00:00:00
[Music] Justin is very kind and he's gentle and he's very giving he's got a great sense of humor he can
00:00:21
make anybody laugh my name is Lisa I was Justin's best friend the winner this year of course is
00:00:30
Justin Parker of a young man with the world at my fingertips I had everything to look forward to
00:00:36
I wanted to be a CEO chairman of the board I wanted to run a major company [Music]
00:00:43
he loved April very much extremely special person sunshine commitment to family Justin April hit it off instantly April
00:01:00
and I and both were initially very impressed with what he was setting out to do he definitely pursued her and she
00:01:07
was willing we were very very attracted to each other I think instantly we were married in the Bahamas
00:01:16
it was a very fun very fun time [Music] this case started out on a Saturday night August 17 2002.
00:01:25
[Music] my name is Howard Cole and I'm a detective with St John's County Sheriff's Office
00:01:32
[Music] approached the guy pulled again we were struggling it was a fight his wife was shot and he
00:01:43
was shot and I left her there I was trying to find help he was shot four times and within a centimeter of my lung a
00:01:56
bullet passed I was deeply ashamed I had abandoned her hair alone on that Beach [Music]
00:02:11
we initiated an extensive search of the area and we found his wife April Barber dead on the boardwalk
00:02:18
a gunshot went to the face and I think that I went crazy at them screaming he would be sleeping and he would be
00:02:29
drenched in sweat his nightmares were heartbreaking I'm a Broken Man fortunately in this case the victim
00:02:39
April Barber left us enough Clues to continue on with the investigation April's tires were slashed
00:02:49
there are certainly a few people that had a romantic interest in April April we need to talk about the car that
00:02:57
was seen at the location [Applause] we need to find the driver of that car April told different people in her life
00:03:09
different pieces of information none of us had the whole story secrets in the sand tonight's 48 Hours
00:03:20
mystery [Music] foreign [Music] very fun loving Carefree couple and they looked really good together April
00:04:03
Barbara had the kind of wedding most girls only dream about she was beautiful a beach in the Bahamas at Sunset a
00:04:12
beautiful dress a handsome groom a special day special time for her wasn't it was she happy
00:04:18
she was she was but April's Aunt Patty Parrish says April was hardly a traditional bride she had a gorgeous
00:04:27
white dress that I remember her cramming into her suitcase and here we are trying
00:04:31
to get the wrinkles out of it the day of the wedding she was more of a country girl at heart
00:04:44
the lucky groom was Justin Barber what kind of things you do after the wedding as newlyweds you don't have to go in any
00:04:51
detail I'm talking about like things you did out in the public you know I don't think we spent a lot of time okay
00:04:57
if anyone deserves such a happy day it was April so many of the days before it had been difficult and sad her mother
00:05:06
had passed away when April was 17. she died from cancer that was very difficult for April she
00:05:13
was finishing her senior year in high school [Music] made April grow up fast her father fell
00:05:23
apart and later got into trouble over drugs so April briefly took over the mothering of her younger brother Kendon
00:05:30
who was only one and her sister Julie who was nine she took care of us to get me up first goal get me off to school
00:05:37
she'd cook us dinner she just took the place of our mother losing her mother also gave April's life
00:05:43
a purpose she went to college determined to pursue a career in medicine treating
00:05:49
cancer patients she definitely didn't take life for granted and and had pretty clear goals about what she wanted out of
00:05:56
life this is a few months after we met her best friend Amber Mitchell says College also opened up a whole new world
00:06:04
for April [Applause] and at the Kappa Delta sorority house she found a new home she was extremely
00:06:15
cheesy happy bubbly and if you stood next to her you look forward in 1998 when she was 23 April's world
00:06:25
became even brighter she met Justin at the time a top student in the University of Oklahoma's MBA program Amber was
00:06:33
there the night they met a lot of the guys she'd recently dated had not yet sort of found their place career-wise
00:06:40
and Justin came along as such a complete opposite and I think that was very attractive to her
00:06:47
and when Justin first brought April home his mother Linda took to her right away
00:06:52
I liked her immediately she was very beautiful very natural you could just tell she was a good person she fit in
