> right. and if he's truly innocent, get on the stand and tell the story. >> we call jason young. >> with his mother sitting in the front row, jason young prepared to do just that. defensive attorney brian hit it hard off the top. >> did you kill your wife michelle? >> no sir. >> were you there when it happened? >> no sir. >> but what about jason's missing hush puppies that matched the partial shoe print. he no longer owned them he said. >> were those the shoes you had on november the 2nd? >> no sir. >> they were ratty. give them to good well, he told michelle. as for the night of the murder, after he checked into the hotel, jason testified that he had left his room twice. the first time to get a power court for his lap top. >> i was going over the sales call i had for the next day. >> the second trip was to smoke a cigar. >> i had to go outside to smoke a cigar. i also wanted to look at some

sports schedules and some standings and so i wanted to see if i could pick up the usa today as well. and that newspaper run explains why he was seen at the front desk at midnight. >> you smoked a cigar, went back upstairs and went to sleep. did you leave that room until the next morning? >> no sir. >> next morning, after the sales call, jason testified that he realized he had left some ebay printouts sitting on the computer printer at home. they showed purses, thinking of buying one for myself as a belated anniversary present. >> i realized didn't bring those papers. >> why was it important to you to give the papers? >> i wanted to surprise michelle. a surprise to michelle means so much more than anything. >> around noon, november 3rd, he called his sister-in-law meredith from the car to ask if she would go to the house and

get those ebay papers. >> he left meredith a voice mail. then he headed to his mother's place in the mountains nearby. it was there he learned michelle had been murdered. >> i just fell. i broke on the inside and i just didn't believe it. family members drove him back to raleigh. during the drive he said his friends called. >> ryan and josh said that the investigators were asking and they were asking ugly questions, pointing their fingers at me. and doing things like that. and they said, you don't talk to anybody, you need to get a lawyer before you talk to anybody. and the explanation for his long silence. >> the lawyer after talking with him, and advised me to not go and talk to the police.

>> did you take that advice? >> yes sir. >> to tell you not to talk to anybody about it? >> that's exactly what he said. don't talk to anybody about anything. >> the defense also addressed the motives that the prosecutors had laid out. that jason wanted to escape a marriage, keep cassidy and spend time with his new love. >> did you have any designs in your own mind of leaving michelle young for michelle money? >> no sir. >> i think we both knew it was wrong. i don't think either one dreamed that it would ever be found out. >> as for that violent episode with his ex fiancée, jason had an explanation for it. >> did you throw her around on the bed like she said? >> no sir, what i did was wrong, i did pin her down and i took the ring. >> what was your level of intoxication that night?

>> i was very intoxicated. but i don't feel like that is an excuse for what i did. >> they questioned him about the most important woman in his life. >> did you want to stay married to michelle? >> yes, i did. i wanted to have another baby and i wanted a family to grow. >> he also explained why he gave up custody of his daughter without a fight. >> were you able to afford a lawyer for a full blown custody battle? >> no sir. due to the media and the internet websites, the job i had, i had lost it. >> the testimony lasted three hours. >> jason young was a very good witness. he understood what he had to do when he was on the stand. >> he did not come office contrived or phony? like he had put this together very carefully in order to account for all of the evidence that they had? >> he had access to police

reports, all the discovery, he knew the state's vulnerabilities. and so he could arguably tailor his testimony to fit with an innocent explanation. >> how did jason young do? 12 jurors were about to decide. >> coming up. when you are working on your marriage, when you are having sex with caroline sour be in your home. >> when dateline continues. 2024 chevy trax. ♪ ♪ helps you stay connected... ♪ safe... ♪ and charged. ♪ the all-new chevy trax starting at $21,495. the possibilities are endless.

