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Nancy Grace
The Caryn Kelley Verdict
Aired May 31, 2013 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: A high-profile real estate broker with a married boyfriend boozes it up and guns him down. In the last hours, yet another Orlando jury says not guilty, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: State of Florida versus Caryn Kelley verdict. We the jury find the defendant not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do next?
CARYN KELLEY, ACQUITTED OF MURDER: Go to Disney World.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The real beginning of the Caryn Kelley case is with a 911 call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: Oh, my God! Oh! Oh! (INAUDIBLE) Hello? (INAUDIBLE) Is this 911? (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: OK, you need to stop screaming so I can hear you.
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! (INAUDIBLE) My boyfriend is dying! (INAUDIBLE) He needs an ambulance! (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: What`s wrong with him?
KELLEY: What? What? 911?
911 OPERATOR: Hey, ma`am, listen to me.
KELLEY: What?
911 OPERATOR: I need you to calm down so I can understand what`s going on. What`s wrong with your boyfriend?
KELLEY: What?
911 OPERATOR: What is wrong with your boyfriend?
KELLEY: What! You need to come right away! (INAUDIBLE) right away!
911 OPERATOR: OK, listen to me. I understand...
KELLEY: What?
911 OPERATOR: Stop screaming so I can understand you and send you help. What`s going on?
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Calm down for me. Take a deep breath and calm down. What`s going on?
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) Hurry! He`s not breathing! (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: OK, listen to me. Listen to me. I`m going to transfer you to the paramedics. They`re going to give you CPR instructions, OK?
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Don`t hang up, OK?
KELLEY: I need to know what to do!
911 OPERATOR: Listen to me. I`m going to transfer you. Don`t hang up.
KELLEY: Baby? Baby? Oh, my God! (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Orlando Fire Department.
911 OPERATOR: (INAUDIBLE) a transfer.
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) Oh! God!
911 OPERATOR: This is the fire department. What`s the address of your emergency?
KELLEY: Hurry! He`s dying! Come on!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Very often, when I would try cases, if I had access to a 911 call, that`s how I would set the scene to start the story that would begin to unfold to the jury.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) quick!
911 OPERATOR: What`s your phone number?
KELLEY: What`s my phone number?
911 OPERATOR: Is it (INAUDIBLE)
KELLEY: Yes! Yes! Yes! Come quick! (INAUDIBLE) Baby? Baby? Oh, my God, I don`t know what to do! I don`t...
911 OPERATOR: OK...
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, you cannot play a 911 call in an opening statement because it has yet to be admitted into evidence. But that would be one of the first witnesses that I would put up on the stand under oath, is the 911 dispatcher or someone to verify the 911 tape.
This all really begins when we get an early, early morning, late night 911 call in the middle of the summertime in the Orlando area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Exactly what happened?
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) Just get somebody here quick! He was shot in the head with a gun! Oh, my God! Help! Come quick! Help, help, help! (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: I`m sending the paramedics to you now.
KELLEY: Right away! Right away! Please, please, please!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The 911 call sets the stage for what will be an ongoing tug- of-war to find the truth. What happened to a very successful pool builder in the Orlando area, a married man, 46-year-old Phillip Peatross? Peatross apparently had been having a torrid affair with Caryn Kelley, dabbled in real estate. She was a realtor. She was well known in the area for being vivacious, energetic. "Bubbly" was often an adjective attached to Caryn Kelley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What were you guys fighting about?
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are you charged with murder, then?
KELLEY: He shot himself! I didn`t shoot him! He took the gun and shot himself!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Many people seem to have noticed, those in her inner circle, in the days, the weeks leading up to the shooting death of her married lover, Phillip, that she had seemed quiet, reticent. Many people speculate that Phillip refused to leave his wife for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you`re going to hear that on the night of July 26th, 2011, he was over her house. It was a normal day. They ran some errands. They went to Bed Bath and Beyond. They did thing like that. That night, they both drank, and they drank a lot. And you`re going to see the liquor bottles that are all over the kitchen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: As we all know, the state never has to prove a motive in a criminal case. Why is that? Because there is really no way for a prosecutor to go inside the mind of a hardened criminal...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are going to see that there is no argument. There is no argument. And you`re going to hear from the neighbor who lives two houses away that heard that argument at 12:20 in the morning. The argument was loud enough to get two houses away. And he specifically recalls Ms. Kelley yelling at the defendant, Just -- at the victim, Just go. If you want to go, just go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: ... a violent criminal, and try to detangle the nest of snakes in that head. So the state never has to prove motive. However, very often, juries want to hear a motive, a reasonable motive, so that they can better accept the facts laid before them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So that`s what it is at 12:20. The 911 call comes in about 4:50 in the morning. So what happens in between? Mr. Peatross either leaves the residence or sleeps in another room. Ms. Kelley appears to be in her bedroom. She`s in a nightie. You`ll see in videos that she appears to be ready to go to sleep or just woken up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This is the conundrum. When you look at Caryn Kelley, she looks like she should be on "Miami Housewives." She really does. She looks glamorous. She has the blond hair, the tan, the big wide smile, the sparkling eyes, the beautiful home, the family, the glamorous real estate job, the gorgeous clothes, the works.
