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tv   Dateline NBC  NBC  October 27, 2014 3:07am-4:01am EDT

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million. they have offices in more than 30 states. on the left, newcomer tom styer, net worth $1.6 billion. he has donated $58 million in support of candidates can sprong records on climate state. >> extreme. >> he had a wooden arc where he is focusing on retiring rick scott. the koch brothers through outside groups with mundane if not agreeable sounding names like americans for prosperity, freedom partners, concerned veterans for america, and again opportunity are outspend gs him by five to one on ads in the battleground states. in the center, michael bloomberg, net worth $34 billion. he pledged to spend $50 million to support gun control legislation. and became a punching bag for
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red state democrats. >> mayor bloomberg of new york city ran ads in arkansas criticizing me for standing up for your second amenment rights. >> now he will spend $25 million more backing ining centerists. >> add others, and we could see an election that costs about $44 a vote. the financial arments race has become so crate sdi that one campaign reform advocate decide to fight fire with fire. he formed the anti super pac super pac. >> we launched the may day pac to rally people to the idea of changing the way elections were funded. we have have had more than 50,000 people contribute. sglm the question is, do voters even care? in 2012 billions spend didn't move the needle that much.
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>> let me show you this chart. they listed all the different outside groups that have spent on behalf of bruce braley. i have to scroll it. there's a dozen groups on each side. did you find any voters -- they hate the ads. do they care about the outside money? do they vote on it in. >> no. they don't vote on it. they hate the ads, the amount of money being spent. but it's not a voting issue. the interesting thing is, i'm sure you have had the same experience, you talk to the people who are helping to produce the ads and they are as sick as many of the people who are watching them. why are you doing it? for the reason you said, we can't afford not to because the other side is doing it. >> it's totally -- it feels like the cold war. it's going to destroy the two-party system. >> one of the most interesting statistics that came out of this, a story showing that most of the money, most of the spending is from groups that
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don't disclose their donors. the original free speech argument was, let's lift the caps but let's have conta contemporaneous disclosure but that's not the case. >> it's going to drive good candidates from running. >> yeah. the tlush hold for getting in there is so high now. you had democrats that are complaining about it. but democrats are good at raising this money and coordinating this group on the ground in the different states. >> unbelievable. luke, nice and scary work. right? >> in a moment, sometimes kids say darnedest things. what if ching talked back to us like politicians? >> did you eat the dozen chocolate chip cookies i left on the counter to cool? >> i'm deeply upset by this question.
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you have seen the horse race results in the key senate states which remain close. let's go inside the numbers, because they paint a more complex picture of this campaign and perhaps this will help explain why things haven't broken decisively in either party's direction. first let's start with why senate democrats are in the position that they are in in the first place. president obama is very unpopular. in each of the six states we polled, the president' job rating is below his national average, never stopping 40% in any of the states we polled. if there were the lone factor affecting this year's midterms we would see a republican advantage in all of the battleground states almost guaranteeing the gop winning back the senate. but it's not. here is why. we asked voters what the most important issue was to them in deciding how they would vote next week. what did we find? two things that aren't going to help any incouple bents,
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republican or democrat. first is more than an issue, it's an atmosphere. voters are most concerned about breaking the partisan gridlock in washington to get things done. what was one of the top two issues in four of the six states, including two big ones, iowa and kansas, where it was the top issue. even in north carolina and arkansas, breaking the gridlock was a close third. folks, take a look at this. in all of these polls, if your name begins with senator or congressman, you aren't popular. out the seven sitting senators and congressmen running for the senate this year in the states we polled, only two -- two have a favorable rating barely above water, barely. tom cotton and corey gardner. breaking the dig function in washington is trumping the economy in some states, it trumps healthcare in just about every state. this is sure to be the wild card with just ten days to go until this year's elections.
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they want to punish the democrats without regarding the republicans. they are sitting there wondering republicans. they are sitting there wondering 36% of all teachers in the u.s. have been teaching for more than 20 years. what does that mean? do the math. we need more teachers to lead future generations. the more you know.
