the preceding was a paid presentation for the rapid lightening regimen. it was horrifying. this was my mom, a vibrant woman, just ripped out of the world. everything that we thought in our life was all shattered. he betrayed us to our very core. >> they were a stunning couple. a doctor and a beauty queen. >> she won home coming queen. she did modeling. >> but the day she was found dead in the tub -- >> she's in the bathtub. >> set a mystery in motion. >> my father said, rachel, come home, and then he just hung up. >> so many secrets locked tight for so many years, uncovered by daughters turned detectives. >> yac

yeah. >> there was a lot of different things that came out. >> things like a mistress named gypsy. was she a motive for murder? in court, an epic show-down. father against daughter and daughter. >> why were you seeking information as to your mother's death? >> because i believed my father killed her. >> but was the evidence on his side. the medical examiner's report listed it as a natural cause of death. >> who will you believe? >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's keith morris with "sec t "secrets in pleasant grove". >> the story you're about to witness is all too human. oh, what people would do to each other. and yet puzzling. there were these three women. wouldn't have a story to tell without them. two sisters and their aunt. and what they discovered, of course, which might make you

the truth in the face in the mirror? or the face beside you in bed at night? the story begins with a beauty queen, a former beauty queen named michelle mcneil. and she was -- look at this. she was truly lovely. this is about what happened to michelle the year she turned 50, the very last year of her life though she couldn't possibly have known it. as she contemplated the question a lot of people do as youth f e fades. plastic surgery, should she or shouldn't she? the answer, for one reason or another, yes, yes, i will. and before long -- >> everything that we thought in our life all shattered. >> what happened to michelle mcneil? what was behind the breathless play-by-play in the utah courtroom, the raw family drama played on

the hidden sins of -- you'll see. here, this is a picture of their magical beginning, both beautiful. michelle and martin mcneil. everybody liked smart charismatic michelle, from childhood on said her sister, linda. >> she entered different pageants. she won home coming queen and she did modeling. she was an exchange student over in switzerland. she excelled at everything. >> martin did, too, in his own way. it took a little while but eventually he became a doctor and then a lawyer and then a leader in his local ward of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints, the mormons. before he did any of that, back when this picture was taken, it was just unstoppable

didn't they elope or something? >> yes. they got married by the justice of the peace. >> they had four children, eventually set up house in a place called pleasant grove in utah and loved their family life so much they adopted four more little kids, three of them from ukraine. alexis, from the first set of four, followed her father everywhere, was his little shadow. >> you kind of idolized him, huh? >> i did. i wanted to follow in his footsteps in some way. i became a doctor because of him. >> so for people on the outside looking in, what would they see? >> a very happy family. a wonderful mother who doted on her children and a father who was a physician and an attorney and present a lot in their children's lives. >> rachel, the eldest, shared her father's love of books. >> i remember when i was little just holding onto my father's hand

and be daddy's little girl. >> and their mother, michelle? >> she was an amazing beautiful person on the inside and out. >> and so it went for nearly 30 years. as he built a career and they together raised their big family, and then here's how martin reacted to middle age. >> around the time he turned 50, he lost a lot of weight, started t tanning. >> hello. >> it was very out of the ordinary, very abnormal for him. >> that's when her mother, michelle, confronted that question, the one about looking you younger, getting something of the past back, the face lift question. >> he was like, you know what, i want really want it, but if your dad is getting all fixed up maybe i should. >> what did you say to her? >> i said, mom, you don't need that. shwa

>> decision made, april 3rd, 2007, michelle checked into the hospital in bountiful, utah. the doctors worked on her almost nine hours, a long time for a face lift and staill they proclaimed it a complete success and the next day she went home again her face covered in bandages but otherwise apparently in perfect health. alexis had been with her mother through the surgery, stayed with her a week to nurse her through the recovery and now relieved, alexis returned to her medical study is in nevada. >> my mom and father dropped me off at the airport. i looked back, my mom was doing well. i smiled, i said, i'll call you, i'll call you soon. >> which she did. >> asked her how she was doing. she was fine. she told me, alexis, your dad is being so sweet to me, just being so sweet to me. that was the last time i talked to

days after the surgery. >> when i came home from work, i checked my cell phone and saw that i had missed, i believe it was 20 something calls. i called my father and i said, dad, what's happened? he said, rachel, come home. and i said, dad, tell me. tell me what's happened. it's mom, is she okay? and my father said, rachel, come home. and then he just hung up. >> when we come back, what had happened to michelle macneil? the events of that day would launch a long running mystery. >> who's in the bathtub? >> my wife. >> one that would rip this close-knit family apart. >> it was horrifying. gs] ah, it's my brother. keep going... sara, will you marry...

