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i said stop. stop. what are you doing? stop. >> they had a charmed life by the beach. surfer dad. >> he was a stud. you know? i don't lie. >> do it all mom. >> she would do family oriented things. z >> and a picture perfect home. >> this is our little american dream. >> he want aid lifestyle where he could there be for his family, for his kids. >> that's what made what happened so startling. >> those dark whether they got there. they found the body upstairs in the master bedroom. >> the victim was clearly shot with a handgun. >> the kids are missing. julie was missing. >> was this a case of murder? >> this is our neighborhood. these are our friends we're zblust utter shock. >> there were secrets in that house. who would unlock them? >> i didn't want my family to know. i didn't want all the neighbors to know. >> devious and manipulative. this is our

>> it didn't have to end like this. >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." >> grief, like the ocean, rolled into their lives in waves. ride the waves or sink, it seemed to say. ride them again and again. >> just, you know, just a shot to the heart. >> once there were four fast friends. four tall men before it all went down and the waefdz to meaning. >> it didn't have to end like this. >> no, except it did. and when did it? >> it felt like someone hit new the stomach really hard and you wanted to cry. >> what could they do? ride. it's what art would have wanted after all. >> harp, jason harper, sports loving, outdoors lovrn with a childhood best

became tall paul. >> we were always together. you know, in the early years he was taller than me. but then i caught up to him. but we were both two tallest guys in school. so zbl so when they got to high school, there is one sport they were very well suited to play, volleyball. >> harp was a stud. you know? i'm not going to lie to you. i'm not going to sugar-coat it. he was mvp on the team. >> yes, and went on to play at ucla where he met jeremy brand. here they are together on ucla bruins talk on public access tv. >> everybody came back and goes, we're not going to lose or whatever. and came back and they haven't lost since then. >> we can be a lot of team out. there you know with, he can definitely be a final four con tender. >> i always say we ran the same speed and so we would run to warm up thes the sap speed and talking together and we became roommates throughout college and just a great guy. a great friend.

at least around the girls. >> he wasn't quite the ladies man. you know? i'm not going to lie you to. >> then one night in 2000, four years after he graduated from college, harp met a girl at a party. tall paul was there, too. the girl's name was julie syhack. >> she zoned in on him right off the bat and started talking to him. >> i get the impression she picked him? >> y went pretty fast after that. and why not? julie was pretty and smart. and from a well to do family. still, when harp proposed just three months after he met this first real girlfriend -- >> i fel girl that he really loved and there's a lot that goes with. that and i just didn't want him be -- have the wool pulled over his eyes. >> but they stood up for him. and the marriage at san diego's historic hotel was a great happy party. >> i remember the first dance.

and they did a very nice ballroom dance. you know? and harp had a big old smile on his face. >> they moved to the sea side, to carlsbad, california, just h. and jason harper signed on as a math teacher and volleyball coach at a local high school. >> jason was the typical southern california surfer, beach volleyball public schoolteacher. >> he met the third of those tall friends. andy tom kin son. he and has wife kristen taught at the same school. charles bad high. >> on a campus of 3,000 students, you notice people at the same level. i'm 6'6" and i'm 6'9." so you do notice after a while who they are. >> the two became fast friends, surfing, pickup basketball, poker. guy things. and then jason and xwul

jake first then jackie. j names. >> even if that meant not playing cards with the boys or going on a surf trip, those kids all came first. >> so were there times when you wanted to do something with him and he said sorry, i got to stay home? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> yes. >> paul was here in theter aces at sunny creek, a brand new gated place not far from the beach. these were their neighbors. so many enableds now you don't know would your next door neighbors are. that's not like this place at all. >> not at all. julie ran the mother tot group in the neighborhood. she would actually organize all the activities. she was a good mom. she was really involved with her kids. >> and hard to know exactly why things changed. after joshua, their third was born in 2011, julie just didn't seem the same. >> and as time went by, you would see less and less and less of her

her car and drive away. >> but like she was hiding from everybody. >> yeah. >> but jason? >> he was the permanent landscape neighborhood. he was there every day. literally every day. very hands on father. >> i look out my door to see if he's out there and wave. and we walk over. bring the kid over and walk in the driveway and the kid start playing when we got home from school. august north 2012. >> you don't know what happened but it's not g your stomach sinks. >> didn't take a rocket scientists. something was awfully wrong. >> there was crime tape. my house sin siinside the crime tape. there say police officer stationed at the base miff driveway. i ask him is everything okay? and he said no. no. it's not. >> what had really happened that morning, when we come back. >> they say that they found the body upstairs in the master bedroom. the kid are missing. julie was missing. >> we're all in shock. what are