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i've got the panel back here. you just saw all those poll numbers. i want to show -- we know what the republican party's closing argument is. if you don't know, wait until you see these two ads, one in arkansas, one in nsorth carolin. there's one person who is the star. take a look. >> make no mistake, these policies are on the ballot. every single one of them. >> president obama is right about something, his policies are on the ballot. >> voting 92% of the time with
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the president. whether you support him or not, doesn't work here in north carolina. it is time for someone to reach across party lines and finally get something done in this country. >> boy, that second ad there, that was her voice narrating an nrsc ad on that same issue. >> that's a powerful ad. the question of the relationship between democrats in the senate and the president right now is fascinating, especially because he seems to be kind of inserting himself and creating more problems for them. i find -- >> you had a great story, the finger pointing has begun. democrats blaming the white house for the problems. >> i find the psychology of this most fascinating. because you have president obama who is this politicians, wanted to be a transcendent politician.
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now he's unable to absorb the fact that he's unpopular. he keeps pushing himself out there. all presidents have egos. they tend to be oversized but surprisingly fragile. that's part of what we are seeing. >> the problems republicans are having closing the sale -- you found this on the road -- is that they are not trusted as change agents. they have sold the argument that, president obama and democrats, they are gumming things up. but they are not buying the republicans -- the republicans know it. the ad was not paid for not about the the national -- they changed their name to nrsc. their name had three words that are very unpopular, national, republican and senatorial. they realized they couldn't have that. how do republicans close the gap? >> they close it with the ad that you just put on the air, which is to bring it back to president obama. we have talked about this all year long, that the national atmosphere in a midterm
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election, the president's on line. he has been a drag on democrats all through this campaign. there have been things that have gotten in the way of that for republicans that has made it more difficult, one is their bad brand and questions about them. in the end,they will want to try to nationalize this around obama. >> luke, closing argument for the democrats. did they mess up by distancing themselves too much from obama where they made this even too effective? >> i think in the individual state races, it's probably better to try and be as independent as you can. looking into the poll, what i found fascinating, the two issues, job creation and breaking the gridlock. republicans overwhelmingly do better on job creation. democrats do better on breaking the gridlock. >> they are in trouble. washington dysfunction voters, they have a shot. >> in terms of playing the up the independence, if you want to break the gridlock, that's what you do. >> i want to sort of have a little lighter moment here. it's a little depressing. i want you to see this.
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yesterday they asked what if kids started using political talking points politicians use to talk back to their parents? that got us thinking. we took the liberty of borrowing the idea, added pictures and sound. here now is our version of what kids would sound like if they talked like politicians, script courtesy of the des moines register. >> good morning mother. let me say how great it is to be in the kitchen. am i to understand you have have a question in is. >> i do. did you eat the cookie snz. >> i'm sorry. could you repeat that question? >> did you eat the dozen chocolate chip cookies i left on the counter to cool? >> i'm deeply upset by this question. i would like to think that we had built the kind of relationship where such questions would not be necessary. >> well, it is. when i left the kitchen there was a dozen cookies. now they are gone. did you eat them? >> that's not the question.
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you know who is behind this, don't you? koch brothers. >> the brothers who run koch brothers? >> no, jimmy and jumbo rogers. twin brothers who live on koch street. >> did you eat the cookies? >> i have answered that question. >> you didn't say anything. >> that is my answer. >> your answer is no answer? >> i have no control how you choose to interpret my answers. isn't it high time we put the past behind us and looked forward to the future? what's for supper? >> we did it in an absurd way because that's what -- do the elections officials know that's how they sound when they do these crazy evasions? you make us all ask the same question four or five times. it's like that bad skit out of austin powers, ask me three times and finally will farrell's character will answer the question. >> whoever wins, come november or january, whenever this will
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be decided, they are going to be facing a very frustrated public, a public that doesn't really believe that they can make a difference and break the gridlock. how they are able to convince the public otherwise will be a big task. >> dan, that sets the environment for 2016. that's what is here is distrust of politicians. it's we made fun of it and mocked it, but that's the environment. >> it is. one of the big questions is, which of these candidates who want to run for president in 2016 has a way to get past where we are today. they will talk about it. but is anybody really going to be able to do it in. >> i don't know. that's all for today. i will get back on my bus. we will be in new york in our election studio with three days to go until the midterms. for now, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."
