>> candra screamed. the dog instinctively attacked tom, and tom shot her dog rusty in self-defense. >> and then he panicked because he had a prior record, was known to the police, and that no one would believe him. >> so, tom had no desire to explain the incident to police, and gave candra the choice between staying with him or heading back to town. >> i had no way of getting down. i couldn't even drive. i didn't have a license. i didn't know how to drive a stick. >> confused and in shock, candra stayed with brown. but after two days, they reconsidered and decided to notify the authorities. >> he told them that there had been a shooting, and it was an accident, and she backed up his story. he then cooperated and took them to where the body was, helped them recover the rifle. >> to prove his story, tom took a lie detector test and passed. police ruled julio's death an accident. >> the sheriff's department was very supportive of tom brown. i think that they believed the stories and that they wanted to keep