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almost five years of silence about his wife's murder. broken here in this courtroom. >> i loved cassidy. and i love michelle. >> prosecutor becky hope began pulling up our a story that she had just turned from the first time. >> were you working on your marriage when you are having sex with caroline sour be in your home less than two weeks before your wife was murdered? >> no ma'am, that was not the way to work on the marriage. that was very detrimental. >> were you working on your marriage when you called michelle money? >> michelle and i confided a lot in each other and we talked about my issues with my wife and she talked about her issues with her husband. >> was the answer yes when you had an affair with michelle

money that you were working on your marriage? >> no, the sexual intercourse and intimacy was very detrimental to that. >> it lasted a full hour, and the next day went to the jury. >> it soon became clear that jurors were having trouble. >> indicating we have not yet reached a unanimous decision. >> fears were split 6-6 and sent them back to make it unanimous. >> hours later, they were back and courtroom three c was still. >> appears there is a deadlock. >> eight jurors voted for acquittal, four voted guilty. and the judge considered a mistrial. >> was serious consideration given to dropping the case? >> i think there was serious consideration to what they can do. >> prosecutors decided they would try again. but this time with the one thing they did not have the

first time. jason's own story. >> the second trial began in february of 2012. this time howard cummings let led the prosecution. hoping to use jason's own words to convict him. but first, prosecutors called that night clerk at the gas station, gracie, who had remembered jason complaining about the locked pumps. >> when he came in to pay, he started cussing and raising cain. >> what time did this happen? >> five, 5:30 in the morning. a time when jason said he was at the hotel. then prosecutors had new witnesses and new testimony. wanted jurors to hear about cassidy, whose bloodied footprints, they contended, made her a silent witness to murder. >> when i got to cassidy i said what are you doing? >> daycare workers took the stand.

she told jurors that she had watched cassidy playing alone, days after her mother was murdered. >> she had the chair and the doll together and the mommy doll in the other hand. and just hit them. >> as unsettling as it was, the prosecutors wanted jurors to know that the killer had left a silent witness behind. a witness that he would never harm. the fact that cassidy was spared, did that mean anything to you? would that mean anything to a jury? >> certainly it meant that the person who killed the mother, we felt, cared about cassidy. >> fiona childs took the stand. prosecutors pressed her about a life insurance policy that jason had arranged. >> it did raise a red flag. that she brought up specifically her life insurance. she brought it up several times. 1 million dollars was too much

and did they really need that? >> after michelle died, fiona found out the true amount of the policy was actually $4 million. >> i was just like in total shock. that is incredibly excessive. and prosecutors also told the jury about civil lawsuits against jason, brought by michelle's's mother and sister. >> one was a wrongful death case filed in 2008, a year before he was charged with murder. the defenses objection, corker testified about that lawsuit. >> there is a large paragraph, paragraph six reading verbatim from the record, in the early morning hours of november 3rd 2006, jason young brutally murdered michelle young at their residents. >> freeman went on to testify that jason never responded to the allegations and that led to a default judgment against him. and that judgment said that jason killed his wife.

>> the default judgment does not mean that the facts alleged in this complaint are true. it does not mean that he is guilty and the judge at the criminal trial told the jury that and his instructions. however, when you hear the statement jason young brutally murdered his wife, that does not mean he's guilty folks. hello, you know? >> the prosecutor made sure that the jury heard just who signed that ruling. >> a reading from this judgment signed by judge stevens. >> judge stevens, the very judge sitting before them in this trial. >> the jury hearing is just something that is going to carry a lot of weight. >> this is the complaint that was filed in december, seeking

custody of capacity. >> prosecutors also called the attorney of all the in that custody case over daughter cassidy. and those same allegations were repeated yet again. >> the jury heard several times through these two civil complaints that jason young brutally murdered michelle fischer young. >> the headline act came when prosecutors played jason young 's entire testimony from the first trial. and began to rip it apart. prosecutors try to show that jason's call to meredith to pick up those ebay printouts was merely a ploy to get her to discover the body and find cassidy. why else would be print in ebay auction ad in the bill on the printer and then hit the road where he could not bid during the actual auction? they call the sergeant to the stand. >> that auction was going at 8:00 pm eastern standard time. >> what day was that? >> that was on november 2nd, 2006. >> just hours before the murder. now prosecutors tried to prove