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i just wanted to know what his last thoughts were. what could you think? what could go through your head when you're falling to your death? it began to happily. >> we were young, passionate. it was nice. >> and ended so tragically. >> that's when i heard a woman screaming, no, no, no. >> he was just 23 when he fell 17 stories to his death. leaving behind a pregnant wife. >> you actually watched him hit the ground. >> and questions -- >> i still can't understand how it happened. >> at first, no one else could understand how it happened either, until someone started
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talking and just wouldn't stop. >> were you both struggling? >> what do you mean? >> was this an accident or something else? >> this is going to turn into a nightmare. >> here is andrea canning with "shattered." reporter: it was a spring day in name only. the temperature in tulsa was a couple of humid ticks shy of triple digits, and that was just fine with josh and amber hilberling. they were back where they'd met and fallen in love. >> i believe that everyone has that one person in their life that you give your whole heart to. and there's no refunds or exchanges. >> reporter: the young couple, newlyweds who'd recently celebrated their 1st anniversary, had just survived a frigid winter in alaska where josh had done a stint in the air force. amber spent most of those cold, dark winter days alone in military housing. >> it's really, really cold and
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dark, and -- >> reporter: did you like it there? or did you quickly start feeling that, "maybe this isn't the place for me"? >> it is hard to get used to. i would make grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and sit on the floor, you know, in the afternoons and talk to levi. >> reporter: levi was the name they'd picked for the son they were expecting. amber was seven months pregnant. now back home in tulsa, they were living in the city's iconic residential high rise, the university club tower that looms more than 30 floors above the banks of the arkansas river. the view from their 25th floor apartment was one of the best in town. until around 4:00 p.m. that hot tuesday afternoon in 2011. >> that's when i heard a woman screaming, "no, no, no." >> reporter: nathan mcgowan was in the apartment next door. after the screams, he heard a loud crash. >> and i thought maybe somebody
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pushed over a coffee table or a fish tank because it got completely quiet right at that instant, just eerily quiet. and then, i heard someone screaming, "oh my god. oh my god, oh my god." >> reporter: but this was no fish tank shattering. it was something far more terrible. something tragic. josh had crashed through the big picture window in the living room. >> i remember him tripping backwards and falling into the window. i run to the window, and i saw him hit the ground. and, i mean, i just -- >> reporter: you actually watched him hit the ground? >> yeah. >> reporter: i don't think anyone really imagines what that must be like. >> no. nobody could ever imagine. my only thought was, "get to him.
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you know, see if he's okay." >> reporter: josh had landed 17 floors below on the concrete of the 8th floor parking deck. amber raced downstairs. a neighbor who heard the breaking glass snapped this picture as she reached josh. and when you came upon his body, did you touch him? did you move him? >> yeah. i rolled him over. >> reporter: that must've been hard. >> yeah. a a human being should never have to see another human being in that state. even a stranger, much less -- especially someone you love. >> reporter: amber cradled josh's head in her arms, pleading with him to wake up, until emt's pulled her away. but there was nothing they could do. he was gone. josh hilberling was just 23 years old. officer don holloway of the tulsa police department arrived a few minutes later.