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at 7:30 in the morning on the 8th of august, 2012, michelle collin gayszed on the police car and the crime scene tape and asked the cop in her driveway, what is happening? >> you need to go inside and turn on your television. >> the policeman told that you? >> yes, what are you

>> that was apparent soon enough when they wheeled out the body bag. >> one of our colleagues and friends called us and said i think something really bad has happened. they say that they found a body upstairs in the master bedroom and it looks like it's jason's house. >> bit by awful bit, andy and the rest of them heard the details. the body had been hidden under a blanket and other debris. one bullet still lodged in the chest. death was at least quick. the victim was the beloved member of that tall quartet, the neighborhood dad, jason harper. that was terrible enough. but it >> the kid are missing. julie was missing. and as details unfolded, we were in >> officers continue their investigation at the harper residence. they still have -- >> we're in shock. jason is dead, we're flipping

where is this woman and flashing her plates and. on the news. >> so what happened? home invasion? icdnapping? d you worry about their kids? >> oh, that's the worst part. >> yes, absolutely. >> they're safety, number one. their safety. are they okay? e peas piece of information h the neighbors lack cld came in a strange phone call at 11:00 p.m. the night before. sergeant jeff smith was the lead detective. >> the watch commander working that night got a phone call from an attorney. asking him to go -- or the police departm welfar check at a residence. >> a welfare check? seemed like an odd request. who was this lawyer who called? >> it was attorney paul finx. >> he just happened to be the d ex-da.

that unlike a 911 call was not recorded. the cops went to the house and they found jason's body. but not julie and the kids. they were gone. so police talked to paul again who said not to worry, julie and the kids were fine. julie was not a victim. she was his newest client. he arranged the safe return of the children to a local children's hospital and then 15 hours after the cops discovered jason's body, he orchestrated julis surrender at her father's house. >> did she talk to you? >> no. >> but her attorney spoke with local reporters. she's very upset. she's upset about her children. she's upset about her health. she's upset abou seeing basically at this point her life is in shambles. it's a catastrophe all the way around.

but what happened in the bedroom? neither julie nor her attorney would say. so the police launched an investigation to figure out what was julie guilty of if anything? to begin, they had specialists interview the two older children ages 8 and 6. they said their day started out like a typical summer morning. and then some time between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. -- >> when you were watching cartoons yesterday morning and you heard the loud clunk -- >> a thud, that's all they could tell you. >> they know at that point that their father was dead? >> i don't believe so. >> it must have been very confusing. >> yes. >> fright ened? >> yeah, young children. >> and the only thing you know are there say guy with a bullet hole and the kids heard a thump? >> yes. >> not a lot to go on. >> not a lot. >> so what did you do next? >> we

possibly seen things. >> one neighbor said that they saw miss harper leaving right around 9:05 in the morning. and exiting that -- their gated community. >> now you know when they left the house. >> roughly. >> now the detectives did what they could to retrace julie and the kids' movements. during their interviews, the kids said their mom took them to a coffee shop first. >> from that point they went to a local play works or jumping type house place. and from the kids' account, that's where they stayed for a short period and played. we were tibl corroborate that with cell phone anall his. >> if the thud the kids heard was jason being shot, then the coffee run and the play date happened afterward. well, he lay wounded or already dead on the bedroom floor. on august 9 nl, two days after the shooting, a medical examiner

recovered the bullet that killed jason. it came from a .38 caliber hand gun. >> we did find a gun in the home where mr. harper was found. >> but it wasn't the gun that killed jason. so no murder weapon and the only suspect wasn't talking. >> we believed that there was an argument between the two and a gun was produced and she shot him. and we were -- we didn't know why. >> not an easy question. >> narrator: cs an answer, but you think anyone intended to >> coming up -- >> i don't understand why any of it happened. you know what i sneen. >> new clues. >> she was preparing for a change in her life. >> private journals and secrets in the attic. >> my wildest dreams i would .

