. >> in georgia, the coroner is an elected official, and this was the first suspicious death anita hullanderinvestigated after her election. alvin's attorney believes that the coroner's inexperience and her own personal suspicions about alvin ridley affected her judgment. >> when that body went to the state crime lab and she accompanied it, she reported when they arrived, this woman has been locked in a basement for 30 years. the state pathologist that conducted the autopsy, i think that was an improper suggestion based on no fact that made it easy for him to conclude homicide by asphyxiation. >> alvin ridley took the stand in his own defense. he said he drove by the local fire station after his wife's death because he had had a prior run-in with the people there and didn't trust them. he said he called the hospital in chattanooga because that's where he had taken his mother years earlier. it was the only facility he was familiar with. after two hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted alvin ridley of all charges. he claims it was his wife, virginia, testifying through her letters who kept