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can you first describe the scene? >> the scene was fairly chaotic. there were medical personnel, fire department personnel, police personnel. a crowd had gathered outside, and i saw the victim on the ground. >> reporter: two people said they witnessed josh's horrifying fall. they spoke to detective jeff felton. >> one of them described him kind of flailing. almost like, you know, riding a bicycle or pedaling. >> reporter: screaming? >> yes. >> reporter: officer holloway took amber inside, away from the horrible scene on the parking deck. and what was amber's demeanor at that time? >> she was upset. she was crying, asking for josh. wanted to know if they were working on him, trying to get him back to life or not. she seemed very distraught. >> reporter: and what are you thinking happened at this point? >> at that point i thought we had probably a suicide, maybe an accidental fall, something along those lines. >> reporter: holloway was also thinking the gruesome scene was
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no place for a pregnant 19-year-old girl who had just become a widow. he drove amber to the police station and escorted her to an interview room. her grandmother gloria came along for support. >> amber is nothing but a witness to this. i just put them in the room so amber could have somebody there with her to help console her if she needed it. >> josh is dead. >> reporter: as the two women sat alone in the small room, amber poured her heart out. >> i just wish it would leave my head. every time i close my eyes i see it. >> reporter: she was inconsolable, a jumble of grief and raw emotion. >> i just want to know what his last thoughts were. but what could you think? what could go through your head when you're falling to your death? i still can't understand how it happened.
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and i don't think that's ever going to get better. >> reporter: for almost an hour, amber sat with her grandmother in a small room at the police station, unable to stop replaying every moment of the events that ended her husband's life. >> i just held him and kissed his cheeks and screamed for him to wake up. this is going to turn into a nightmare. what did amber know that detectives didn't? was this an accident or something else? when we return, what had really been happening inside that marriage? and, what really happened inside that apartment? >> why did he have to fall out the window? ah! come on! let's hide in the attic. no. in the basement. why can't we just get in the running car? are you crazy? let's hide behind the chainsaws. smart.
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yeah. ok. if you're in a horror movie, you make poor decisions. it's what you do. this was a good idea. shhhh. be quiet. i'm being quiet. you're breathing on me! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. head for the cemetery!
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♪ reporter: it had been only an hour since josh hilberling died in a horrifying fall from a 25th floor apartment. his wife amber was now at a downtown police station with her grandmother gloria, filled with questions that had no good answers. >> how did this happen? why did he have to fall out the window? >> i didn't just lose my husband. jeanne and patrick lost their son. zach lost his brother. >> reporter: airman first class zach hilberling, josh's younger brother, was serving a tour in afghanistan.
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he got the news when he logged on to facebook. >> i called my dad. and it was late, 11:00 or 12:00. the fact that he answered the phone blew my mind. and i think the first thing that i said to my dad, "tell me that it's not true." and he said it is. >> reporter: zach headed home as the hilberling clan gathered in tulsa to mourn and remember. >> joshua was my first-born son. i mean, he was everything. >> reporter: josh's father, patrick, and step-mother, jeanne. >> he had a smile. i mean, he could light up a room. >> i called him joshie. i don't think anybody else was allowed to call him joshie. >> reporter: was he a mama's boy? >> he's been accused of that. he'd help me cook and things like that, but -- he had a tender side. >> reporter: that tender mama's
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boy grew into a strapping six foot, four inch, 220 pound teenager, a star on his high school football team. for an oklahoma kid, that was a very big deal. >> josh and football was the most exciting friday nights. >> he was a phenomenal football player. that was his sport. that was his game. that was his first love. >> reporter: it was back in 2008 when josh met amber at a halloween party. once they started dating, he literally swept her off her feet. what were some of the things he did for you? one night he drove me out to a basketball court at a park in his parents' neighborhood. i didn't know how to dance, so he put me up on his -- the tops of his shoes and danced with me under the stars. >> reporter: things were perfect at first. aren't they always? >> we were young, passionate.