00:06:59
real well with the family [Music] just 10 months after they began dating that Justin and April elope to the
00:07:08
Bahamas I just worried that it was really quick and that maybe they didn't know each other well enough yet to do
00:07:13
that but I supported her completely because she was happy and I wanted to see her happy when they returned from
00:07:20
the honeymoon April and Justin moved to Georgia for work and April's siblings Julian Kendon came to live with them for
00:07:28
a while but it didn't last it was too much for the young couple to handle course it was difficult for them because
00:07:35
they were so young and trying to raise two kids they tried their hardest to give us everything that we could
00:07:41
possibly want or need I think there was stress almost immediately they're still getting to know each other
00:07:48
and they've got other people in their home and careers they're starting and just a ton of change it's a lot for any
00:07:54
new married couple to take on [Music] then just two years into the marriage April and Justin's careers forced them
00:08:03
apart April who worked in Radiology took a new job in Georgia but Justin a business executive was transferred here
00:08:12
to Jacksonville Florida nearly three hours away they saw each other mainly on weekends
00:08:19
did you want her to come and be with you and leave that job alone it wasn't just
00:08:22
a normal job that she took there it was the next step up in her career and it was a very very good opportunity for her
00:08:29
at an early age and so I fully supported that they had lived like this for more than a year when in the summer of 2002
00:08:37
April came to Jacksonville to celebrate their third wedding anniversary on the night of Saturday August 17th they went
00:08:45
out for dinner and drinks April wanted to eat at Carrabba's had a nice dinner shot a few games of pool after pool
00:08:53
decided to go for a drive Justin says their destination was a remote State Beach we had been there a
00:09:01
few times before April's previous birthday and I think perhaps the year before his place that we would go to be
00:09:07
alone on the beach go off their shoes and started walking along the shoreline suddenly just
00:09:16
just a strange and threatening man appeared in front of them it was Caucasian he had a hat on it's a dark
00:09:22
hat with a logo how big was he in relation to me slightly taller and heavier 200 pounds
00:09:32
do you think it was Robert yes did you hear anyone say give me your money he was yelling
00:09:39
yelling what I don't know exactly what I'm telling I assume that he wanted money
00:09:46
did you see a gun yes Justin says he lunged at the man we were struggling it was a fight then shots
00:09:55
rang out Justin doesn't remember what happened next he thinks he passed out after it was all over you came to yes
00:10:03
and what happened you looked around yes what'd you see nothing first April was nowhere to be seen did you
00:10:11
call her name out oh yes I was yelling her name Justin's wife and his attacker had both disappeared into the darkness I
00:10:19
ran down the beach I couldn't find her I would screaming I remember feeling confusion I remember
00:10:44
feeling nauseous Panic after desperately scouring the beach in search of April Justin Barber says he
00:10:54
finally found his 27 year old wife floating face down in the surf he rushed into the water and tried to
00:11:02
revive her she wasn't responding to me so what'd you do testing I pulled her out of the water
00:11:12
Justin says he pulled April to Shore and that's when he noticed she'd been shot he tried several times to lift her into
00:11:20
his arms but he couldn't do it my body just was not responding the way that I think that it should have panicking he
00:11:27
bent over April's limp body and grabbed the waistband of her pants then dragged her several hundred feet we got to the
00:11:35
point at which the boardwalk meets the sand and then there's a set of stairs that
00:11:41
lead up to the boardwalk I couldn't very well drag her up the stairs I wanted to
00:11:45
lean her over my shoulder and try to carry her that way to the road but his last ditch effort to lift April also
00:11:52
failed I dropped her and I think the sound of her hitting the ground caused a reaction to me
00:12:02
and I knew at that point that what I was doing was just not worse [Music] it was at that moment Justin Barber says
00:12:13
that he figured out what was wrong the reason he couldn't carry his petite wife to safety was because Justin himself had
00:12:20
been shot and not just once but four times and now Justin says he was forced to do the unthinkable leave his wife
00:12:27
here on the beach while he blazed the trail to find help alone I don't know what the thought process was but I left