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she was just 50 years old. she had lived a clean healthy mormon life. all she wanted was to look a little younger, a little prettier for her husband. and now -- >> police department. >> i need an ambulance. >> what's the problem, sir? what's wrong? >> my wife's fallen in the bathtub. >> who's in the bathtub? >> my wife! >> dr. martin mcneil, panic in his voice struggled to make the 911 operator understand. >> i need

>> they're on their way. is your wife breathing? >> she is not. i am a physician and i am doing cpr. >> are you doing cpr? >> how old is your wife? >> my wife is 50 years old. she had surgery a couple days, a week ago. >> what kind of surgery did she have? >> she had a face lift. >> she had a face lift. >> do know how to do cpr? >> i am doing it! >> do not hang -- >> [ phone hanging up ] >> martin performed cpr on his wife and it was too late. >> i called alexis, what's happened with mom? >> mom's dead, isn't she? alexis said, yes, she is. >> martin said he left the house early in the morning for work. later in the morning he accepted and award at a safety fair. then, about 11:30 he left the office to pick up 6-year-old

when they got home, aida rushed up the stairs to see her mother and found her in the bathtub unresponsive. >> it was horrifying. this was my mom, a vibrant healthy woman who was just ripped out of the world. >> what happened? michelle was a young 50, didn't drink, didn't smoke. she was carrying more weight than she wanted to. the only thing out of the ordinary was the surgery she just had. >> i wasn't concerned about the health aspect of her doing the face lift, i just didn't think she needed it. >> if a complication from the surgery seemed unlikely, perhaps this theory from martin made more sense. maybe michelle had taken too much pain medication and while running a bath, fell headfirst into the tub. >> he said she was slumped over the tub, her head down into the water and her legs out of the water. >> but something about that didn't sound right to alexis. for one thing, 6-year-old

tub, had a slightly different memory. >> she said that she found her laying back, her head by the faucet. >> facing up. >> facing up, fully clothed in her jogging suit. >> a strange discrepancy, but not hard to explain given the turmoil of that day. and then she explained after the face lift the doctor prescribed hydrocordone and ambien and her doctor asked him to pre-describe percocet and valium. to alexis that seem ed like too much medication. >> the plastic surgeon said he told him what medicine to prescribe to her. >> isn't it the surgeon that does that? >> yes. that was strange. >> and still strange was what happened after her mother died and alexis went looking for those pills, asked

them. >> he told me, the police must have taken them. i later found out he had my brother and his girlfriend flush them down the toilet and throw the bottles away. his reasoning for that he told them it made him too sad looking at having her medication there. >> very unpleasant thoughts rattled around in alexis' head. then there was the business of the funeral. my father was very adamant to have her funeral right away. >> at the funeral, said his daughters, martin talked less about his wife of nearly 30 years than he did about himself. >> lord, i thought i was your boy, lord, i thought i was doing a good job, lord, are you there? as the hours passed last night, the answer came to me. i've had such a good life. >> alexis and rachel were app l appalled by that and even angry. even as they pondered what to do with their blossoming suspicion,

released. the police chief, michael smith, the results seemed crystal clear. >> the medical examiner's report indicated michelle had died of mild corditis and hypertension and list it as a natural cause of death. >> in other words, it was classic heart disease, a cause of death all too common among women michelle's age, especially someone with high blood pressure. the daughters' suspicions it turned out were not based on any palpable facts. the drugs in her system were at therapeutic levels according to the toxicology report. as far as the state of utah was concerned, the matter was closed. >> the medical examiner in the state of utah has the ultimate say when it comes to the cause and manner of death. >> the tension in the mcneil family worsened. martin and alexis disagreed over how to care for the younger children now that michelle was gone. >> he started saying, i'm going to get a

