00:00:10
[Music] I remember the last day quite well. Uh the day that it happened. >> Memories of her voice are definitely in
00:00:22
in my head. >> Bradley. Bradley over here, honey. When my mother was murdered, I was about
00:00:29
seven and a half years old. [Music] >> Far Fro, a very pretty lady. Her story was pretty tragic once she married Bob.
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The marriage was um in a lot of trouble. A divorce was pending. It was November the 9th, 1994.
00:00:57
Uh that was an evening where Far had stopped to get her haircut with no idea about what was going to
00:01:04
happen at the time. Far was getting her haircut. The shooter and the getaway driver were
00:01:12
in a car together on the way to Far's house and the shooter was going to hide in the backyard.
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On that same evening, Bob had picked up all three of the kids. It was his night for visitation. and he took me, my
00:01:25
brother, and my sister. We all went to uh church. [Music] >> Oh, while we were at the church, um they
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would have us doing just a bunch of little fun activities, which also involved praying.
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>> Hail Mary, full of grace. >> So, Far got her hair done, pulled into her garage.
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It just so happened that when Far came home that night and backed into her garage, the neighbors that lived
00:01:57
directly across from the garage saw her come home. We heard something outside like a a pop
00:02:06
and I got up to look out the window. And as I was doing that, we heard a scream and I saw Far
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and then we heard another shot >> and I saw her laying down there by her car. Um, it was at that time when we realized
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she wasn't getting up that we dialed 911. >> Men County, what is your emergency?
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>> Yes. I just saw a shooting, please. >> Just started giving them a playbyplay of
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what we were seeing. >> The car that just pulled up, the suspect is behind a tree.
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>> Okay, ma'am. A black man had just got in the car there, but we It was a silver
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car, I believe. One burnt out headlight. The suspect just took off. Dear Jesus, help this woman.
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Now at the hour of our death. Amen. >> After leaving the catechism class, we went back to the house.
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>> The first thing I remember was just the all the yellow tape everywhere. >> Bob Fra was nowhere near the murder
00:03:06
scene when Far was shot. He had definite proof to say Bob wasn't there. Bob was at catechism with us.
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I just remember arriving there and my dad acting very surprised as to what was going on.
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>> How many people use church as their alibi and use their own children as their alibi?
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>> Who does that? Thou shalt not kill. [Music] [Music] I came home about 7:00 from work and my
00:04:13
wife had just prepared a nice hot meal for me. Lex and Betty Bacher couldn't know it when they sat down for dinner
00:04:19
that November night, but they were enjoying the last few moments of life as they knew it. The telephone rang. It was
00:04:28
maybe 2 minutes after 8:00. >> It was a neighbor with news. >> Betty Far's been shot.
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>> Oh my god. >> Their only daughter, Farra, had been ambushed. Two bullets to her head.
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I don't know how fast I drove. I have no idea. And when we went there, the lights
00:04:51
were all over the place and the cop was trying to stop us. >> They wouldn't let me go to far. I said,
00:04:58
"I am the mother. I need to get to my child." >> I got to her. She was alive. She was face up, but she
00:05:08
was having convulsion. One of the paramedics said, "She has lost a lot of blood. I suggest you all
00:05:16
hurry up and go to the hospital." >> Farah was 33, a mother of three, and she was dying.
00:05:29
Medics rushed her to a chopper, but it was too late. >> I just couldn't believe it. I refused to
00:05:40
believe that she was dead. I just stood there and kept staring at her. >> Her eyes were open and I just put my
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hand on her, just shut her eyes and I felt her. She was cold. It hurts so much. [Music]
00:06:01
Just one person destroying a mother and three kids. son. >> The first thing that came out of my
00:06:11
mouth, where is that son of a [ __ ] >> Which son of a [ __ ] >> Talking about my son-in-law, Bob Fra.
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>> I knew immediately that Bob had something to do with it. >> Bob Fraa, their daughter's estranged
00:06:24
husband. They'd been married for 11 years and were involved in a messy divorce. >> He was fighting for the kids. She was
00:06:32
fighting for the kids. >> A painful custody battle over 7-year-old Bradley. 6-year-old Daniel and
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four-year-old Amber was scheduled for trial in less than 3 weeks. >> Were you afraid for the safety of your
00:06:46
friend Farra? >> Yes, I was. >> Kitty Waters Sneed worked alongside Farra at American Airlines for years and
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was Far's closest friend. >> I knew it was Bob >> right away. >> Right away. To the outside world, Bob Frada was an
00:07:04
upstanding citizen working in public safety as both a police officer and a fireman.