00:12:35
her I left her and where did you go I ran across the uh the boardwalk to the highway looking for
00:12:46
help and that's when I saw the first car company realizing he had left his cell phone at home Justin says he darted into
00:12:55
the middle of the road to wave for help but three cars whizzed past him I ran to our vehicle I remember getting
00:13:05
in the truck and driving back to town shaken and injured Justin sped off into the darkness I was driving erratically I
00:13:15
was looking for help I was looking for attention I remember seeing a red light and
00:13:21
stopping there and cars were there and I started yelling for help there at a major intersection Justin Barber says he
00:13:29
finally found a Good Samaritan who called 9-1-1 I think somebody's been shot okay is he conscious at all yeah
00:13:37
he's conscious trying to keep doing trying to keep him that away apparent within minutes the paramedics arrived
00:13:46
Justin told them what happened to April and they rushed him to the emergency room we got a call of a reported robbery
00:13:54
an attempted robbery with a shooting meanwhile Detective Howard Cole and the entire Saint John's Sheriff's Department
00:14:01
immediately sprang into action we had a gentleman up there who had been shot four times initially we didn't know
00:14:08
where we just knew that he had said that it was on the beach foreign [Music] they instantly made a chilling discovery
00:14:22
when the deputy found her she was laying there on her back at the photo Boardwalk
00:14:26
completely wet she was pronounced deceased right there at the scene [Music] police now had a homicide investigation
00:14:40
on their hands and a killer on the loose Cole rushed to the hospital to find out
00:14:46
from Justin everything he knew he just said how's my wife and I basically said that paramedics were on scene they found
00:14:52
her and she was deceased foreign Justin managed to compose himself and tried to describe the gunman
00:15:01
who killed April he did not know what the guy looked like he did not see his face it was too dark his description of
00:15:07
the suspect at that time is that he was taller than me he was stronger than me and he had on a baggy t-shirt and a ball
00:15:13
cat Cole then photographed the wounds the gunman had inflicted on Justin he had been shot in his left hand his left
00:15:23
shoulder the base of his neck and most alarmingly his chest I don't remember feeling pain at that time
00:15:31
my mind was uh was on April Justin's wounds turned out not to be life-threatening and doctors released
00:15:39
him the next day [Music] soon after he flew back to Oklahoma to face the Grim task of burying his wife
00:15:48
well the funeral was it was it was lovely and awful April's best friend Amber says the funeral made it clear
00:15:56
just how many people loved April and felt close to her we did everything we could to make it a tribute of how
00:16:03
wonderful she was [Music] Justin however seemed distant according to Amber Justin was almost mute he was
00:16:13
looking at the floor he wouldn't make eye contact with anybody Justin's brother Charlie wasn't surprised he says
00:16:20
Justin was simply overcome with grief after losing April well he was emotionally devastated physically
00:16:27
wounded and emotionally devastated I've never seen him like that even when our dad died
00:16:34
Charlie was so worried about Justin he wouldn't leave his side so they flew back to Florida together once there
00:16:41
Charlie says Justin was able to put his grief aside for one reason only he wanted to get back as soon as possible
00:16:48
so he could help in any way he could with the investigation even returning to the place where April
00:16:54
died and spending over 10 hours with police to help look for Clues everything they asked for I gave them
00:17:06
every time they wanted me to come back to St John's County and talk to them some more I did whenever they wanted a
00:17:13
statement I gave it to them but almost immediately Justin felt police were overlooking critical clues
00:17:22
that pointed to April's possible killer the biggest one Witnesses told police they had seen a second car parked at the
00:17:31
beach around the time Justin and April was shot they saw a car right there at the
00:17:37
boardwalk they described the car and the police chose to do nothing we didn't have a tag number we didn't have a
00:17:43
reliable make I would have loved to have found it because you know what that was
00:17:46
a potential witness in my mind but the simple fact is we could not Justin was also mystified why police
00:17:52
weren't thoroughly investigating suspicious incidents that happened while April was living on her own in Georgia
00:17:58
April had a stun gun because she did not feel safe there April's car was broken into and just three weeks before the