can't take care of these kids by myself. coming up, martin mcneil hires help, nanny or not. >> oh, i found the perfect nanny. i said, dad, what's her name. he said, oh, it's jillian. i said, dad, i know that woman. >> yes, she did, and so will

there are many kinds of grief. alexis and rachel were struggling with the angry kind. not angry with their mother for dying, no, it was what grew from the suspicion they felt, that their father was hiding something very bad. but, still, there were practical matters to deal with, such as who should care for the four younger mcneil children. alexis returned to medical school so rachel valley

they find nanny instead, right away. >> he asked me -- demanded we go to the temple to pray about having a nanny, which was very strange because my father was not a very spiritual person at all. >> there, outside the temple, they were approached by a mysterious brunette. >> she said, oh, i was at the funeral and i am so sorry for your loss. and my father said, oh, i'm sorry, i know i know -- what's your name? and she said, my name is jillian. my father said, oh, okay. >> a week after that encounter, martin hired that friendly sympathetic woman and told his daught daughters. >> oh, i found the perfect nanny. i found someone that's going to be great. i said, dad, what's her name? and he said, oh, it's julian, i think it's jillian. >> the name, jillian, didn't mean anything to rachel, but

alexis. >> i said, dad, i know that woman, i know mom was concerned you were having an affair with her. >> an affair? well, yes. or at least before michelle died, that is certainly what she suspected. so worried about it, she asked alexis to help her find out for sure. >> my mom confided in me about everything, all of her feelings, her concerns. and so i took his cell phone and was able to download his passwords and we did see a number that my dad had been calling quite a few times. >> you hacked into his phone? >> uh-huh. yeah. we called the number. and a woman answered and then hung up right away. so i paid for an online search and it came up with a name, and it was gypsy jillian willis. >> gypsy jillian willis. >> yeah. i mean, at first, we had no idea, like gypsy, what kind

name is gypsy? we thought maybe a stripper, i don't know what. but anyway, my mom, with that information, with the lady's name, went to my dad and confronted him. >> martin denied everything, said alexis. and then the very next day, he made a curious suggestion. >> my father came to my mom and told her that she needs a face lift. >> that is -- i mean, lots of women decide they want face l t lifts. >> yeah. >> but when their husband comes and says, you need one. >> it was really out of the blue. >> the face lift that preceded michelle's death. and now here was gypsy jillian, martin's choice for a live-in nanny, someone he just happened to find. >> so she got the job. she moved into the house just a couple weeks after my mom's death. >> martin's daughters were furious. they wanted to know what other secrets their father hadee

keeping. they expanded their investigation. >> my sister put a blog up and asking for any with information about my father to contact her. we discovered he had had so many different affairs. there was a lot of different things that came out. >> with their aunt linda, they took all the information they gathered on martin and brought to it the authorities. >> pushing and pushing, yeah, to get them to investigate. >> the local police had never investigated michelle's death as a crime, not from the very first day. remember that coroner's report? michelle's death was caused by heart disease. >> for us to be able to overcome together like a medical examiner's office that said she died of natural causes is a huge task. >> but the women were relentless. they met with jeff robinson and doug whitney who worked for the county attorney. >> you took them seriously right off the top, the daughters? >> not really. >> then they started to look at some evidence the amateur eu

evidence of murder but still -- >> they started to challenge a lot of things that their father, who he was, what he was, what he was doing. >> i said, you know what, i'd like to really find out if he was a doctor. >> yes, martin did really have a medical degree. >> but he fraudulently got into medical school by faking the results? >> he obviously took someone else's, there was a different date of entrance and different date of graduation and all of them were straight as. >> then he dug deeper and found before he faked his college transcri transcripts, martin was convicted of forging checks. now, to investigators the respected doctor was looking anything but respectable. >> it tells me that this is not the guy that goes to church every sunday with his family. >> so there are two martin mcneils. >> there's two martin mcneils? still, it didn't mean he murd murdered his wife, did it? >> no, no. >> martin's daughter, they