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>> Bye-bye. >> A man who doted on his three children. >> Say bye, Bradley. Say bye-bye.
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>> But there was apparently a very different side to Bob Fraa. >> They were things that it embarrassed her
00:07:22
to talk about. Farah told Kitty her husband wanted her to do things to him sexually that not only embarrassed her,
00:07:30
they sickened her. >> She showed me some stains in the closet where some things went on.
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>> Farra detailed all of Bob's sexual desires in her divorce papers and Fra's secret was about to become public
00:07:45
record. >> There was things that he liked to have performed that I don't know if CBS wants
00:07:50
to air on prime time. After her death, Detective Larry Davis read Far's papers. >> How strange were these requests?
00:07:59
>> Real strange. >> She had to get out. Had to. For the kids' sake, they couldn't be around
00:08:05
something like that. >> Farah threw Bob out of the house, and as the court date approached, she seemed
00:08:11
more and more on edge. >> She had asked me if I felt Bob would ever have her murdered. And police
00:08:18
believe Farra had good reason to be afraid of Bob. >> 911. What's the emergency? I had
00:08:24
somebody come in my house and just threaten my life. >> Just months before her murder, Farah
00:08:29
called 911 in a panic and Larry Davis rushed to her house. >> She was upset. She was crying. What did
00:08:36
she tell you had happened? She was in bed and a male came into her house, had a mask on
00:08:44
and stunned her with a stun gun. She was terrified. >> The attacker broke in through a window
00:08:51
and attacked Farra in front of her three young children. >> I woke up to my mother screaming.
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>> Bradley, the oldest, was just seven. >> I had no idea really what was going on.
00:09:01
All I know was my mother was in danger and something wasn't right. Daniel Farah's second son was five.
00:09:09
>> We were just screaming, crying outside the door, "Let our mommy go. Leave her
00:09:12
alone. Leave her alone." >> Farah suspected the intruder was a friend of Bob Fraas. Whoever it was
00:09:19
fled, leaving an injured Farah with her terrified children, and he was never caught.
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>> She thought her husband had something to do with it. In his gut, Detective Davis
00:09:30
believed her. But without concrete proof, all he could do was warn Bob. >> I said, "Bob, I know what you're up to.
00:09:38
It's not going to work. You need to leave her alone." >> 4 months later, Farah was dead and
00:09:45
Detective Davis was called to the scene again. >> I said, "Bob, I told you to leave her
00:09:51
alone." And he told me I didn't do anything. [Music] In fact, Fra's alibi was hard to beat.
00:10:01
Plenty of people saw him in church with his three young children while his wife was being murdered.
00:10:09
But police were sure, even if Bob wasn't at the scene, he at least had something
00:10:14
to do with the killing, especially when they searched his car. >> What did they find in the car? $1,000.
00:10:21
>> The $1,000 was in the glove compartment. Bob explained that it was money to buy
00:10:26
new carpeting. >> $1,000. Is that unusual in these parts? >> Well, $1,000 is not unusual. Uh $1,000
00:10:35
in your glove box on the night that your wife is murdered surely raises a lot of
00:10:40
suspicion. >> What sorts of suspicion? >> Would believe that that may be money to
00:10:44
pay off a hitman. Frana wasn't doing himself any favors that night while detectives interrogated
00:10:53
him for hours. >> I asked him a question that still sticks out in my mind today and the way he
00:10:58
answered it. I said, "Bob, what should happen to somebody that kills somebody?" He said, "They should go to jail
00:11:04
forever." I said, "What should happen to somebody that has their wife killed?" And he told me it depended on the
00:11:13
circumstances. >> What did you make of that? I walked out and I said he killed her.