00:18:06
murder so was her house we did speak with the investigator the BET actually worked at burglary there's no connection
00:18:12
with that with this case were there any people in April's life who you would consider to be a threat to her I think
00:18:20
that we're stretching a bit when we say that I think that there are some some folks in April's life that should have
00:18:25
been investigated but there are certainly a few people there that had a romantic interest in
00:18:32
April but did the police follow up on those leads no I don't believe they did but what Justin didn't know is police
00:18:41
were pursuing leads of their own and in fact they thought they were already zeroing in on April's killer
00:18:49
[Applause] [Music] to Detective Howard Cole Justin Barber was the prime suspect in April's murder
00:19:11
from day one the situation is he presented it wasn't adding up even the basic premise of Justin's story
00:19:19
didn't make sense to Cole is this the kind of place this area right here where someone would stick
00:19:25
somebody up Rob somebody I don't I don't see why they would I mean it just doesn't make any sense it's never
00:19:31
happened before and it hasn't happened since Cole's suspicions were first raised when
00:19:38
he found out nothing was taken during the alleged robbery including Justin's wallet and April's diamond ring
00:19:47
and when Cole took Justin to the beach after April's funeral he became even more suspicious
00:19:54
he certainly appeared to be crime but there was no tears coming down his face he was almost like rubbing his eyes
00:20:02
just like that you know what I mean like trying to force up some emotion so Cole took a closer look at Justin's
00:20:10
account of what happened after he left April on the beach that night beginning with his attempt to flag down three
00:20:16
passing cars if what he was saying is true I would have expected to get numerous 9-1-1
00:20:22
calls and we received none most troubling of all to Cole was that when Justin got into his car to find
00:20:30
help for his wife he drove almost 10 miles before stopping there's a McDonald's right here
00:20:39
that would have been open there's a Walgreens [Applause] right here that's 24 hours that would
00:20:46
have been opened just north of here you'll come up there's a 24-hour Shell station would have been open and they're
00:20:52
very well illuminated if you're truly were trying to get help that certainly would be a place that I would consider
00:20:58
getting help I think anybody would accept that that man drove left his wife and drove 10
00:21:06
miles away to get help that just doesn't even that defies reason meanwhile April's family and friends
00:21:13
like Amber Mitchell were comparing notes and growing suspicious of Justin too when you put it together it was
00:21:21
frightening what was really going on the story they began to piece together was of a marriage in trouble and they
00:21:30
realized that problems surfaced right at the beginning when April's siblings Julie and Kendon came to live with the
00:21:36
newlyweds in Georgia whenever we first lived with them it was good towards the end of living with them it got kind of
00:21:44
tense I was very strong-willed and I didn't like it so the family brought Julie back to
00:21:51
Oklahoma and Kendon soon followed against Justin's wishes he was really why he cared so much about it except for
00:22:01
if he liked the appearance of being such a noble guy to take in these children Amber says she realized appearances were
00:22:10
very important to Justin he would put his high school jeans on once a month to make sure they still fit and if they
00:22:18
didn't he would fast until they did he gave April a hard time about weight to the point she was almost paranoid about
00:22:25
gaining weight and she was Tiny Amber also knew that April suspected Justin was having an affair in
00:22:33
Jacksonville she didn't know her name but she had learned that Justin was playing tennis with her and April was
00:22:41
certain that there was more than tennis and that it was an affair and confronted
00:22:46
him about it detective Cole discovered the woman was Shannon Kennedy who worked at the agency
00:22:52
where Justin's company rented cars Cole invited Shannon to the police station the same afternoon he was interviewing
00:22:59
Justin Shannon Kennedy came in right away and she was very honest she said it started
00:23:05
out as kind of a social relationship to go out have drinks and whatnot and eventually progressed into a sexual
00:23:09
relationship Justin however was less honest at least at first he adamantly denied having any affairs with anyone
00:23:18
Shannon Kennedy specifically I said well I'm going to bring her in this room we're going to get to the bottom he said