offen offenses, the fraud, infidelity, how he encouraged their mother to have surgery and take so many drugs afterwards, they were certain their father killed their mother. >> he betrayed us to our very core. everything we thought in our life was all shattered. >> all a sham. >> it really is, it's been a whole sham. >> but not everyone in the family felt that way. damien, martin's only son, stuck by his father. >> he had a hard time after my mom died. i talked to him about my concerns and he didn't want to believe that my father was capable of killing my mom. >> but alexis' conviction was absolute. every time she set foot in her parents' home, only one thought went through her mind. >> here's where he killed her. >> and yet there was still no hard evidence that martin killed michelle. almost two years went

plain sight. then, in january 2009 -- >> suddenly, they're both arrested. >> yes. >> but not for what people might have thought. >> no, no. >> r. coming up, two lovers cook up a secret crime. >> he stole gisele's identity? >> for gypsy. >> two sisters stuff another heartbreaking loss. >> he was such a wonderful guy. i miss him. i asked my dentist if an electric toothbrush was going to clean better than a manual. he said sure...but don't get just any one. get one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's rounded brush head cups your teeth to break up plaque and rotates to sweep it away. and oral-b delivers a clinically proven superior clean versus sonicare diamondclean. my mouth feels super clean! oral-b. know you're getting a superior clean.

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martin mcneil's daughters sou southed. their father had turned the family home into a love nest for a so-called nanny, gypsy willis. for two years

guilt trying to persuade the police or any that martin mur r murdered michelle. sure enough, they discovered a crime. not murder but shocking nonetheless. >> gisele. >> it all started when martin sent his 16-year-old adopted daughter, gisele, off to ukraine to visit her biological sister. >> gisele called my daughter's phone and they started talking and gisele started crying and told her story she got left there. >> abandoned, basically. >> right. >> why would he do that? a bit more digging revealed martin and gypsy had cooked up a scheme and it involved taking over daughter, gisele, social security number. >> theygisele's identity? >> for gypsy. >> for gypsy, who it emerged was, how shall we say,

financially challenged. the new forged identity wiped her debts away and gave her a brand new name, jillian mcneil. the lies didn't end there. they began posing as husband and wife. >> gisele is out of the picture, martin wants gypsy to look like his wife. >> now, that was low. but even worse -- >> they used the date of my mom's funeral as their marriage date. >> martin and gypsy were arrested in january, 2009. not for murder, for fraud. they both pleaded guilty. martin got four years, gypsy, 21 months. to avoid any more charges, gypsy promised she'd testify against martin in any future legal action. it was a victory for alexis. but her campaign against her father had consequences. >> it's me all by myself. >> like the wedge it drove between the sisters and their brother, damien. >> it put a strain on your relationship? >> it did. once my dad

anything to do with us. and then he killed himself. >> damien mcneil committed suicide in january, 20 tak10. >> he was such a wonderful guy. i miss him. >> but the murder investigation continued, picked up steam, in fact. the two investigators debriefed gypsy in prison. >> that was a treasure trove of information that she gave us at that point. >> she confirmed that chance meeting at the temple with rachel was a setup, a ruse to get her into the house after michelle was gone. how long had she and martin been planning it? >> i said, so you staged and scripted that meeting? yep. when did you script it? was it during the funeral? was it before the death? >> so? >> no comment. >> the investigators went back to the prosecutor. over and

charge martin with murder. but -- >> what did the prosecutor say to you? >> see this medical examiner's report? >> death of natural causes. >> that's right. >> there was a new medical examiner, they showed him their report, the file, the arrest for fraud. >> i said have you even read our repo reports? >> i scanned it. i said, you cannot scan this report. just read this much while we're here. and he did and he goes, hmm, okay, i think i will look at this deeper. >> after his review, the me did agree to make one small change in the manner of death from natural to undetermined. but that hardly broke the case wide open. >> he refused to call it a homicide. >> sure. >> absolutely. >> mcneil was just released from federal prison. >> so, by the summer of 2012, martin mcneil was once again a free man. he had served his time for fraud. we first spoke to alexis right

prison. >> he's a free man. how does that make you feel? >> very scared. you know. >> you've been his chief accuser all these years? >> yeah. i'm concerned. i'm not only concerned for myself and my family but for everyone who comes into contact with my father because i know he's a dangerous man. >> the investigators agreed. but the prosecutor wanted more, something they could take to cou court. >> show me how she deciied. she me how she died. i said, i believe i know how she died but i just can't prove it yet. >> then, one little detail ju jumped up and said, look at me. >> the time that came to me was when we heard from the officers and emt guy, when she threw up water. >> if michelle threw up water when the emts did cpr, that meant martin, the doctor, hadn't done it properly, if at all. >> okay, do