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it was nice. >> reporter: josh and amber had been dating for just a few months when josh got his marching orders. he was assigned to eielson air force base in alaska. the young couple faced a crossroads. they wanted to be together, so they arranged a quick, courthouse wedding, followed later by a lavish country club reception. >> it was so dorky. i almost passed out, i was so nervous. we were both kind of giggling, you know, at ourselves more or less. >> reporter: you sound like two teenagers. >> yeah. i mean, yeah, we were. >> reporter: but now amber was at a tulsa police station, no longer a giggling teenaged bride. she was a widow and filled with anguish as she poured her heart out. >> just come back. please, please, i love you.
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i love you so much. >> reporter: but through the fog of her grief, a story started to emerge. amber told her grandmother she and her husband had been arguing. and now she couldn't believe how it ended. >> he's not supposed to be dead. >> no, he's not supposed to be, but he's in god's hands. >> it isn't fair. >> reporter: throughout their gut-wrenching conversation, amber and her grandmother were alone in a police interrogation room, talking in confidence. or so they thought. it turns out, officer don holloway had been listening the entire time. >> i was in the other room typing up my report. and all of a sudden, amber started talking about what had happened. >> reporter: so holloway started recording the conversation. every word, every gesture was being captured when amber said something that would change everything. >> he was messing with the tv right here. and the windows were here. and i pushed him, and he fell
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out the window. fell. oh god. >> reporter: and when, through her tears, amber said she'd pushed josh, her grandmother seemed to sense immediately the gravity of what those words might mean to police. >> quit saying you pushed him out the window. did you intentionally? >> no, of course not. >> okay. that's the way they're going to take it, baby. >> reporter: was amber's grandmother right? would homicide detectives think the overwrought teenager was talking about an accident? or was she describing something much darker? >> who could do what? push my husband and make him fall out the window? coming up -- warning signs of a marriage in trouble. >> we just slowly started seeing how different we really were.
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and of a life in danger. >> he was in tears. and he didn't know what to do. when "dateline"
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e♪ ♪ >> reporter: amber hilberling and her grandmother were in a police station in downtown tulsa. and during their intense, hour-long conversation, one thing amber said stood out. >> and the windows were here. and i pushed him, and he fell out the window. fell. oh god. >> reporter: to police eavesdropping on them, that sounded like a critical statement, but what did it really mean? lead detective jeff felton. >> i didn't know the motive behind the push. i didn't know if there was a domestic situation going on. i didn't know if they were, you know, playing around and she pushed him. >> reporter: sort of giving the benefit of the doubt, in a way. >> absolutely. i mean, it's just -- it's nothing that i've ever seen before. >> reporter: felton had to figure out how the push happened, and also what, if
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anything, led to it. and that meant taking a closer look at amber and her marriage. >> it was a volatile relationship, without a doubt. >> reporter: how did things get that way? that all depends on whom you ask. from the day the couple moved to alaska, amber's mother could see the storm clouds gathering. >> amber was used to getting her hair done and her nails done and, all of a sudden, you put this girl in a different world, and it's cold. and then, she found out she was pregnant. it was just like a tornado going, too many things happening at once. >> reporter: their alaskan adventure derailed almost from the start. when did your life start not seeming quite so perfect anymore? >> i mean, being newlyweds alone is, you know, is a struggle. and then the alaska factor. getting used to a whole new place. i mean, we just slowly started seeing how different we really were. >> reporter: how were you different? >> in every way.