00:23:23
no no no he said I I did I did sleep with her I have been having an affair with her only confronted with you know
00:23:29
her and he being in the same room did he tell the truth to me that's huge when he searched Justin's apartment Cole
00:23:37
made another Discovery two life insurance policies one in Justin's name one in April's for two million dollars
00:23:45
each I thought we could be looking at a possible motive I mean two million dollars that's a
00:23:51
whole lot of money April's Aunt Patty Parrish says she had always been troubled by that but April
00:23:58
thought it was a lot of money neither April nor I could understand why he was insisting to have a two million
00:24:04
dollar life insurance policy on her life Amber Mitchell thinks she knows why he was in debt up to his eyeballs
00:24:12
stock market losses and other expenses had left Justin over fifty thousand dollars in debt
00:24:20
by the summer of 2002 between the affair and the money problems April had had enough
00:24:27
she was leaving him she told him that she was leaving him as the circumstantial evidence
00:24:35
implicating Justin was mounting detective Cole began to examine the crime scene more closely and now even
00:24:41
the fact that Justin had been shot four times began to seem suspicious he had one wound to his left shoulder
00:24:49
which was out and away he had another one in his right shoulder same thing it was kind of out and Away you sang out
00:24:55
and away from vital organs yeah I'm saying out and away from Center Mass exactly from the stuff that counts
00:25:02
Justin and his brother Charlie found detective Cole's description of the wounds preposterous
00:25:08
it hurt him he was in a lot of pain for a few weeks after he had to keep the one
00:25:13
arm in a sling have you ever been kicked by a horse nope I have and I felt like I'd been kicked by a
00:25:21
horse in several places it was painful it was painful then just months after the murder while
00:25:30
police were still trying to gather hard evidence against him Justin suddenly moved to Oregon where he got a new job a
00:25:38
new woman and started a new life far from detective Cole scrutiny but suspicions about Justin Barber
00:25:47
persisted he's very controlling he has no feeling I'm not a violent person very intelligent very charismatic I would
00:25:54
never ever consider doing anything like that and he was committed to this situation turning out successfully for
00:26:01
him I did not kill him [Music] even though Justin Barber had moved to Portland Oregon far from the scene of
00:26:24
April's murder she was always on his mind I wore my wedding band on a leather thong around my neck why'd
00:26:33
you wear that ring around your neck because I wasn't ready to let it go it was a reminder of her
00:26:41
and it was a reminder of my failure during our marriage [Music] so Justin distracted himself with work
00:26:50
come on Angel let's go and with a new woman he would take me to the movies and what take me to dinner
00:26:57
we were just best friends Lisa who asked us not to use her last name says Justin often relived what
00:27:06
happened to April that night on the beach he felt like he just abandoned her he never forgave himself
00:27:15
Justin never forgave April's family either it was because of them he claims that he remained the prime suspect
00:27:24
did April's family suspect you right away I believe now that they did at least very very quickly and now I've
00:27:31
learned that they voiced their accusations to the police immediately April's Aunt Patty Parish makes no
00:27:41
apologies for putting the spotlight on Justin he planned every moment of it this was premeditated
00:27:48
totally calculated yet months and then years went by without an arrest so Patty who was a judge in Oklahoma
00:27:59
stepped up the pressure on Florida prosecutors to arrest Justin judge Patty was insistent that we keep
00:28:09
this case on the front burner but State Attorney John Tanner worried his prosecutors would get burned by the case
00:28:15
we knew it was a case that could be lost you just don't expect a person to shoot
00:28:20
themselves four times but as we begin to search for who did it we determined that
00:28:27
all the evidence LED back to the husband after years of pressure and painstakingly weighing the evidence
00:28:37
which was largely circumstantial prosecutors finally rolled the dice in July 2004 a very different looking
00:28:47
Justin Barber was arrested for murder did you kill your wife no sir I did not kill my wife did you shoot yourself four
00:28:57
times to cover up the murder no that's ridiculous did you love April I did I still do
00:29:06
June 2006 four years after April's murder all right Mr Bailey show the jury in with his family behind him Justin
00:29:15