cpr? >> i'm doing it! >> with that, all the circumstantial bits seemed to line up and support the plan of a planned murder, a plot after martin takes up with gypsy. >> his wife finally finds out concrete evidence that he's doing it. he's trapped. what do i do? i can't lose my good name because i will lose my job and my reputation and everything else. so what does he do? >> drugs her and drowns her, they now believed. finally, the prosecutor agreed. and so on august 2012, martin's daughter sat in a utah courtroom, holding up pictures of their dead mother as their father appeared in court on charges of first-degree murder. >> if she hadn't pushed, if she hadn't started making those calls, would this have ever gone anywhere? >> i don't think it would have come to me. >> so would it --

unfounded. >> now, the family drama would play out for a jury -- but the outcome? at that point, it was far from certain. coming up -- >> a mistress turns witness. >> my name is gypsy willis. >> and one more secret. mistress number two. >> is it fair to say you and dr. mcneil began an affair? >> yes. >> when "dateline" continues. an it felt like i had just gone to the dentist. my teeth are glowing. they are so white. 6x cleaning*, 6x whiteningá* in the certain spots that i get very sensitive... ...i really notice a difference. and at two weeks superior sensitivity relief to sensodyne i actually really like the two steps! step 1 cleans and relieves sensitivity, step 2 whitens. it's the whole package. no one's done this. crest - healthy, beautiful smiles for life.

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what a strange thing it was, that the day martin mcneil was charged with murdering his wife, his daughter's only regret was that it had taken more than five years. >> i think my dad really got off on seeing what he could get away with. >> when the trial began october 17th, twenty 13 in provo, utah. martin was noticeably pale and the prosecutor was a little worried. >> it seemed like a case where you kind of got the impression maybe the guy was guilty but proving it was not going to be an easy matter. >> it's going to be difficult to wrap it all up early and give the jury this nice little box with a bow on top. >> gypsy willis -- >> the prosecution told the jury that martin drugged and drowned his wife, michelle, that he made a pla

had a love affair with that woman named gypsy. and that once he dispatched michelle, he was practically gl gleeful, even on the day of her funeral. >> the defend was jovial, lau laughing and smiling, again, remarking that he was going to have to get used to the life of a bachelor. >> how callous, said the prosecutor. but as for evidence he murdered her, remember, the autopsy said heart disease was the cause of death, not murder. >> the case is a puzzle with many pieces. >> your wife is unconscious? >> she is unconscious. she's underwater. >> the fist piece they said, was martin's behavior that morning during his 911 call. martin seemed angry. he hung up on the operator. >> okay, do know how to do cpr? >> i am doing it! >> do not hang -- >> first responders had trouble finding the house. when they finally did arrive, the police said martin was acting

them nervous. >> i was concerned about my safety, actually. >> while martin, the doctor, was performing cpr -- >> he was kind of yelling at her, why did you do this? why did you do this? and then he struck her in the chest with one of his hands. >> but when the police took over, remember -- >> she expels three to four cups of water. >> what would have happened had he done cpr, she would have already expelled that, is that what you're saying? >> i believe so. >> remember how martin said he found his wife head down in the tub, her legs sticking up over the edge? prosecutors show how his account differed from that of every other witness, even his then 6-year-old daughter, aida. this is a police interview of aida record in 2008. >> was she all the way in the bathtub or just part way in the bathtub? >> part way. >> please raise your right hand and take an oath. >> then, prosecutors called to the stand the woman a

so captivated martin, the mistress, and, they said, the motive. >> my name is gypsy willis. >> gypsy told the jury an online relationship with martin turned sexual. >> it was a very casual thing just when ever we had time and it could be arranged. and it was -- >> go ahead. >> i think we probably had sex half the time. sometimes it was just lunch. >> the very day after michelle's death, gypsy took a sexy selfie and sent it to martin. >> there's one picture where it is a little bit suggestive. >> it's showing your buttocks zbl. yeah. >> as we know, it wasn't long before gypsy moved into the mcneil house, supposedly hired as a nanny. >> if i told you others have testified you were not much of a nanny in terms of cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children and were just staring goo-eye'd at the defendant, what would be your response?