00:11:18
>> But the police couldn't prove it. So they had to let Bob Fra go even though they believed they were letting a killer
00:11:26
walk free. >> I hope they find the guy >> soon. He's just happy golucky. He's cheesing to the camera. He gave all
00:11:35
indications that he thought he was going to get away with this murder. [Music] [Music]
00:11:55
When the children woke up the next morning, >> "Hi, Grandpa." >> They just sat up and they looked at me,
00:12:01
[Music] >> they must be saying to themselves, "Where's my mother?" >> Their mother had just been murdered and
00:12:07
their father was the prime suspect. >> Oh my god. and Lex and Betty Bocker had to tell their grandchildren what
00:12:16
happened. >> So I sat them down in the bed, all three of them. I said, "Mommy's no longer with
00:12:21
us." Bradley said to me, "Where is she?" I said, "Baby, she died last night." >> I just remember
00:12:36
crying for hours. >> Bradley, over here, honey, >> why did this happen to me? Why has this
00:12:41
happened to my mother? >> It was terrible. I mean, you know, hysterically crying to try to calm them
00:12:47
down. They were crying. I were crying. He walks in the room. He starts crying. >> For like 5 years after it happened, I
00:12:55
thought every day I was going to wake up and it was going to be a dream. >> I cried for weeks and weeks afterwards.
00:12:59
>> Hi, Daniel. [Music] >> I kept saying, "Where's my mom?" You know, "Where's mom? When's she coming
00:13:09
back?" Amber. Amber. >> And people would have to just look at me brokenheartedly and tell me, you know,
00:13:15
she's not she's not coming back. She's gone forever. >> Amber was most affected.
00:13:22
Every night going to bed, she would cry for her mother. I mean, hysterically crying.
00:13:29
Grandpa, please. Tugging on his shirt. Please, please open the box. I want to say bye-bye me. I promise you
00:13:40
one more time. Just this one time. Then I let you put the nail in. She put that little finger up.
00:13:48
She wanted to see her mother. Betty and her husband Lex were in mourning themselves for the death of
00:13:58
their daughter. On top of that, Bob Frada had been released by the police and was now trying to get custody of the
00:14:05
children. You're fighting for custody of your grandchildren with the man who you
00:14:09
believed at the bottom of your soul killed your daughter. It was a very difficult situation, but you don't think
00:14:17
at that time. All you want to do is save these innocent children. >> And you cannot let these children go.
00:14:24
>> Bye. >> While FTO is making his case for custody, detectives were building their
00:14:31
case against him. >> We just follow him. We find out where he goes. Anywhere he visits, we're going to
00:14:38
visit. We know he likes to go to the gym. >> And it was at the gym that Detective
00:14:44
Larry Davis heard about some interesting conversations Frada had been having about his wife.
00:14:50
>> He said, "I'm going to find a way to knock her off." >> Mike Edens worked out with Frada.
00:14:56
>> And I said, "Knock her off?" He goes, "Yeah." >> He says Bob asked him if he knew someone
00:15:02
who would kill her. Hey, you know anybody who killed my wife? I'm trying to get my wife killed.
00:15:07
>> What about some of these people you work with? Think they might be interested? I
00:15:10
don't know. >> Just sort of a casual conversation. >> Exactly. Yes. >> Around the gym. Yes.
00:15:15
>> Talking about knocking off his wife. >> Yes. Yes. >> He never thought Fra was serious.
00:15:20
>> Thought nothing of it. >> Just frustrated by the divorce. >> But Fra sure did like talking about
00:15:27
killing his wife. >> He asked me if I knew of anybody. Jimmy Padorski also worked out at the gym.
00:15:33
>> Seemed to be pretty much what he wanted to talk about >> to you. >> To me and everybody else. Yes.
00:15:39
>> There were a lot of them. >> And according to prosecutor Kelly Seagler, >> 15 17 different guys.
00:15:46
>> They all said pretty much the same thing as Mike and Jimmy. >> What do all these guys prove?
00:15:52
>> They prove motive. And apparently Frada had put some thought into how to have his wife
00:15:59
murdered. >> He had a list of her daily activities. >> And he said, "I'll get a gun."
00:16:04
>> He was going to solicit a gang member. >> But none of Fra's gym buddies thought of
00:16:09
calling the police. "What are you thinking?" >> He's going to come to his senses and,
00:16:13
you know, he's just blowing off steam. >> Pedorski says Frada even discussed how
00:16:17
much he'd pay a hitman. >> There wasn't a lot of money up front. maybe a thousand, $2,000.
00:16:24
>> It didn't uh raise any red flags, though. >> If it was anybody else, probably. So,
00:16:28
but just knowing Bob, he was so likable and he was very kind. You didn't take him serious.