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he was the modest, predictable type. and i was more the wild hare. >> reporter: josh's father thought it was a terrible match the first time he saw the young couple together. >> it just didn't make any sense to me. i felt like my son was making a mistake. >> reporter: amber's mom had to agree. josh and amber were naive, starry-eyed lovers. >> they were too young -- too young and in love. they wanted this fairytale marriage that didn't exist, because that's not real life. >> reporter: as the winter days grew colder and darker, the strain was too much. there were lots of arguments, and troubling late night calls to mom and dad from both of them. >> he was in tears, and he didn't know what to do. >> reporter: after josh was discharged from the air force, they came back home. tulsa might haveeant a fresh start, but the fighting
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continued. it turned out alaska wasn't the problem. their marriage was. on june 7th, 2011, just a couple of weeks after they'd moved into the university club high rise, josh's bags were packed and he was waiting for a ride. that's when he fell to his death. and now detectives started focusing their attention on that 25th floor apartment. >> i made sure that the upstairs was secure and went and applied for a search warrant so that we could go inside. >> reporter: once he entered the hilberlings' apartment, felton looked for evidence that maybe there had been a fight that had gone terribly wrong. but he couldn't find anything to suggest the couple had been in the throes of a violent struggle just before the fatal push. >> the furniture was all in place. you know, other than the broken window, there was nothing that would indicate that there -- any kind of struggle had taken place. >> reporter: when you think about a pregnant woman, 5'5", pushing her husband, who's
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6'4", out a window like that, is it surprising that she would be able to do that? >> no, ma'am. if you catch somebody off guard. and i mean, a big body could actually work against you. >> reporter: do you think he was caught off guard and pushed? >> yes, ma'am. i think he was messing with the television set. >> reporter: so you think she did it on purpose? >> i think she shoved him on purpose. absolutely. >> reporter: and the more felton heard of what amber said in that interrogation room, the more convinced he became that she had condemned herself. >> i wonder if his parents know yet. >> they kept saying if we stay together i'm going to kill him. >> reporter: and with amber saying things that sounded an awful lot like a confession, grandma gloria offered up some sobering advice. >> when they come in, just -- i don't want to say nothing until my attorney gets here. okay? don't break. don't -- and don't slip any other way.
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>> reporter: it turns out, an attorney was exactly what amber needed. police and prosecutors decided her push was in fact a crime. she was arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder. amber's mother was shocked. she thought it was obvious her daughter had been traumatized in the hours after josh's death. she also thought it was outrageous that anyo would hold anything she said to her grandmother in the interrogation room against her. >> she was a broken girl that had just witnessed the most horrible thing. she was in complete shock, as we all were. making someone pay for a tragic accident doesn't correct the situation. >> reporter: but the question of whether amber should pay was out of her mother's hands. it would now be decided in a tulsa courtroom. coming up -- no witnesses saw what happened in that apartment, but one witness did hear it. and it sure didn't sound like an accident.
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♪ reporter: amber hilberling had been charged with second degree murder for the death of her husband, josh. as the story of how he fell 17 stories to his death went public, it seemed the only ones crying for amber were her family and amber herself. >> why did he fall? josh is dead. >> reporter: amber continued to insist her husband's death was an accident. but an online cottage industry had sprung up in tulsa, devoted to bashing the young widow, who by now had given birth to her son, levi. how is it, as her mother, reading those things about her, hearing those things about her? >> it's like taking a knife and just stabbing you.
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>> reporter: her critics caustically noted how the step-daughter of a plastic surgeon always seemed ready for her close-up. tight clothes that emphasized her breast implants and blown-out hair for court hearings. some people wrote some harsh things about you, and saying that you were enjoying it, that you loved being a celebrity. one quote was that you were paying more attention to your outfits than the evidence. >> i mean, that seems ridiculous and a totally unsupported opinion because these people didn't live with me on a daily basis. >> reporter: the state's theory was that while amber may not have meant to kill her husband, pushing him towards the window showed a dangerous disregard for his life. in other words, second degree murder. if convicted, amber faced anywhere from 10 years to life in prison. >> think of the absolute conscious disregard for another human life when you are pushing somebody towards glass 25 stories up, when you wouldn't even do it on the first floor.