adult children were home i de r deferred to them and went back to studying my nursing. did actually help with the children. >> though gypsy told the children she never did marry martin, they did hear about all those fake documents with a marriage date of april 14th, 2007, the day michelle was buried. remember, gypsy had to testify as part of her plea deal, probably didn't want to. >> she clearly minimized their relationship, but i think in so doing the jury saw that. >> just to be sure, the prosecutor had gypsy read love letters martin wrote to her from federal prison. >> i love you and miss you every minute. i can think of nothing but how wonderful you are. >> so gypsy, said the prosecutor, was martin's motive for murder. that is if it was a murder. and if it was, was she involved? >> in light of all this

you don't know anything more about michelle's death? >> that is correct. >> do believe she had something to do with it? >> well, as far as the actual death we have no evidence to show that she did. as far as being a co-conspirator talking about it, the evidence speaks for itself. >> so gypsy's star turn was over. outside the court, she said she was overwhelmed by all the attention. >> a frightening experience. >> testifying here today? >> being in court at all. i've never had more than a sp d speeding ticket to this point. >> of course, as we know, that wasn't even close to being true. and back in the courtroom, the jury was finding out that gypsy wasn't martin's first mistress. >> is it fair to say that you and dr. mcneil began an affair? >> yes. >> this woman said she can noodled with martin before he took up with gypsy. and their pillow talk, she told the jury, included what sounded like a prescription for

a process of making someone have a heart attack? >> yes. >> specifically, what did he tell you? >> there's something you can give someone that's natural so it's not detectible after they have a heart attack. >> miss summers, please raise your right hand. >> then the much anticipated show-down, daughter versus father. after years of digging, colle collecting and persuading others that her father was an evil guilty man, alexis was about to take the stand. but the defense was about to argue alexis had her own problems with the truth. coming up, the doctor's defense. >> you still conclude that the manner of michelle mcneil's death was undetermined? >> yes. >> and the verdict. what would it be? >> when they were coming back after 11 hours, i was a little bit nervous.

miss summers, if you'll come forward to the court desk. >> for six years alexis had been the strongest most persistent voice arguing her father murd murdered her mother. the prosecutor. >> her testimony was huge. >> under oath, alexis told the same story she told us. >> why were you seeking information as to your mother's death? >> because i believed my father killed her. >> but now the defense was going to try to prove alexis wrong. in fact, they were going to question if there was a murder at all. and they would start by using some of the accusing daughter's own words. remember alexis' claim her mother was feeling fine just before she died? well, it turns out that

what she said at her mom's funeral. >> last time i spoke to my mom she was happy. she wasn't feeling good. she was feeling a little sick but -- >> she was feeling a little sick, right? is that right what you said? >> i just don't remember she was feeling sick. i remember her being up and getting ready for the day. >> you remembered it on the day of her funeral, right, three days later? since that time you have said over and over again that your mother was feeling great, there was no problems on april 11th. >> the implication, if michelle was feeling sick, just before she died, there could be a medical explanation for her death, and that alexis' memory was flexible. >> i just don't remember her feeling bad at all. >> a lot of things you don't remember accurately in this case, right? >> then the defense honed in on the state's biggest problem. here, they

man for murder when i cording to the state's own medical examiner, the cause of death was most likely heart disease. coroner dr. todd gray admitted on the stand he never classified michelle's death homicide, and even his decision to call it undetermined was not exactly based on science. >> you met with the investiga r investigators in your office, correct? >> yes. that is correct. >> they worked hard to try and persuade you to change it? >> they gave me an extensive and in-depth presentation of what they thought moved this was a homicide. >> when prosecutors took the very unusual step of higher an outside medical expert to try to bolster the case for homicide, the defense showed on cross-examination he was no more definitive. >> when you consider all of the circumstances of this case, you still conclude that the manner of michelle macneil's death is undetermined? >> yes. >> thank you. >> remember thater