00:16:34
>> Maybe he wasn't serious. >> Oh, he was serious. Deadly. >> But if Froto was serious, his efforts to
00:16:43
cover his tracks were a joke. Police got a big break when they came here to St. Mary's the church where Fra was with his
00:16:51
kids at the time of the murder. Trouble is, while he spent some time in the pews, he spent a lot of time on the
00:16:58
phone. >> A lot of the ladies of the church recalled Bob being on and off the phone.
00:17:04
>> And the church ladies weren't the only ones who remembered Bob making calls that evening.
00:17:10
>> Bradley was seven, and Bradley remembered Daddy being on the phone a lot. Then
00:17:14
>> Fra's beeper kept going off and he used the church phone to return the calls.
00:17:20
The police were certain he was calling the killer, but when they traced the calls, they were led to a woman they had
00:17:28
never heard of before. >> He came back to a woman named Mary Gip. Did you go talk to Mary Gip? We tried to
00:17:35
talk to her. Yes. >> I didn't give them any information that they wanted. >> She didn't tell us a whole lot.
00:17:39
>> Perhaps I wasn't cooperative. Investigators were sure Mary Gip was hiding something big.
00:17:45
>> In my mind, she was the key to this case, >> especially when they learned about her
00:17:49
live-in boyfriend. His name, Joseph Price Stash. He was an ex-con and he liked to work out with Bob Frada. But
00:17:59
Mary Gip had no intention of revealing anything. >> She was a witch. She was a smart alec. I
00:18:07
don't know why I did what I did. She was a [ __ ] [Music] Somebody shot. >> Yes.
00:18:20
>> Stay on the line. Let me connect you to the ambulance service. >> Mary Gib knew it all. Who killed Farraa?
00:18:26
Why and how? But for almost 4 months after the murder, she told the police nothing.
00:18:34
>> But I didn't give them any information that they wanted. Detectives would have to find some way
00:18:40
to make her talk. They knew the prime suspect, Far's husband, Bob, had called Gib's cell phone and pager hours before
00:18:49
and right after the murder, but that's all they knew. And until they learned more, they had to let Fraa remain free
00:18:58
and see his children. >> I explained to the children what would happen. Social worker Judy Cox monitored
00:19:05
Bob's visits and tried to help the children cope with their mother's murder. >> Amber asked the most questions. Do you
00:19:13
know that the bad guys put bullets in my mommy's head? >> That's what she said. >> Yes.
00:19:18
>> What do you say to a child who says that? >> Yes, baby. I do know that. And that's
00:19:24
about all you can say to him. >> And I hope they find the guy. My job was to keep an eye on him
00:19:30
>> soon >> to make sure that Mr. Frada didn't try to take off with the kids. >> Detective Larry Davis continued tailing
00:19:37
Frada and almost daily they would have the same conversation. >> He said, "Hey, Larry." I said, I said,
00:19:44
"Bob." And he goes, "Am I going to jail today?" And I said, "Not today, Bob. Soon, but
00:19:51
not today." >> But that day would never come if Mary Gip didn't start talking. So prosecutors
00:19:57
hauled her before a grand jury. >> I said, "Wait a minute. Are you charging me with murder?"
00:20:04
And he said, "Yes." And I went, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute here. Wait a minute."
00:20:08
>> Within hours, Mary Gip made a deal. She'd cooperate if she wasn't prosecuted.
00:20:14
>> After I was given immunity for my testimony, I just told him everything. Everything I knew. She said
00:20:22
her boyfriend Joe Price Dash, who knew Frraa from the gym, was hired by him to set up the murder.
00:20:29
>> They had my neighbor involved in it. He's going to shoot her and kill her. >> According to Mary Gib, Price Dash hired
00:20:37
that neighbor, 18-year-old Howard Gidri, to be the trigger man. Gidri would get $1,000.
00:20:44
Joe Price Dash would drive Gidri to the murder scene, pick him up afterwards, and use Gib's cell phone to tell Bob
00:20:52
Fraa when it was done. >> He told me that Bob was going to take his children on Wednesday to church, and
00:21:00
that's when they were going to wait for her and that's when they were going to kill her.
00:21:04
>> He told you that? >> Yes. >> Did you ever think of calling the police? >> No.