So why in the early morning hours on July 27th did she shoot her lover to death?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Peatross gets up at 4:50. Whether he slept in another room or left the residence, whatever he did, he comes in the house because he is loading up his Jeep. The garage door is open. He enters the residence.
And when he enters the residence, at some point, he goes in the bedroom. He still has articles in the house. That`s when he`s shot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. Kelley does not have to tell you her story. I believe at the end of the state`s case that the statements that you hear that she made right after these events are going to be utterly understandable to you, and you`re going to understand what happened.
But she is anxious to be able to in a calm way -- not in the aftermath of watching somebody get shot, but in a calm way be able to tell you exactly what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: He put a gun to his head! He says, Just let me do it! He was joking! Ba-boom! It went off. I go, Hey, don`t do that! It`s stupid!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police released this cell phone video recorded by investigators at Kelley`s house the night of the shooting.
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... drinking and an argument took place.
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) Going to shoot me? Going to shoot me? And it went off. I`m, like, Oh, my God. I didn`t ever mean to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he OK? Is he living?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, let`s analyze what we learn on that 911 call. We hear a hysterical Caryn Kelley -- Quick, quick, quick! Come to my home! Come to my home! The 911 dispatcher begins to question Kelley. You don`t hear a gunshot in the background. The deed is done. She says at the time she calls he`s dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Now, listen to me. Did he shoot himself? Yes or no?
KELLEY: No! No! It was, like (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Who shot him?
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) self-defense thing, and then it was an accident! It was an accident (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Did you have the gun?
KELLEY: I did, but it was an accident!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: He`s been shot in my home. She doesn`t really give enough of the facts. But the 911 dispatcher is wise enough -- and it`s maddening to the rest of us when you hear a 911 dispatcher going, What are you wearing? What is the victim wearing? What happened? Just all of these seemingly inane questions, but in this case those questions added up to a murder investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) wake up in the middle of the night and someone`s in my house. And I said (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK...
KELLEY: You know I got a weapon? You don`t do this!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This young woman claims first that she thought an intruder was coming into her very beautiful Florida home. But then suddenly, it turns out it`s not an intruder, it`s her lover, a married man with a wife and children. Then she says -- somehow, the story shifts from an intruder was coming in and I thought it was a burglar, to suddenly, it`s self-defense. Then the story shifts to, He shot himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your name?
KELLEY: Caryn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caryn?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caryn what? (INAUDIBLE)
KELLEY: You think that`s funny?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Nothing is funny, ma`am.
KELLEY: You think this is funny? (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) shot! And (INAUDIBLE) funny!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
KELLEY: Not funny!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody`s laughing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
KELLEY: He took my gun (ph). He took the handle and he put it to his head. (INAUDIBLE) Want to shoot me? You want to shoot me? I go, Don`t do this. It`s loaded. Don`t do this! It`s loaded!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did you get the gun from?
KELLEY: I got it a long time ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, in the house, where did you get it from?
KELLEY: Under my bed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under your bed? Why did you take it out?
KELLEY: Because I heard somebody come in my house after he left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
KELLEY: He came in and he was fighting me, pushing me (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Just tell me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: When I first started prosecuting, very often -- well, as a matter of fact, without exception, a defendant or suspect`s statement would be in black and white. But now with these, it`s a whole `nother ball game because that evening, one of the police officers had the wherewithal to video on his cell phone what was happening.