defense co-counsel randy experience had an answer for that, too. >> michelle was found in the bathtub and it's very difficult to do cpr in the bathtub. >> so why didn't he pull her out of the tub? he couldn't, barring some god given grant of super human strength, very few people would be able to lift a 182 pound person out of the tub in that situation. >> just in that moment, in that scene, regardless whatever else he may have done that impuned his character. that morning, what was the strongest evidence that he did not kill his wife? >> i think that the strongest evidence was likely the time of death and where martin was that morning. >> please raise your right hand and beg sworn. >> the defense called witnesses who testified they saw martin right about the time michelle collapsed in her bathtub, in other words, he wasn't there, couldn't have killed her. this is 6-year-old

sneer mr. macneil picked her up that day? >> yes. >> he was there between 11:30 and 11:35 to pick up aida? >> yes. >> all those competing facts took closing arguments to put them together. the prosecutors were aggressive. >> make no doubt we believe he intentionally and knowingly caused the death of his wife. the evidence supports it. the motive is there, it's dripping. the means are there. the opportunity is there. >> the defense had to concede martin was cad and a cheat but the prosecution hadn't even proved there was a murder let alone martin committed it. >> i say to you none of the circumstances the prosecution has submitted don't prove homicide and don't rise to the level of reasoe

>> they deliberated and huddled hour after hour into that friday night. midnight came and went and they were still cautalking. >> the longer the deliberations were the more worried i got. >> quicker deliberations better? >> in our case, i thought so because i thought it was simple. >> and then the verdict. >> too quick says the prosecutor. moo when they wear core coming after 11 hours we were very nervous. >> we the jury find the defendant as to count one murder, guilty. at that moment, michelle's family couldn't hide their relief. finally, after years of fig fighting, they had gotten what they wanted, what they demanded. but until that moment, martin's defense attorneys believed perhaps more than martin himself that he would be acquitted. >> i think martin took it better than we did. he was like, i'm okay.

>> and then according to defender randy spencer, martin said something quite remarkable. >> this may seem strange, but he even respects what his daughters did, not because he killed his wife but because if they really believe ed that he killed his wife, he would expect them to advocate for her. so he understands. >> he told you that? >> he did, yeah. >> martin macneil received a sentence of 17 years to life in prison. he is appealing his conviction. >> we're just so happy he can't hurt any else. we miss our mom and we'll never get her back but that courtroom was full of so many people who loved my mom. >> you feel your family finally got justice? >> there is justice for my mom today. >> that's all for now.

thanks for joining us. this sunday, he was more than just a boxer or a celebrity or even the greatest. >> that's one hell of a lot of difference in fighting in the ring and going to war in vietnam. >> muhammad ali paved the way for a sports star to speak out in politics and we'll focus on that part of his legacy as we remember the man, the athlete, and the icon with bob costar, bryant gumbel, and jim brown. >> plus, statements like these from donald trump -- >> this judge is of mexican heritage. i'm building a wall. okay? >> are leading to statements like these from other republicans. >> the comment about the judge the other day just was out of left field in my mind. it's reasoning i don't relate to. >> are donald trump's supporters simply supporters in name only? i'll ask a man who may be

mcconnell. also, with hillary clinton and donald trump's favorable ratings setting record lows, could this be the year that an independent candidate makes a difference? libertarian party nominee gary johnson is with us. and joining me this morning for insight and analysis are ron fournier of the national journal, democratic congresswoman donna edwards of maryland, andrea mitchell of nbc news, and lanhee chen of the conservative hoover institution. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." good sunday morning. there are so many things you could say about muhammad ali, brash, charming, loud, funny, rutd, brave, occasionally cruel, uniquely talented. eternally fascinating, always original, and ultimately the most famous person on earth. as much as any athlete, muhma

ali elaszed the line between athlete and activist. he made it possible to speak out about politics, race, and religion in tumultuous times. they paved the way for moments like this in the 1968 summer olympics in mexico city. ali famously refused induction into the army in the vietnam war, a move that cost him 3 1/2 years of his career in his prime. >> just how far would you go to keep from taking up arms? >> i would die. anything that's against my religious beliefs, i would rather face machine gun fire before deviate from the teachings of all mighty god and the religion of islam. >> he was in it to the end. this past december, he put out this statement after donald trump's proposed muslim ban following the attacks in paris and san bernardino. speaking of someone who has never been accused of political correctness, i believe our political