00:21:10
>> You could have stopped it. >> I could have. I I really just didn't want to deal with it to be honest with
00:21:15
you. You know, there's And that sounds disgusting, but it's easier just to not do anything than it is to confront it
00:21:25
and say, "Okay, this is going down." I didn't want to be a part of it. >> But Mary Gip knew Far. They both worked
00:21:31
out at the gym. >> Had you done the right thing back then, >> Far would be alive. Those three kids
00:21:38
would >> have a mom. [Music] Instead, while Price Stash and Gidri were killing Farra, Mary Gip was home,
00:21:49
killing time. Do you remember what you were doing? >> I was watching at that particular time,
00:21:55
I was watching ice skating. >> She waited for her boyfriend to return. Did you say anything to him?
00:22:03
>> I asked him if she was dead. That was the only thing I asked. >> And what did he say?
00:22:08
>> And he said yes. And I said, "How do you know?" And he said, "Because I was there
00:22:14
and I saw her." >> And then Mary Gib and Joe Price Dash had sex. >> I have no idea what kind of a soul she's
00:22:23
got. She has no soul. She's a monster. She's a demon. She's a >> soul of a devil. When Far's parents
00:22:33
heard prosecutors gave Mary Gip immunity, it sounded to them like a deal with the devil.
00:22:39
>> If anybody should be 6 feet underground is her, not my daughter. She could have saved my daughter.
00:22:46
>> But without GIP, the prosecutors could not make as strong a case against Bob Fraa. How important a witness was she?
00:22:54
>> Number one. >> Here's why. When Price Stash left Gib's house after the murder, he left the gun
00:23:00
behind and she began collecting evidence. >> I took all the information off of the
00:23:06
gun and wrote it down on a blue sticky pad. >> What information? >> The information on the serial number.
00:23:12
Anything that was on the side of the gun, I wrote down. >> Why did you write down that information
00:23:17
as opposed to calling the cops and saying, "My boyfriend just killed somebody." >> I don't know.
00:23:27
After Mary Gib got immunity, she gave police that serial number she copied down and they ran it immediately. That's
00:23:34
when they learned the gun had been purchased by suspect number one. >> Keep my mouth shut.
00:23:40
>> That trace came back to Robert Allen. >> Police didn't have to look far for this
00:23:45
gun. It was right under their noses in one of their own evidence rooms. It had been used in a bank robbery after the
00:23:51
murder. And luckily for detectives, the alleged bank robber had been caught with
00:23:56
it. He was in jail and his name was Howard Gidri. >> To my right is Howard Gidry.
00:24:04
>> Gidry was questioned. >> It wasn't long before he confessed to everything and he even went with police
00:24:11
to the murder scene. >> I pulled the gun gun up and I shot him once in the head >> to show them how he did it. She like
00:24:18
fell to the side and as I started to run out, she wasn't really dead. So I turned
00:24:25
around and I closed my eyes and I shot her one more time in the head. >> The dominoes were falling quickly.
00:24:32
After Gidri confessed, Price Stash was arrested and also confessed. They were both charged with murder. They fingered
00:24:39
Fraata and five months after the crime, Bob Fraata, who hoped a well-timed trip to church would shield him from
00:24:47
suspicion, was arrested and charged with murdering the mother of his three children.
00:24:52
>> His handcuffs are awfully tight and I didn't do it. >> Proving that he did will be harder than
00:24:58
prosecutors thought. By the time the trial began, Price Stash and Gidri said their confessions were coerced, withdrew
00:25:05
them, and refused to testify. To back up Mary Gib's details of the conspiracy, prosecutors would have to call one
00:25:13
witness who saw Bob Fraa making all those phone calls the night of the murder. >> He was still a baby. We did not want to
00:25:23
scar him for life. >> Prosecutor Kelly Seagler had no choice. Fra's young son, Bradley, was called to
00:25:31
testify against his own father. It >> was horrible. To have to have a child come into a courtroom and talk about it,
00:25:40
much less see their dad. And he still loved his dad was horrible. >> But it worked. Bob Frada was convicted
00:25:50
of murdering his wife. It took the jury less than one hour. He was sentenced to death along with Price Stash and Gidri.
00:25:58
>> Remember how you felt? >> Relief. Relief that it's done. That it's over. That we did our job and that the right
00:26:06
thing happened. >> Of course, it wasn't over. It wasn't even close to over. >> I got a phone call on my cell phone.
00:26:17
Kelly, have you heard the news? And I remember stopping and feeling sick and wanting to throw up.