by the time julie harper's attorney arafrped for her to turn herself in, her husband jason had been dead for a day and a half. for reasons nobody could understand. they appeared to be a solid couple. why would she shoot him? that's what carlsbad detectives were deshld to figure out. julie wasn't talking. so they interviewed friends and family and peeled back the layers and sergeant jeff smith learned that a whole year earlier julie sent a friend envelopes for safekeeping. >> what was in the engel oeps? >> journals, writings, bank statements, personal history. >> in that personal history, signs of a marriage that wasn't as perfect as it seemed. julie wrote that jason yelled at me and maybe divorce is the answer. >> it appeared that they were not happy with each other. and that their marriage was going towards an end or divorce. >> whatever was going on,

his teacher friends and his friends. >> he would never say any bad things. he kept it very personal and clear, they said, the marriage was winding down. >> arrange ments were being made. jason's parents actually bought a house down here and it had enough room for jason and all the kids and they were preparing for him to be able to leave. >> xwully seemed to be getting ready to get out too said sergeant smith and in fact, she filed for divorce five days before the incident. and that same week made some unusual financial transactions. >> days prior to miss harper had taken out about $10,000 in cash out of a dorm anlt account that was in her daughter's name and she had written two $4,500 checks to herself and it was against a credit card in mr. harper's name. >> julie pulled out nearly $20,000. cash. >> we found that to be very

>> t deputy district attorney was assigned to the case day one. did it suggest she was hoarding money in anticipation of something? >> she was preparing for a change in her life. >> but did the change involve divorce? or murder? >> julie's father john lived here 30 miles or so from jason and julie's house. and this apparently was where julie and the kids spent the night after the shooting. so detective smith got a search warrant for dad's place and found nothing useful. there were other guns but none of them fired the bull tlaet killed jason. perhaps a little frustrated, eight days later, he got a second search warrant and this time there was something new. tucked away in the garage attic in a spot they searched first time around, a blue backpack. must have been hidden between searches. >> they opened up this blue backpack and they discovered julie harper's

different gun, and jason harper's last will and testament. >> also jason's cell phone, batteries removed and call and text history cleared. the backpack gun was also clean. not the one used to shoot jason. this had to be a get away bag, the prosecutor decided. she must have packed it up after she killed jason. >> that's the only reason to take a person's last will and testament. it's because she realized he was dead. >> julie's actions before and after the shooting raised all sorts of questions. foremost the prosecutor is did she plan this? was ut premeditated? and if so, for how long? >> we believed we could prove first-degree murder not on the theory that she had planned this murder the days or weeks before the shooting had taken place. instead, we were relying on the theory that even during this argument she took eno

this would have been planned and premeditated even if it was only for a minute or two before the shooting. >> and that's enough? >> in california that, coughs s she pleaded not guilty but otherwise kept her mouth shut and sat in jail. but strange details kept coming out. like what julie's dad said at her preliminary hearing about the blue backpack. >> there had actually been $39,000 inside that backpack. >> julie's father admitted he found the cash in the backpack and gave it to julie's lawyer to help pay for bail and legal fees. >> what did you think when you heard that? >> in my wildest dreams, i would have never expected that. >> by the way, julie's dad testified at the p im initially pleaded the

and even though bail was $2 million, julie's family eventually coughed it up. and after more than a year in jail, she moved back into the house on badger lane, three doors down from michelle noon. >> she knocked on my door to let me know she was back. and that we're going to have a good talk some day whether this is all over. >> what did you say to her? >> i was just completely shocked. i couldn't believe it. >> all those comfortable notions about her neighbors. and maybe michelle didn't know them at all. >> i don't understand why any of it happened. you know what i mean? he was our friend and he's gone. and i don't know who she is. >> and whether julie finally did start talking, well -- >> coming up -- >> i said stop. stop. what are you doing? stop? >> on the stand, her life on the

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september 2014. two years after jason harper's death, his wife julie, the mother of their three children went on trial for first-degree murder. >> she didn't look like a murderer. >> number if there is such a th. >> even though deputy da had never been able to talk to julie, had never heard her story, he was confident. his theme was something he called the deterioration of julie harper. >> her life had become a disaster both in terms of her marriage, her children, her health, her financial state. and we believe she was seriously abusing her prescription medication. >> look at this, he told the

disease, he said this made it clear she was abusing powerful medications. and said the prosecutor look at the mess in julie's bedroom. faz a hoarder lived here. when jason's body was found, it was hidden under a blanket and surround bid debris. the bullet that killed him enlt frerd a side rear ang sole was shot pretty much in the back. what happened? julie must have shot jason between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. said the pr while the kids were down stairs watching cartoons. and neighbors saw julie leaving just after 9:00 a.m. and she was at the coffee shop 40 minutes later. >> she wasn't crying. swhaenlt upset. she didn't ask anyone to call 911. it shoeld this woman had a calloused heart. she was capable of murdering her husband and really had the wherewithal to be able to go out into public and