Barber is finally put on trial in Saint Augustine Florida take common sense with you and apply the
00:29:25
evidence you'll be convinced that the defendant murders life the state attorney's office is seeking
00:29:33
the death penalty and two of its youngest prosecutors Matt foxman and Chris France are trying this
00:29:42
high profile case I'll call you next week what was your gut reaction when you first received this case
00:29:49
well it's a career case I think for a prosecutor the threshold problem for us I think would be to convince a jury that
00:29:58
someone would shoot themselves four times Justin Barber has insisted and I believe
00:30:05
that he's an innocent man and the only thing we're interested is an exoneration Chester Justin's attorney Bob Willis
00:30:14
will try to convince the jury that a robber and not Justin Barber killed April on the beach
00:30:21
now you will find that within a very short period of time after April Barber's death it was found
00:30:27
on the evening of August 17 2002 that the police focused exclusively their attention on Justin Barber
00:30:35
when the prosecution star witnessed Detective Howard Cole disagrees if information had led to another suspect
00:30:43
would you have been open to it and investigated it absolutely Cole testifies that he asked Justin why
00:30:54
he drove more than nine miles from the beach after the shooting he said he didn't really remember much
00:31:00
about that drive did you ask him why he didn't stop at any houses yes and what did he tell you
00:31:07
he said he didn't want to get some old man out of bed Cole also testifies that even though
00:31:16
Justin said he dragged April by her waistband and had a bullet hole in his hand his blood wasn't visible on her
00:31:24
pants looking on the top line of her pants there and her stomach do you see any evidence of anyone's blood yes I don't
00:31:34
but the defense strikes back they say Justin's blood was found on April how about the blood that was uh here on her
00:31:43
uh right here inside upper left arm did you know at that time that that was Justin Barber's blood no sir you know it
00:31:50
now though don't you yes okay Miss Kennedy if you just come right up here please prosecutors turned their
00:31:57
attention to Justin's possible motives and call Shannon Kennedy to the stand when he became involved uh with the
00:32:04
defendant did you know that he was married not originally no did you ultimately come to that conclusion though yes
00:32:12
and what sort of things did the defendant say about his wife or his marriage he said that he loved her he
00:32:19
just couldn't live with her [Music] you want it look at just the fact that he was cheating on his wife and the fact
00:32:30
that there was two million dollars and you want to stop right there then we can't do anything about that if on the
00:32:35
other hand you're really seriously interested in who killed April Barber let's look at the evidence
00:32:39
foreign [Music] that's exactly what prosecutors do next when they drop a bombshell all right
00:32:49
call you next week six months before the murder they say Justin went online to research how to
00:32:56
shoot himself without getting hurt a computer expert recovered a record of those Google searches
00:33:04
you recognize what I'm showing yes sir I do yeah well I said Google search in which the keywords medical trauma
00:33:11
gunshot and chest were performed this finding that computer search where he was actually shot that was the first
00:33:18
indication that he had researched a specific location and he just happened to be shot there that that was a pretty
00:33:24
big Turning Point just hours before April was murdered Justin went online again in this exhibit what does it say was
00:33:33
downloaded basically tell me that the MP3 Guns and Roses Used To Love Her was downloaded
00:33:45
oh [Music] together [Music] how significant was that song in this case well it was significant because of the
00:34:03
timing downloaded just hours before the murder then when he's set to turn his computer over to law enforcement after
00:34:09
the murder that was the only song deleted Justin surfed the internet so often his
00:34:16
lawyer says the evidence is meaningless at a potentially 2200 queries they wind up with two that looked bad in
00:34:25
retrospect I think I could probably do that on anybody's computer and Justin says he's not giving up I will fight
00:34:33
until I have no more options then you'll be screaming all the time that you're innocent yes because I am
00:34:39
innocent [Music] [Music] as Justin Barber's murder trial drags into a second week the pressure is
00:35:01
growing on two families [Music] who once were close [Music] this is devastating for us and it's
00:35:12
devastating for them it's particularly tough on April's siblings Julie and Kendon whom Justin