00:26:35
4 years after his murder conviction, nobody thought Bob Fra was going anywhere but the Texas death chamber.
00:26:43
And they were all wrong. >> Have you ever felt like blood drains through your body?
00:26:49
13 years after the murder, a federal judge threw out Fraata's conviction, ordered a new trial, and set off a new
00:26:56
round of legal wrangling. My head was spinning. >> The judge said, "There is no doubt that
00:27:02
Fraata is a vile man, but there was testimony linking Frada to the murder that should never have been admitted."
00:27:11
And suddenly, there is a very real chance. >> I was nervous. Very nervous. that Bob
00:27:17
Fra will be set free. >> I was shocked. Who in their right mind could let somebody like that, you know,
00:27:23
have a retrial? It's kind of scary. >> Fat's daughter is now 18. She should be getting ready for her high school prom.
00:27:33
Instead, she's getting ready for her father's second murder trial. >> If he ever gets out, what will I do?
00:27:41
What will my family do? He knows where we live. This is your father you're talking about. You think he would you
00:27:47
think he would? >> I mean I honestly think that he would come to the our house and you know I
00:27:53
feel like I would be put in a harmful situation if he ever got out. >> He's a psychopath.
00:28:00
>> Fra's children have spent their lives struggling with the knowledge that their
00:28:04
father killed their mother. >> I was always upset. I'd see kids with their dads or their mothers and I was
00:28:13
always jealous, always mad. >> For as long as Daniel can remember, he's had to explain to other kids why his
00:28:20
parents aren't around. >> I remember one kid especially saying, "Haha, I have a mother and you don't."
00:28:26
>> Daniel punched that kid and as he got older, he had trouble controlling his anger.
00:28:32
>> I feel like it's all directed towards my dad. He's the reason why I'm angry so
00:28:36
much. >> You're doing good, Bradley. For Bradley, Fra's eldest child, the hardest part is
00:28:42
reconciling the happy times he remembers before the murder with learning about the crime his father is accused of.
00:28:50
>> I don't think I really believed it at that time that he did it. Even to this day, I myself,
00:28:56
I'm not 100% sure that he's the one that did this. If the first trial didn't convince him,
00:29:03
the second one might because the state would have to prove its case against his father all over again.
00:29:10
>> There was a very, very good chance that a court someday was going to give him a
00:29:14
new trial. >> Mike Charlton, Fra's original attorney, thought it was long overdue after all
00:29:20
the mistakes he saw in Fra's first trial. There was nothing fair about this trial. Nothing the prosecution had done.
00:29:28
Nothing that the judge had done. Nothing about the evidence the way it came in was fair.
00:29:32
>> The problems began with those confessions that Fra's alleged co-conspirators, Joe Price Stash and
00:29:38
Howard Gidri, withdrew before Fraata's first trial. Both men refused to testify in that trial, but the prosecution still
00:29:47
managed to get their statements before the first jury by calling a police officer to testify about them.
00:29:54
>> Did you know that they were calling the police officer to testify about these
00:29:58
confessions? >> No. >> Were you surprised? >> Yes. I was flabbergasted. I I mean, I
00:30:02
truly was stunned that anybody would have the audacity to try to do this. The jury heard testimony that Price Stash
00:30:09
admitted he was hired to arrange the murder. >> I immediately started screaming. I never
00:30:14
sat down for the next two days. I was objecting every chance I had. >> The Constitution says that defendants
00:30:21
have the right to cross-examine people who accuse them of crimes. But since neither Gidri nor Price Dash took the
00:30:28
stand, there was no way to cross-examine them. >> That was just fundamentally wrong.
00:30:34
>> Is this a a major transgression? Yes, absolutely. And I'm not exaggerating. It
00:30:40
was an appalling moment in criminal justice. >> Kelly Seagler, very experienced, very
00:30:45
tough prosecutor. She crossed the line. >> I think so. Yes. >> Intentionally? >> Yes.
