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in 1992 two masked gunmen broke into this home on the tiendaga mohawk territory in
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canada the motive was robbery but there was a struggle shots were fired leaving 54 year old ward maricle
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critically injured it took solid police investigation and some fancy footwork to identify the perpetrators
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[Music] the tie-in donega mohawk territory is a small community about two hours east of
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toronto canada [Music] the territory was founded over 200 years ago when the mohawk moved here from
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upstate new york the homes and landscape of the area are no different from any other north
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american community but the sense of family among the mohawk is especially strong
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[Music] it doesn't appear to be any different than anywhere else in canada or the u.s
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in what i would call for lack of a better term mainstream culture but like i say the differences is in the
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people in this community it's there's a lot of blood family but even if you're not related you know
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everybody pretty close so it's like being family [Music] ward and diana america were respected
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members of the community ward's gas bar the miracles business a gas station with the restaurant attached
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had always been a prosperous business at night they also operated a check cashing service from their home for
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people who didn't have an atm card everybody knows ward and diane the business there as well
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have contact with them they're good people at christmas time residents of the
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reserve celebrate the holiday just like any other community with santa claus christmas lights
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[Music] and prayer [Music] but in the early morning hours of december 30th 1992 the holiday spirit of the community was
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shattered just before dawn two masked gunmen broke into the miracle's home [Music]
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we're coming to see you [Music] they went upstairs woke ward and diana and demanded money
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where's the money give me the money one was holding a 22 caliber pistol the other a piece of wood
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ward resisted shots rang out by the time it was over ward had been shot three times
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the second perpetrator took diana downstairs fearing for her life diana handed over
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the money they had on hand ten thousand dollars in cash and the intruders quickly fled
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[Music] uh we've got a shooting down here on the reserve ambulance please hurry okay
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ward miracle was rushed to the hospital with a bullet wound to his head he underwent emergency surgery
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most wounds to the head are fatal [Music] since the gunman wore masks all diana could tell police was that the
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assailants made their getaway in a red car few miles down the road police found the two masts used in the
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robbery one was a wool ski mask the other a rubber halloween mask inside the miracle's home police found
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three shell casings which were collected for analysis the callaway in this case i believe
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there were 22 short caliber the fact they are out on the ground would indicate that more than likely a
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semi-automatic pistol as opposed to a revolver was used since the stairs had no carpet and with
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snow outside investigators suspected that the perpetrator's wet feet might have left
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latent shoe impressions on the stairs the stairs were dusted with fingerprint powder
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and immediately a clear impression of a running shoe was evident outside the house forensic experts found
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a trail of evidence in the snow which they hoped would lead them to the perpetrators
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[Music] during the christmas holidays in 1992 residents of the tayan danega mohawk
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territory learned the terrible news that one of their most prominent citizens ward maricle had been the victim of a
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senseless shooting there is very little violent crime in this small community of 2600 people
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shock initially that something of of this magnitude could happen in a community such as this
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[Music] ward marico was shot three times by a 22 caliber pistol one of the bullets
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entered his head but he was fortunate he survived but the injury would leave him
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permanently disabled forensic scientist jim edie inspected the crime scene he noticed a piece of wood on the
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kitchen table [Music] diana merkel told police one of the perpetrators held the wood in his hand
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during the robbery when edie walked outside on the side of the house he found a wooden sawhorse
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with one of the legs missing it appeared that the perpetrators took the leg from the sawhorse and used it to
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break through the front door next to the sawhorse clearly visible in the bright december
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sunshine was a footprint in the snow and when i looked i could see footprints in the area of the sawhorse
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i was certain that somebody had gone back behind the house and got the sawhorse and ripped a leg off
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there was a potential piece of very important evidence jim edie realized he had to act quickly
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before the snow melted and before anyone else walked through the crime scene his first order of business was to
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photograph the footprints these stills would be important especially if he was unable to make a
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cast of the footprint he then rushed to his truck and looked for materials to make a mold
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there are a number of techniques for capturing a footprint impression in the snow if you choose the wrong one the
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impression could be lost forever presents interesting problems because if you use conventional
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casting materials such as dental plaster it's really very heavy dental plaster is
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hardens to stone and if you pour it into snow it tends to collapse the footprint because of the
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weight detective edie decided on a technique called sulfur casting he took a small burner and a pot and
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heated the powdered sulfur it takes about 15 minutes before it melts into a thick brown liquid
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it's then cooled to the point above crystallization as it poured into the snow
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the sulfur re-crystallizes immediately and hardens retaining the important details needed for identification
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[Music] the impression was from a pair of nike air sneakers size eight the shoe was relatively new with very
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little wear in the impression were some important clues about the perpetrator details
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called accidental characteristics [Music] and the part of the shoe that's going to
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be rubbing against the road and against the sidewalk and that has those accidental characteristics that we're
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going to be looking for in an accidental characteristic is not just a little point oftentimes it's like
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a mini piece of art edie noticed three small cuts all in a row on the sole as if the wearer had
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stepped on a small piece of wire in all jimmy d identified 10 accidental characteristics in the shoe impression
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[Music] these would distinguish this particular shoe from the thousands of other nike
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air size 8 running shoes that were in circulation not surprisingly the shoe impression in the snow
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matched the shoe print on the wooden steps inside the home we recovered some very good evidence we
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had shoe prints we had brass casings the difficulty is unlike fingerprints which can be searched on a computer and
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identified in the case of bullet casings or shoe prints you need a suspect but finding a suspect
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would not be easy [Music] the robbery and shooting of ward miracle on the tien de nega mohawk reserve was
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widely covered by the media in the surrounding areas [Music] two days after the shooting
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an anonymous telephone call suggested police look into the whereabouts of peter benedict and frank linu in the