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>> reporter: prosecutor michelle keely knew jurors might have a hard time seeing the young mother as a killer. so as amber waited in a oklahoma jail cell, separated from her newborn son, keely offered her a deal. five years of prison in exchange for a guilty plea. >> i think any time you go to trial where you have a lovely, young lady and somebody who doesn't have any felony convictions, definitely could've come across very well for a jury. >> reporter: amber's lawyers told her she should consider the deal. but amber wasn't interested. yeah, why didn't you take the five? >> because i believe that if you're not guilty for something and you truly believe in that with all your heart, then you're going to take whatever risk is necessary to prove that. >> reporter: she'd put her faith, and her future, in the hands of a jury. her trial started in march of 2013. and right away the prosecutor argued this was a domestic violence case with a twist. the wife, they said, had abused
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the husband, finally pushing him to his death. that incident was eerily foreshadowed months earlier by a phone call patrick hilberling received from his son, josh. >> she had pushed him down the stairs. he was down in the basement. i could hear her up at the top of the stairs screaming, you know, "who youalking to?" and he goes, "dad, i don't know what to do." and i told him to leave. i said, "you need -- just leave." "get out of there." >> reporter: to support the abuse claim, the prosecutor had an explosive piece of evidence. it was a protective order detective felton found in the couple's apartment, taken out by josh against his wife just weeks before his death, and after she had cracked him over the head with a lamp. josh had told police he needed 11 stitches to close the wound. >> the order listed josh as being the plaintiff and amber being the defendant, which, you know, means that he got the protective order against her.
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>> reporter: the state believed that was court-ordered proof that amber was a violent woman, likely out of control the day her husband died. in fact, just before that fatal push, josh had phoned his dad patrick and pleaded with him to come pick him up. >> he said, "dad, you know, i can't take it anymore, you know. can you come get me? you know, give me a ride home?" >> reporter: as josh waited for that ride, the prosecutor told the court, his wife went on a tear. the two fought first in the bedroom, where one of them threw a laundry basket and broke the window. >> she obviously knew that those windows would break. and, so, she was on notice of that. >> reporter: a building repairman came to the couple's apartment to fix the bedroom window. while he worked, the husband and wife started arguing again, this time in the living room. prosecutor keely said at some point josh became distracted, either by his phone or by the tv. and that, she said, is when
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amber took her husband by surprise, shoving him into a window she knew could easily break. >> i heard a woman screaming, "no, no, no." >> reporter: neighbor nathan mcgowan had been listening to the couple arguing. but what he heard just moments before that fatal crash became vital to the state's case. >> then, i heard running like i've never heard before in that building, i heard running coming from the left going all the way to the right and a crash. >> reporter: to the state, those footsteps revealed a key point, that amber had charged toward her husband, who was standing near that window, totally unaware. and that wasn't the only evidence given to support that theory. >> the witness that saw him coming down was standing about where we're looking up. >> reporter: remember, there were two eyewitnesses who testified they saw josh come out of that window. one offered a chilling, detailed description, recounted by
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officer don holloway. so the witness says he saw him coming out face first. >> that's correct. the witness said he was falling face first when he saw it. >> reporter: which became a critical piece of eyewitness testimony. >> yes, it showed that josh was probably facing forward when he came out the window, instead of turned around, facing amber. >> reporter: suggesting he may have been pushed from behind. something else caught the prosecutor's eye. the furnishings near the shattered window had not been touched. what did that say to you, that the apartment appeared to be untouched? it was pristine. >> it told me that there wasn't a struggle at the scene. if there had been any kind of a struggle in the apartment, the candlesticks would have been toppled over. the pictures that were hanging out of the wall, certainly, if somebody had banged into the wall, it's very likely that the pictures would've been askew. >> reporter: further proof, she said, that amber had taken her husband by surprise. the prosecutor believed amber herself admitted as much in that heart-to-heart with her
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grandmother. over the objections of the defense, the judge ruled the jury could see and hear the entire taped conversat good morning. everyone, coming up on "early today," a tragic new development overnight, a second victim has died from the friday shooting at a seattle high school. the condition of a doctor being treated for ebola has entered a more serious stage. and the death of a st. louis outfielder. a touching tribute to robin williams. and fiery molten lava. it's monday, october 27th. "early today" starts right now. well, good morning, everybody. hope you had a great weekend. thanks for joining us today, i'm

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