perfectly normal. >> it was clearly murder, said the deputy da. but was it? remember, julie did not talk not once to the police or the prosecutor because her attorney never allowed it. but now it was time. defense attorney called just one witness, julie harper. and she said yes, she did it. she shot him. but she said it wasn't murder. why? because she said jason harper, so beloved by friends and neighbors and colleagues was in private an angry, abusive husband. >> did you videotape jason telling you -- >> here was her proof, she said. here was her secret recording of jason losing it over money. >> i don't want to enable your horrible money waste and your poor credit score and everything else. i don't

it's horrible! >> then this. >> car pool, bitch. figure it out. tell them to do it. you're too dumb or too lazy. >> well, at least i have more words in my vocabulary than you do. other than bitch is the only word you can use. >> that's right. right now that, is darn right. because that's what you are. >> julie said it got worse. it got physical. >> he grabbed my wrist and my hand so forcefully and twisted it so hard that, i mean, it was hurting into the next day. >> remember, jason was a 6'6" athlete about, a foot taller than julie. by then they slept in separate rot sometimes she said when he got angry, he came to her room and the abuse turned sexual. >> he was slamming me up against the wall.

and -- >> what would you say? i would say, stop, stop. what are you doing? stop? >> julie told the jury that jason raped her about 30 times. she said she was so frightened she stashed a gun under her pillow just in case. and she woke up the morning of the shooting, she said, to the sound of jason yelling and screaming. >> he was, you know, he used some curse words and -- god, i'm so shick of this. [ beep ] and where is my computer. >> jason believes that she had hidden the computer. zbh his face was all red. and he was just, you know, his nose scrunched up and he was -- his eyes squinting and he just get this look of absolute rage and hate but this was -- i don't know. this w

>> he grabbed me. and he began yanking my top off. i started pushing back and somehow managed to sort of wiggle my way free pulling away as quickly as i could and moved from there across the room to my bed. >> what did do you when you got to the bed? >> i grabbed my gun from under my pillow. >> a .38 caliber hand gun. comih his arms raised. he said i'm going to

[ beep ] d i was shaking. and i was holding on to my gun tightly. next thing i knew, i felt -- i felt my hand jerk and heard the loud noise. and he was still, like coming forward at me. and then all of a sudden he froze completely. and just like a tree in the forest just fell forward at me. >> just like a tree. jason, the tall man, the athlete, the volleyball coach, the math

so that finally was julie's story. that she was an abused woman who shot her husband in self-defense. >> on that day, did you still love your husband? >> yes. >> did you want him to be dead? >> no. >> but now for the first time, julie has to face a prosecutor with a >> coming up -- the crime re-created in court. >> do you have a moment, miss harper? >> it's okay. >> but did the witness outmaneuver the prosecutor? >> this is the smartest woman that i ever cross-examined in my hink what's possible. rethink the experience. rethink your allergy pills. flonase sensimist allergy relief uses unique mistpro technology and helps block 6 key inflammatory substances

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upset stomach, diarrhea!♪ ♪nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!♪ here's pepto bismol! ah. ♪nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!♪ . he was coming towards me with his arms raised. >> so finally julie harper told her story. her husband jason was an abuser and she killed him in self-defense. what did you think when you heard that? >> i my stomach and may heart shechlt could say anything she want the because there are two sides to everything and he's not here to tell his. >> the story was not a big surprise to deputy da but as a prosecutor who specialized for years in spousal abuse cases, he just didn't believe it. >> she was saving her o

dead husband under the bus and ruin his reputation in order to do so. >> that's your point of view. maybe it was true. >> we considered that possibility. it simply didn't stand up under the scrutiny of truth. >> it was when the prosecutor began his cross-examination that he discovered julie was ready for him. >> as you sit here today, do you believe that your shooting of jason was justified based on your need to defend yourself? >> i didn't even intend to shoot him. i only wanted to scare him or to get him to stop and not rape me, not hurt me or possibly worse. >> this is the smartest woman that i had ever cross-examined in my gi weaving. >> she was able to think on the se pill bottles all necessary for her medical condition and prexrib