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early morning hours of december 30th both men were 21 years old both had criminal records
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benedict lived in cornwall which is about an hour's drive from the reserve police had no fixed address for lanu
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police went to peter benedict's apartment armed with the search warrant outside benedict's apartment
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police noticed a red car similar to the one diana merkel identified as the getaway car
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[Music] peter benedict denied any involvement in the crime and said he didn't know where
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franklin knew was inside benedict's apartment police found a 22-caliber pistol
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the same caliber used in the shooting they also found a number of pairs of running shoes but none were the nike air
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model size 8 like the impressions found at the crime scene police also found twenty five hundred
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dollars in cash and benedict was wearing what looked to be a very expensive ring
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in benedict's bedroom police found a receipt for the ring it was purchased on december 31st
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just hours after the robbery at the miracles home the ring was purchased with eleven
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hundred dollars in cash from a jewelry store in ottawa uh we went out to the car
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and we searched the vehicle after that and in the trunk uh i found an aldo shoe box
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so i thinking well all those shoebox brand new running shoes brand new ring i'm going to ottawa because there has to
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be a story to be told in ottawa and i wanted to hear the story once he got to the mall
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rick myers discovered that there were a number of shoe stores in the mall he patiently visited each one
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asking store employees if they recognized benedict or leno as a recent customer hey you work here oh yeah
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the last store that he visited was a foot locker and he got a break you seen him
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i think he came in a couple days ago actually the store clerk recognized peter benedict from the mug shot
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he said benedict bought a pair of running shoes just a few days earlier and he recalled that benedict wore the
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new shoes out of the store and left his old pair behind he just simply gave up the old ones for
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garbage and just wore his new ones home i asked if he would check to see if the old ones were still around he told me
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that no the garbage had gone out the friday i was insistent that he go and and recheck because
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it's always good to recheck everything particularly when you're so close in
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this type of investigation getting something that you really want fortunately for investigators the trash
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hadn't been removed from the back room and in the trash bin the clerk found the sneakers benedict
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left behind he did and sure enough he comes back dangling the shoes and a very nice smile on his face and it
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was even bigger one in mine they were size 8 nike air charcoal high top basketball shoes but were they the
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ones worn to the crime scene when jim edie analyzed the shoes from the trash bin he discovered the shoe had
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10 accidental characteristics which were in the same location the same shape and
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size as those found on the shoe impression in the snow and on the steps investigators now knew that peter
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benedict took part in the robbery okay here we are but was he the shooter and where
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was franklin just shut up i want the money could the mask somehow identify who pulled the trigger
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within a week of the robbery and shooting of ward miracle on the tiendanega mohawk reserve in canada
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police had two suspects peter benedict and frank lanew peter benedict was already in custody
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and frank lanew voluntarily came into police headquarters for questioning both denied any involvement
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in the crime but the evidence against peter benedict was mounting quickly the shoes he left at the shoe store were
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positively identified as the shoes which left the print on the miracle stairway and in the snow print outside their home
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next benedict's 22 caliber gun was tested by ballistics this pistol here is a beretta
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model 950b it's a semi-automatic pistol 22 short caliber which is really the short the
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smallest caliber that's used in handguns it doesn't look like much it's
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just a 22. it'll kill you just the state of the bigger caliber as well the bullets recovered from ward miracle
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in the operating room were too badly damaged for forensic analysis 22s when they hit bone on head shots are
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usually useless the projectiles they'll break up very very badly so investigators used the spent shell
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casings found in the miracles home for comparison benedict's gun was test-fired in the
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ballistics laboratory the act of pulling a trigger causes the firing pin to strike the primer which
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ignites the powder propelling the bullet through the barrel simultaneously the spent shell casing is
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pushed back with equal force [Music] just as the bullet is marked by its passage through the barrel so is the
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shell as it comes into contact with the metal surfaces of the weapons firing and
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loading mechanisms [Music] firing pin impressions are as unique as a fingerprint
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the firing pin impressions on the shell casings test fired from benedict's gun
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were identical to the impressions on the three shell casings found inside the miracle's home
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it's still you looking at it in your training and your experience that causes you to reach a conclusion and in
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this case what i saw and my predecessor saw whom i trained uh indicated to us yes
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those cartridge cases were fired in that gun and no other the money found in peter benedict's
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apartment had numbers written by hand on the bundles they matched diana maricle's handwriting
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not surprisingly inside benedict's car on the driver's side were peter benedict's fingerprints
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but on the passenger side were frank linus [Music] the last challenge for investigators was
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to discover which one of these two suspects was the shooter diana merkel said the gunman was wearing
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the wool ski mask the man in the rubber mask held the piece of wood scientists were able to identify traces
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of saliva and mucus inside the masks and from that they were able to generate a dna profile
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of the individuals who wore each mask when police compared the dna of frank linu and peter benedict they discovered
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that peter benedict's dna was inside the rubber mask and that frank lanew's dna
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was inside the wool mask this identified frank lanew as the shooter when peter benedict and frank lanew
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learned about the overwhelming forensic evidence against them they both pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and robbery
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they were each sentenced to six years in prison [Music] ward maricle eventually recovered from
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his injuries after a long and difficult rehabilitation published reports say he still has
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lingering problems resulting from the head injury he and diana still live and work on the
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mohawk reserve to this day ward and diane america refused to talk about what happened in the early morning
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hours of december 30th 1992 it was a great case it was a classic you know one of
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the many highlights of my career i i enjoyed that case it was a very exciting day for me when i saw those running
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shoes come come waltzing out from behind the back room i believe that the shoe print evidence
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that we were working with was very strong evidence and it was very strong evidence of the
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preliminary hearing and and i think i feel like i'm bragging [Music] [Music]
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you