00:30:50
>> Did you go over the line? >> No. >> I mean, you are a type A prosecutor. You'll have to admit it. I mean, is it
00:30:56
not possible that you would have gone however slightly over the line? Listen, when you're a prosecutor, you want to
00:31:05
make dang sure you have the right person who's committed a crime. And when I'm convinced that I have and all the
00:31:12
evidence points to that person being guilty, I will very aggressively following the law and following the
00:31:19
rules, do everything that I can to make that case strong enough to withstand a conviction and appeal. Yes, I'll do
00:31:26
that. >> But in federal court, Fra won a new trial. Those confessions from Gidri and
00:31:31
Price Dash, the ones they said were coerced, were thrown out. And Mary Gib's crucial testimony linking Fraata to the
00:31:40
plot, was ruled hearsay and also tossed out. Did you agree with any of the federal court decisions?
00:31:49
>> No. >> Not one bit of it? >> No. How can you say that all the evidence against Bob Frada is hearsay
00:31:57
evidence when you have those phone records? You had that divorce motivation. You have all those people he
00:32:02
solicited. You have the weapon. No, I I don't agree. >> For Fra's new trial, two new
00:32:10
prosecutors, Denise Bradley and Mia Magnus, will try to make the case against Frada, almost 15 years after the
00:32:17
crime and without a lot of the key evidence. >> I was kind of left with the notion of,
00:32:22
well, what's left? When you go into a trial where so much evidence has been taken away from you, it's frightening.
00:32:30
It's really scary. Oh my god, how in the world are we going to be able to get a conviction?
00:32:45
Daddy's little girl. >> What do I know? >> I always knew I was just going to, you
00:32:52
know, give him a piece of my mind. pretty much put him in his place. >> Farah and Bob Fraata's daughter, Amber,
00:32:57
hasn't seen her father since she was four, and he went to death row. She hasn't wanted to until now when he could
00:33:06
be set free. >> I have to see him before this retrial happened. >> To see him, she has to go to the jail.
00:33:12
>> I was petrified. >> Where he's awaiting his new trial. >> Wow, I'm really doing this. I'm really
00:33:17
about to meet my father face to face for the first time in like 14 years. >> It didn't go well. He had a grin on his
00:33:24
face like he had no emotion to him at all. >> Amber didn't ask him if he killed her
00:33:29
mother. She always believed he did, but she was hoping he'd show a little remorse.
00:33:35
>> He had the nerve to tell me, "Please go to Christian counseling." By then, I had
00:33:39
heard enough from him. I basically let him know that when he does die and get that needle in his arm, I want to be
00:33:44
there. >> Do you really mean that? You really want to be there and see him die? Honestly,
00:33:50
when it comes down to it, I I do think that he deserves it. You know what, Bob? I'll see you in court. Bye.
00:33:59
>> Prosecutors Mia Magnus. >> It was lots of sleepless nights. >> And Denise Bradley,
00:34:05
>> we can't dwell on what we don't have anymore. >> Are going to have to muster every bit of
00:34:10
evidence they can. >> He's got the motive >> if they're going to make Frada finally
00:34:15
pay for murdering his wife. And so what are your two or three strongest pieces of evidence that you can present?
00:34:23
>> The phone calls, the gun, all the other people he'd solicited. >> I don't think they have a case.
00:34:30
>> But Fra's new lawyers, Randy McDonald. >> He might very well walk out of this
00:34:34
courtroom. >> And Viven King, >> we don't think that the government had the correct theory of actually what
00:34:40
happened. should have an easier time defending him this time around since the appeals court threw out so much crucial
00:34:47
evidence like the confessions of his co-conspirators. The key to their defense for this new
00:34:53
trial could be those workout buddies who all thought he was joking when he talked
00:34:59
about killing his wife. >> They thought he was kidding for good reason because he actually was kidding.
00:35:04
But Joseph Price Stash, they argue, saw an opportunity to kill Farah and blackmail Bob. And that may be why they
00:35:12
were phoning each other at the church that night. >> Price Stash setting him up to say, "We
00:35:16
just did this thing. You need to pay me off." >> That defies logic. No thug is going to
00:35:22
commit that level of crime without a promise of something of benefit. The defense also thinks it can explain that
00:35:30
serial number that Mary Gib copied off the gun which led police directly to Frada.
00:35:36
>> The police already had the gun in custody. They easily could have had her write that down.
00:35:41
>> The idea that they would manufacture evidence to convict an innocent person is is sort of repugnant.
00:35:49
>> The lines are drawn. >> The right thing happened the first time. >> All rise. We want the right thing to
00:35:55
happen for the second time. >> Bob Fraata is about to get one more chance at freedom.
