00:00:01
[Applause] murder is a very big deal in Morris County my name is Peggy right I'm a reporter
00:00:10
for The Daily Record newspaper in Parsippany New Jersey Virginia virtus wasn't the type of person you would
00:00:18
associate with a shooting I think it's the kind of story that's that always mesmerizes people because anybody could
00:00:27
be in this kind of relationship the first tragedy is that a man's life was cut short the second tragedy is that my
00:00:39
client Virginia 40 DS has been wrongfully charged with his death this was a case about a woman who shot and
00:00:48
killed the person attacking her Patrick fealy it's two people and one is dead so you don't have the counterpoint of
00:00:58
the victim as you would in another case and how difficult is it when only one person survives
00:01:06
she's a vulnerable looking schoolteacher no criminal history isn't that a tough case to try to
00:01:14
prosecute try to convince 12 people that this woman killed him there was no question that she killed him
00:01:22
the question was that she murdered him or was it self-defense I wanted to see what her demeanor was I
00:01:30
wanted to see how she was gonna characterize her boyfriend as we got closer to the time of the shooting
00:01:38
and talking about the darker parts of their relationship I did not get any sense of that here's a woman with her
00:01:46
heart pounding and absolutely petrified I had no sense of that at all it was really like she was going through a
00:01:56
script I quickly looked and he was still in the stairs I just kept shooting it down the stairwell I was very confident
00:02:04
in this case based upon the evidence based upon what I saw at the trial that there was going to be a guilty verdict
00:02:11
was a absolutely positive you never can bake she struck me as just a very like defeated person what is the verdict of
00:02:20
the jury guilty she had her eye squeezed shut she didn't jerk a flinch some people have fallen apart they've
00:02:31
almost collapsed at being found guilty or not guilty [Music] I think she was in a frenzy that night
00:02:41
of bitterness rage longing to keep him all understandable emotions but she chose not to keep a grip on them