And according to the police officers, the 48-year-old Orlando realtor was drunk as a skunk, which adds to the scenario. That factors in. Now, we all know that voluntary intoxication or voluntary drug use is not a defense under the law. But an argument fueled by alcohol or drugs is a completely different scenario.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: Because I heard somebody coming in my house after he left. And I didn`t know! I didn`t know who was coming in, but he already left. And I have had threats from my homeowners` association and all that kind of (EXPLETIVE DELETED). So I said, Don`t come back in here unless you give yourself prior notice. So he came back in...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it`s not official (INAUDIBLE)
KELLEY: I was, like, Hey, don`t near (ph) to (ph) me. And he was, like, No, you`re not -- and he put it (INAUDIBLE) Going to shoot me? Going to shoot me? And it went off. I`m, like, Oh, my God. I didn`t ever mean to do that.
Is he OK? Is he living?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: State of Florida versus Caryn Kelley, verdict. We the jury find the defendant not guilty.
KELLEY: I didn`t shoot him! He took the gun and shot himself!
911 OPERATOR: Who shot him?
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) and then it was an accident! It was an accident!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you have the gun?
911 OPERATOR: I did, but it was an accident!
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The medical examiner says there was no evidence of a struggle or a suicide. But there was a pool of blood on the bed and blood spatter on the nightstand.
KELLEY: Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! (INAUDIBLE) breathing!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: As part of her statement to police that evening, we see a defense already forming. Caryn Kelley says to police that Phillip, her married lover, leaves the home after an argument, that she then hears sometime later her alarm to her home beeping and grabs her gun. The two struggle over the gun. Then she says that he holds the gun to his own head and threatens to pull the trigger, but yet it was pulled by accident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s his name?
KELLEY: Phillip. My boyfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s your boyfriend?
KELLEY: The love of my life!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This is entirely inconsistent with her claim of self-defense. Throughout her interactions with police that evening -- they get there in the early morning hours -- she keeps asking about the condition of her lover, Phillip Peatross.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he OK? Is he living?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, I mean, he is already dead when she calls 911. And there`s practically a standoff before anyone would come into the home because she tells the 911 dispatch that she has a gun. And they refuse to come in until she comes out unarmed, and then they`ll go in to see about the lover.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Caryn, the police are there. I need you to go to the front door. Make sure that they see your hands...
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Listen to me. Make sure that they see your hands, that they know that you don`t have a gun in your hands.
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) don`t have a gun. (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Go to the front door. I need you to open it slowly so that they see that you don`t have a gun.
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Caryn?
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Are you listening to me?
KELLEY: Come here, baby!
911 OPERATOR: Caryn, get up and go to the front door.
KELLEY: No. I already opened it, and they`re not there.
911 OPERATOR: OK, open the front door and slowly walk out and make sure your hands are where they can see them, OK?
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) It is open! They`re not there!
911 OPERATOR: OK, hold on.
KELLEY: Please come here! Come on!
911 OPERATOR: Just wait at the front door.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So it is quite an evening of cat and mouse between police and Caryn Kelley. But in the end, the final story as it morphs that evening, is that the lover leaves. She hears her home alarm going off, her home alarm, grabs her gun. Somehow, the two enter into a struggle over the gun. He gets the gun, for some inexplicable reason, holds it to his own head, and it goes off by accident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: I didn`t shoot him! He took the gun and shot himself!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So there are things in her versions that don`t make any sense. At one point, she says he was joking and put the gun to his head and said, What are you going to do, shoot me? And then in another version, she`s got him fighting with her. And in another version, this is all a joke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Interesting. Caryn Kelley is not charged with murder one. She`s charged with manslaughter. I`m very curious as to why she`s only charged with manslaughter. I`m assuming the state`s position is that this was a gunshot that occurred in the heat of an argument, and therefore, they charged a lower offense of manslaughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The problem is, in that room that night, there`s only two people. One is dead, one, clearly under the influence of alcohol, pulls (ph) the firearm, which she admits -- she pulls the firearm. She points it towards the door. She comes into contact with (INAUDIBLE) a person that she could recognize as Phillip Peatross. There is a conversation with him, and he is killed.
Whether the defendant pulled the trigger or whether the defendant put things in motion by being intoxicated, by pulling the gun, by holding it up, by not immediately dropping the gun upon recognizing that it`s Phillip Peatross, by continuing to engage, if there is some sort of struggle for the gun, and that gun going off, the defendant would be guilty of manslaughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: As you all know by now, intent to commit a crime or premeditation, mens rea as it`s called in criminal law, can be formed in an instant, in a twinkling, in the blink of an eye. So the time it took her to raise the gun and pull the trigger under the law is sufficient time to prove premeditation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) I`m telling you! He has got a gunshot to the head!