but if as she said jason was coming at her whether she shot, why then the prosecutor wondered did the bullet enter from the back? >> do you mind steppinging down here? >> the prosecutor set up a courtroom re-creation. >> i'm going to have mr. car stand in for jason. >> the things didn't quite play out the way the prosecutor hoped. did julie use this moment to her advantage? >> all right. she's crying now. >> do you need a moment miss harper? >> it's okay. >> okay, position his hands where they were. >> she broke down and started crying. and was visibly upset in front of the jury. >> that was maybe not best strategy on your part then. as it tusrned out. >> it was a powerful moment for her because ate loud her to really retell the story in an emotional way and bring the jurors into her story. >> julie was on the sta

and then the jury had to decide. was she a murderer or a victim that feared for her life. >> i was juror number three in julie harper's trial. >> joseph dial said he knew early on in the deliberations it wasn't going to be easy quick. >> within 15 minutes we had taken a vote and it showed we were way, way apart. and we would argue each points to the -- to where there was nothing conclusive. >> all right. >> on the second day of deliberations, the judge called everyone back to the courtroom. >> we received a note from the jury this morning at 10. 067896 a.m. th reads, we are untibl rea unable to reach a verdict on some of the counts. >> deadlocked on smfr the kounlts. but they received a unanimous vert on one count. >> let's bring in the jury. >> this is the moment of truth. did the jury believe julie? >> i'll as the clerk to read the verdict. >>

we the jury in the above entitled cause find the defendant julie harper not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of -- >> yes, they did believe her. she did not preplan and deliberately kill her husband. so it couldn't be first-degree murder. but was it second-degree murder? not premeditated but still intentional? now that of the jury was hopelessly deadlocked. the judge declared a mistrial. defense attorney. >> obviously when there say murder trial and get any form after quital, that's a good thing. she would have hoped for a total acquittal. >> so with a hung jury and bail already established, julie walked out of the courthouse a free woman. >> did she do it? >> yes, she did it. >> was it self-defense? >> it certainly was after who knows how many years of the toxic relationship they had and his incredible

bit of faith in the justice system. >> jason's friends just couldn't understand it. just felt like, you know, you were a littld a someone hit you in the stomach hard but you weren't going to cry and your eyes started tearing up. >> it was very, very surreal, i guess. you know? emotional. >> the prosecutors thought about whether to charge her again. julie went on with life back at the house on badger lane. >> and then she just comes back in the neighborhood. >> down the street. >> yeah. like before. yep. zbh we're like is this ever going to end? >> well, they couldn't know, of course. there was another secret julie was keeping from eve >> coming up, really that devious? >> she's really that devious. >> another bombshell and another trial. >> i didn't want my family to know. i didn't want my neighbors to know. >> what would th

julie harper was walking on air. acquitted of first-degree murder. a jury deadlock ond second-degree murder. it tasted like sweet victory. as the da bit down on frustration. >> the images of her walking out of that courtroom as a free woman were tough for me to swallow. >> still, what he could do was try again. of course, first-degree murder was off the table now but he could go for a lesser charge of second-degree murder. which he did. a new trial date was set for six months later, april, 2015. and then one month before that trial

julie had some astonishing news for the judge. >> the retrial for carlsbad woman accused of killing her husband, her attorney says she is pregnant. seven months pregnant. caught everybody by surprise that did. >> she intentionally got pregnant in order to interfere with our retrial. >> really that devious in your mind? >> she's really that devious and well planned and manipulative. >> what's more, julie's pregnancy was highly intentional. in vitro fertilization. the judge, no choice really, delayed julie's trial for five months and josephine was born on april 29th, 2015, no father listed on her birth certificate. the neighbors on badger lane watched and wondered. >> she decided she was going to walk the baby in the stroller through the neighborhood. and, you know that, was very uncomfortable. >> like nothing happened in her mind and severin