00:35:19
once helped raise it was heartbreaking because somebody that we trusted and somebody that we had loved would would
00:35:28
be capable of doing something like that to our sister and we both looked up to him
00:35:35
I got your Stern if you'll come right up here please try and raise your right hand to clerkle story Justin's defense
00:35:41
now attacks one of the most critical points in the case whether Justin's wounds were superficial or not a defense
00:35:48
expert testifies that Justin's wounds were serious one nearly struck an artery what would be the result if that's
00:35:56
Oblivion artery which was a penetrated extensive hemorrhage and possibly death possibly yes
00:36:03
then prosecutors present two witnesses who say they saw another car at the crime scene the problem is they can't
00:36:11
agree what color the car was it was an older model car light colored dark in color
00:36:21
the trial finally boils down to a key Point illustrated by this graphic which represents a crime scene photo of
00:36:29
April's face that the jury was shown to prosecutors the blood flowing in a single Direction proves Justin is lying
00:36:39
the blood flow is everything Justin Barber's story is that she was shot down by the water and then carried 18
00:36:45
different positions with her head moving in all kinds of directions the blood flow would be everywhere
00:36:52
instead it's in a unified Direction and what the significance of that is his story just wasn't true but the defense's
00:37:00
expert testifies the blood flow is consistent with Justin's story in my view she was shot in that location near
00:37:08
the water and plus other blood which had come out was probably washed away by the
00:37:14
ways because she was as I understand from face down in approximately one foot of water
00:37:20
finally the case draws to a close this is a pure circumstantial evidence case the gun was not recovered in this case
00:37:29
there's certainly no one that ever saw him involved in any aspect of this crime at all
00:37:35
he wanted it all he didn't just want to evade a prosecution he wanted that for sure and he wanted
00:37:44
the two million dollars and he wanted sympathy for being shot and if he wanted to look like a hero who tried to save
00:37:51
his wife if the jury finds Justin guilty he could be sentenced to death good what was the first thing the jury did
00:38:03
when he went for in The Liberation room for the first time you pray what did you
00:38:08
pray for wisdom one person's already dead and another one might die so we were we wanted to make sure
00:38:17
that we were sure deliberations drag into a second day Agony Agony it was very very difficult
00:38:28
waiting there all day we're up to about hour 28 of deliberations and then a third
00:38:39
by the third day I was beginning to fear that the jury was hung but jurors are still trying to sort it
00:38:47
all out [Music] all right Mr Barbara would you please rise for the verdict finally on day four
00:38:55
a verdict would a jury find defendant Justin murtis Barber as follows guilty of first degree premeditated murder as
00:39:05
charged in the indictment [Music] April's family and friends are overcome but their emotions are mixed I was happy
00:39:23
but then again it breaks my heart it's understandable Kendon your reaction to the verdict
00:39:33
Joy Joy yeah but then I I live with him for your thoughts your feelings relieved for an instant
00:39:58
handed to the sheriff of St John's County pending the penalty phase foreign Justin's family does not have mixed
00:40:08
emotions they are simply Furious [Music] I would love to know what those jurors saw that made them think that he did
00:40:18
this because he didn't and they didn't prove that he did it so I don't know what they went by
00:40:26
the jurors say they were swayed by many factors especially the blood evidence if
00:40:32
she had been shot out on the beach there would have been some smearing some blood
00:40:39
flow in another Direction so the blood flow on her face did not match the story that Justin told correct also there was
00:40:47
the computer that he had searched for gunshot wounds gunshot trauma right chest and gets shot in the right chest
00:40:56
I really can't tell you on national TV what I think about him but uh it's not good
00:41:04
it's not good at all we were adults here tell us Georgia I think he's a dirty son
00:41:10
that's what I think he is but Justin Barber who might now be sentenced to death is defiant if that
00:41:19
jury thinks I killed April then they should execute me I would never ask for mercy
00:41:26
for the person who killed her why not because they don't deserve it and if that jury believes that I'm that
00:41:34
person then they should send me to death row [Music]