911 OPERATOR: We have the police and paramedics. You need to listen to my instructions, OK? Are you still at the front door? OK, I need you to go to the front door and step all the way out so they can see you. Make sure that you don`t have anything in your hands other than your cell phone.
KELLEY: Oh, my God! (INAUDIBLE) All right. OK. (INAUDIBLE) They`re there!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: My boyfriend is dying! (INAUDIBLE) He needs an ambulance! (INAUDIBLE) shot in the head with a gun!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First she said it was self-defense.
911 OPERATOR: Did he shoot himself? Yes or no.
KELLEY: No! No! It was, like (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Who shot him?
KELLEY: ... self-defense thing, and then it was an accident. It was an accident!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then she told them she accidentally shot her boyfriend.
911 OPERATOR: Did you have the gun?
KELLEY: I did, but it was an accident!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She told them she shot an intruder in her house.
KELLEY: So I went to bed, and all of a sudden, I wake up in the middle of the night, and someone`s in my house!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She told police he shot himself.
KELLEY: I didn`t shoot him! He took the gun and shot himself!
He put the gun to his head and says, Just let me do it! He was joking! Ba-boom! It went off!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caryn Kelley swears she didn`t pull the trigger.
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) going to shoot me? You going to shoot me? and it went off. I`m, like, Oh, my God. I didn`t ever mean to do that. Is he OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The cause of death is a gunshot wound on that right side of the cheek that you`ve seen the picture of. If you kind of -- to get a better idea, if you look at the ear canal- we -- I measure it from two ways, with the ear canal (INAUDIBLE) two inches in front of and about three fourths inches below that center, that ear canal.
And as stated, it`s surrounded by powder tattooing, where the powder has left the end of the barrel and is close enough to still hit the face with enough force. And then it also fractures this maxillary bone, where all your -- your sinuses are, and ends up going into the base of the skull, right where the brainstem sits. It goes through the brainstem, almost cuts it in half, then goes into the left cerebral hemisphere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I noticed (ph) interest (ph). You probably know the medical examiner as Dr. Jan Garvalia (ph), Dr. G. We all remember her stunning testimony on the stand for the state in the tot mom, Casey Anthony case. She doesn`t hold back.
A careful reading of the case files shows in a supplemental report, Officer Alex Chase (ph) describes the scene that he sees when he walks into that Orlando home.
He sees the 46-year-old married victim sitting on the bedroom floor, sitting on Caryn Kelley`s floor, dead. He`s propped up against the bed as if he`s still alive and sitting there. Near him, near his dead body -- and there`s no question he`s dead -- interesting, the next-door neighbor who is coincidentally a friend of the suspect, Caryn Kelley -- they`re very friendly. In fact, they baby-sit each other`s dogs. She said that the victim`s car made a very distinct noise, that she could hear it when it would pull up and leave every time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where did you see them?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In front of her driveway, behind the two vehicles, his Jeep and her maroon (ph) car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. And can you tell me, was -- how their demeanors were at that time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A bit quiet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you happen to notice the vehicles in the driveway?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I noticed them at the time I saw both of them, and also again late in the evening, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what was her habit regarding her garage door? Would it typically be down or would it typically not be down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Typically up. Oh, excuse me -- typically down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Counsels, please approach.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. Moore (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Judge, I think everyone in the courtroom pretty much heard Ms. Kelley`s reaction to the witness`s answer. She obviously didn`t agree with it. She made some reference to him not understanding the question. And the state would ask the court to discuss the proper courtroom decorum or ask that Ms. Kelley leave the courtroom and waive her presence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) respond adequately.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. Tennis, is there anything you need to place on the record?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Judge, considering the circumstances, I think that she has been very largely in control during this painful process. I agree the outburst was absolutely inappropriate. She will not do it again, and I apologize to the court on her behalf.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Ms. Kelley, I understand that we are at the end of day four in what has been a long and tedious process for everyone. And I understand that everyone`s patience, tolerance and endurance is being tested.