>> and she's, you know, my life 2.0. >> well, not quite, of course. in september 2015, julie, the judge, the attorneys, all assembled before a brand new jury. 12 new strangers to win over. except this time prosecutor knew what was coming from julie. and sow canvassed the witnesses. did they ever see signs of abuse? this is jason's mother lina. >> did julie appear in any way to be fearful to you? >> no. >> did you see any bruises or marks on her? >> no. >> julie and jason's eldest son jake, by this time 11 on the state of the marriage. >> tell me about how their arguing became worse. >> it just escalated. >> even though the arguing became worse, did you ever see your dad hit your mom then? >> no. >> maybe michelle saw jason and julie together. five days before jason's death. >> did you

that lead you to believe that she was being physically abused? >> no. never. >> but julie ace sitster said julie did confide in her that jason was physically abusing her. jason had become very, very angry, was constantly yelling at her, would grab her by her wrists and twist them. >> nothing about rape though. so why would the jury believe julie's claim that jason did rape her violently and repeatedly? when julie testified, she asked the jury to look at entries into her private journal and day planner. whenever they saw the word sex, said julie, that was co for rap. >> were you making notations of the days you had coerced sex? >> yes. >> the prosecutor, of course, didn't believe that. but when he challenged her, was this real emotion? >>

police on jason for any of these incidents? >> no. i was very embarrassed. i was very embarrassed that he was doing it. i didn't want -- i didn't want my family to know. i didn't want my neighbors to know. i didn't want my friends to know. >> manipulation? or the awful truth? once again, a jury was asked to pass judge ment on julie harper. >> in the superior court of the state of california -- zblerve waited. baited breath. >> we the jury in the above entitled cause find the defendant julie harper, guilty of the crime of murder and fixed the degree there of as murder in the second degree. >> guilty of second-degree murder. on went the handcuffs, just like that. >> okay. jury number two was not at all like jury number one. >> no doubt at all? >> no. not at all. >> no.

recordings? jason yelling at julie. >> i don't want to enable your horrible money ways. >> they did lose his temper at time. but the tapes were so conveniently done, it's just at the time w at his worst. that's pretty good evidence but i just had the feeling they were staged. >> and how about that diary? in which the word sex was supposed to mean rape? >> so it would say sex then we went to the west to find dinner house h. >> sex and cuddling and then we talked and cuddled more, et cetera. >> but she would say that meant rape and that made no sense to us. >> no disrespect to the first set of jurors from the initial trial. i just don't understand how they could not have found her guilty. >> and so we made an appointment to talk to julie. by then behind glass in a san diego county j

this result at all. would i be right about that? >> you'd be correct in that, yeah. what was really so shocking was that they could ignore all of that independent evidence outside of my testimony. >> by that she meant the recording of jason yelling and her claim that in her diary sex meant rape. and despite what the jury thought, she has big plans. >> because of what i've gone through with my husband and the abuse that i've suffered, i am planning and working with a couple of people to start the julie harper foundation as a charity benefiting victims of domestic violence and their families. >> first of all, you have to start with getting a jury to believe that you were a victim of domestic violence and that was your problem. >> and that's where you go. first jury did believe that. there are different people that process information the same information, the same evidence in very different ways. >> the way jason harper's friends processed it was

julie tormented and decent man. and then threw him. >> narrator: bus to save her own skin. >> the hardest thing i think for me was the rape allegations. i just -- it's just no way. no way. not harp. >> you know, harp's gone. and, you know, we miss him. and we love him. but, you know, for her to be put away, it helps heal. >> and julie, she was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. >> i'm 42 years old. it's a death sentence. >> very true. which brought up a question on a lot of minds. >> why did you get pregnant? >> i was such a good parent. and i had that love to give to another child and really wanted to be able to give and share that love with my daughter who i love more than anything in the world. >> her other children live with jason's parents now. the baby is with julie's fath.

repeating julie's abuse claim and saying the verdict is unjust. we asked him and julie's attorney and friends and siblings, any of them, to sit us with on camera and talk about julie. if nothing else, to defend her. all declined. >> thank you very much. >> barring a successful appeal, julie harper will die behind bars alone. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joini this sunday, another tumultuous week in washington. >> anthony wants general kelly to be able to operate fully with a clean slate. >> a white house staff shake-up. congress leaves town after getting nothing done. the russia investigation

again. this time to include grand juries. and president trump continues to call it, all of it, a hoax. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. that's all it is. >> it all sounds so familiar. so why do we keep having weeks like this? this morning our broken politics, two parties searching for their identities. the republicans -- >> i think to be conservative can't be to embrace conspiracy theories or to talk about alternative facts. >> i'll talk to senator jeff flake of arizona who took on his own republican party for not sticking to its principles. and the democrats. >> you have to say leadership has not been clever enough or strong enough or perhaps visionary enough. >> my interview with california governor jerry brown and how the democrats have managed to become a minority party in washington, in