00:36:01
>> I'm very concerned. No doubt about it. >> He's guilty. He's got to be guilty.
00:36:06
>> There is no iod of evidence saying that he hired anybody. >> The defendant continued to seek out
00:36:14
people over and over and over again, looking for the person who could get the job done.
00:36:20
>> There's no proof that money ever exchanged hands. He even supplies the gun. >> In the end, prosecutors convinced the
00:36:28
judge to allow Mary Gip to say what she saw her boyfriend do after the murder. The judge wouldn't allow audio
00:36:36
recording. GIP also told the jury about the gun. >> It all came back. I have to relive the
00:36:44
whole thing all over again. >> It's now up to the jurors who have to consider weeks of testimony and piles of
00:36:51
evidence. Did I do enough? Did I do my best? >> The wait for a verdict is taking its
00:36:56
toll. >> All right. >> Finally, after 2 days of deliberation, >> we the jury find the defendant Robin
00:37:03
Allen Frada guilty of capital murder as charged in the indictment. >> Bob Frada is found guilty again. But
00:37:10
it's still not over. One week later, the jury is back deciding what is now the most important question. Whether to send
00:37:18
Fraa back to death row. As long as he's living, he is definitely a threat to my family.
00:37:25
>> Amber is so afraid of Frada, even though he's behind bars, that she's agreed to
00:37:30
take the stand during this sentencing hearing. Amber asked jurors to send her own father to the death chamber.
00:37:39
>> What did you tell the jury that you missed in your life? >> My mom wasn't there for my first date,
00:37:43
my first kiss, and she won't be there for the birth of my kids. On top of everything, this is her
00:37:51
birthday. She's 19 today. >> The judge had said, "It's going to be on your birthday." So, I was like ready for
00:37:57
it that day. >> But some of the most damning evidence against Fraa may come from his own lips.
00:38:04
>> You look so sexy and delicious to me. Prosecutors played jailhouse recordings
00:38:11
of Fraa calling a female admirer who sent him photos. >> You bring out the animal in me
00:38:17
>> and flirting while the jury was out. >> That's the day that you went out and you
00:38:22
started deliberating while they are working hard trying to make a decision about his future.
00:38:29
>> Right now you're all I'm thinking about leaving. >> He's unfaced. I mean, doesn't that show
00:38:33
you who he is? And while his lawyers are fighting to spare his life, Fra says something to
00:38:42
his lady friend that is at the very least unexpected. >> It's funny because I'm not actually
00:38:48
against the death penalty. You know, to me, some people, you know, deserve it. >> He believes in the death penalty for
00:38:57
other people. He believes in justice apparently for other people. the way that he is wired is is just so different
00:39:08
than than the rest of us. >> But after hours of deliberating about Fraa's punishment, the jury still has no
00:39:17
decision. >> There's no more news. That doesn't look very good to me. And deadlock.
00:39:23
>> The jury was still out on the day Amber would graduate from high school. >> Today is a very, very special day for
00:39:29
Amber. I love my baby. Her family tried not to think about what was happening at
00:39:34
the courthouse. >> This child, in spite of having to go through so much trauma, held her own,
00:39:42
she's a strong child, just like her mother. >> Which way is the thing supposed to go
00:39:47
>> and I'm so proud of her. >> I'm very excited. >> And then 15 years after the call that
00:39:54
came to tell them Far had been murdered, they got another call. The jury was back. He's going to go to death row.
00:40:03
Whoa. >> It's the outcome Lex and Betty prayed for and it answered at least some of
00:40:12
Bradley's questions. >> I do believe that he is guilty and he was found guilty twice for a reason. But
00:40:18
I physically haven't gotten that chance to ask my father face to face and I would like to do that.
00:40:27
I mean, it was kind of mixed emotions. He is my dad, so it was like I was sad, but he deserved it at the same time.
00:40:36
>> Amber Nicole Farer. >> Amber was able to graduate in peace >> and begin to look to the future.
00:40:46
>> I just plan on getting my apartment with my friend next month and moving in and
00:40:50
focusing on college after that. But none of the members of this family can face the future without remembering the past
00:40:57
and trying to keep Farra alive, if only in their hearts. >> I still pray every single night to her.
00:41:04
Dear mommy, I love you and I miss you and I'll never ever forget about you and I will continue praying for you every
00:41:10
single night as long as I live. [Music]