jason lied about his reasons for leaving the hotel room. >> in his original testimony, told the court he left the first time to get a power court for his laptop. >> why was it you wanted to look on your laptop? >> i was going over the sales call that i had the next day. >> special agent mike smith took the stand to say that young did not use his laptop for work that night. just an internet site dedicated to sport. >> jason said he went out a second time to smoke a cigar. but prosecutors contended that jason was a fierce anti smoker. the weather that night was freezing, windy. >> tell me whether or not there is any substantial outerwear that the defendant either had in his luggage or was wearing. >> no sir. a suit jacket. >> that was the only outerwear i was aware of.

>> jason chose not to testify this time. the defense falls back. arguing that the gas attendant memory cannot be trusted to a childhood brain injury. >> i've had memory problems, because i've been a lot through myself and my kids and my ex-husband. >> defense also argued the case really was not solved. and there was no physical evidence to prove that jason was the killer. >> there was not one scratch on mr. yang. would've never had time to make that trip and commit murder. that he did not have the mindset of a killer. and that cigar, showing that jason young owned a humidor and once made a purchase at a cigar store. >> you have ample evidence before that jason is not guilty. and time for another jury to consider whether jason young would go to jail or walk out of court a free man. >> coming up, the verdict. take to. >> we the jury find the defendant jason young to be. >> when dateline continues. clinically proven to remove skin tags

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jury. >> be mad at him. hate him if you want to. but when you look at the physical evidence in this case, it does not match up. does not match up to jason having killed his wife and unborn son. >> 30 blows, that's not from a stranger. that is a mad, domestic abuse are. >> soon that jury was behind closed doors in the wake county superior court. after today's, they were back with a verdict. >> we the jury by unanimous verdict on the defendant jason young to be guilty of first degree murder. >> guilty, first degree murder. jason young did not flinch. behind him his mother was equally stoic. on the other side of the court, michelle young's bereaved mother and sister wept. fiona at home got the news for my friend. >> said he's guilty. i was like, what? what? >> jason young received a life sentence.

chose not to address the court, even as the bailiffs led him away, remained expressionless. the prosecutors were, they told us relieved. >> it was very emotional. have family members there who had been working with for five and a half years. and they finally have justice. >> we've been telling for years, just trust. trust that it will be a right result. >> but was it? >> here and a half ticked by. and then this. >> attorneys for jason young demanding a new trial, saying the trial that led to his conviction had significant errors. >> december 2013. jason young's new attorney launched -- >> who was the killer? is jason young the person responsible for miss young's death? and it seems fundamentally

unfair. >> what was fundamentally unfair? >> remember during the trial, the attorney pointed out that the prosecution introduced testimony about those civil cases against jason brought by michelle's family. they accused jason of murder. >> jason young brutally murdered michelle young. >> the defendant brutally murdered michelle fischer young. >> way out of bounds said the attorney. the jury should not have been allowed to hear about any of that. outside the court, michelle's sister meredith predicted that the appeal would be thrown out. >> the jury came to the right verdict and we are confident it would stay. >> but she was wrong. >> a raleigh man is getting a third trial in the death of his pregnant wife. >> in april 2014, the judges ruled unanimously that testimony about those civil cases prejudiced the jury. and he took particular exception to the fact that the prosecutor was allowed to tell the jury that it was their trial judge who signed the civil judgment against jason. which said that he had killed his wife. in fact, said the appeals court,

introducing evidence about the civil cases was a violation of north carolina law. >> that law says that you cannot use a civil complaint, a civil allegation has proof in a criminal case. but a year later the state supreme court reversed the appeals court decision and in 2017, yet another attempt by jason young to get a third trial. this time on grounds that his defense team was ineffective, was also denied. >> i love you mommy. >> i love you to cassidy. >> the children know little of the arcane world. of motions and appeals. cassidy has grown. and her father, her mother, snatches of memory, ever farther away. >> that is all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. >> hello, i'm craig melvin. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." and