Ma`am, you know better. You know -- I don`t need you to respond. You know that you cannot have any verbal or nonverbal communications with a witness while they are on the witness stand. If you continue to do this or it happens again, you will be removed from the courtroom. Do you understand this?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) the man that I love more in the world, and he`s gone!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The investigation started when she called 911 to report a disturbance. When police arrived, her agitated behavior led them to search the home, and that`s when they found Peatross`s body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were drinking, and an argument took place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throughout the day, investigators combed through the crime scene. Neighbors were surprised anything like this would happen just a block from downtown College Park. Phillip Peatross lived in Longwood. His neighbor, Kim Caseroski (ph), described him as a friendly, hard-working man who owned a pool business.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s shocking. It`s shocking. I mean, you know, he`s a nice guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While Caryn Kelley swears she didn`t pull the trigger...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What were you guys fighting about?
(CROSSTALK)
KELLEY: He shot himself!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say that`s not what the evidence shows. They drove her off to jail, where she was booked on first degree murder charges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: When police arrived at the Florida home of Caryn Kelley, she had blood on both hands. And interesting about the gunshot wound to Peatross`s right cheek, it had gunshot powder stippling around the wound. That means that it was a contact wound. Contact wound means the weapon was held directly to his skin.
Now, gunshot powder residue will still be found if the gun is up to about 36 inches away from the wound. But to have gunshot powder or stippling on the skin means a very close range or contact wound.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Caryn Kelley is becoming quieter and quieter from the time she called police to her encounter with reporters after her arrest, at her first court appearance at the jail when she said nothing. Her attorney tried to convince the judge to let her out on $25,000 bond with a GPS monitor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a pyramid of inferences that led them to the conclusion that she must be lying, and therefore, she must be guilty of first degree premeditated murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The defense tried to use all the stories police say she told them to show there`s no clear-cut evidence to prove she intentionally killed her long-time boyfriend, pool builder Phillip Peatross, in her home.
Police say Kelley changed her story five different times. First she said it was self-defense. Then she told them she accidentally shot her boyfriend. She told them she shot an intruder in her house. She told police he shot herself. And her attorney claimed that she was protecting her home.
But a prosecutor told the judge that the medical examiner`s office determined during the autopsy there was no evidence of a struggle, and the angle of the bullet wound showed no evidence of suicide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was it like when it -- when it initially happened? Were you at home, or were you -- you know, what was it like for the community?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there were about 20 police cars out in the street, so that was unusual. I was actually here when it happened. I actually heard the shot. I happened to be up late at night. And so I watched it kind of unfold through my window. That was really crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Another neighbor insists that he could frequently hear Caryn Kelley get very, very loud when she was drunk. Neighbors also claimed that evening, between 11:00 PM and 12:00 AM, they heard Caryn Kelley screaming, screaming at Phillip Peatross to just leave, to just get out.
Around 4:45 AM, another neighbor was hearing commotion, and proceeded to call police. But just as she went to call police, she looked out and saw a police cruiser coming into the driveway.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: State of Florida versus Caryn Kelley, verdict. We the jury find the defendant not guilty. So say we all, dated at Orlando, Orange County, Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number one, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number two, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number three, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number four, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number five, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number six, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caryn, why were you so confident? You were so confident earlier.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I didn`t shoot him. I know that.
911 OPERATOR: Did you have the gun?
KELLEY: I did, but it was an accident!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caryn Kelley swears she didn`t pull the trigger.
KELLEY: Relief. Relief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ever have any doubts?
KELLEY: No. That`s why I didn`t testify.
It went off. I`m, like, Oh, my God. I didn`t ever mean to do that. Is he OK? Is he living?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. Kelley, you have been found not guilty of these charges by a jury of your peers. And as such, you are released.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do next?
KELLEY: Go to Disney World.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. Kelley, you have been found not guilty of these charges by a jury of your peers. And as such, you are released from this court`s jurisdiction as it relates to case 2011-CF10200 (ph). Anything further from the defense?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anything further from the state?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
KELLEY: Relief. Relief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ever have any doubts?
KELLEY: No. That`s why I didn`t testify.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you have to say to Mr. Peatross`s family now?
KELLEY: They already know how I feel about Phillip.
(INAUDIBLE) knows me would know I would never do such a thing.
(INAUDIBLE) know how I feel about Phillip.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They seemed devastated when they walked out of (INAUDIBLE)
KELLEY: Would you guys watch out? I can`t really see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you say to that? I mean, they don`t seem very happy with this verdict.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... emotions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that`s really not for us to judge.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re very happy. We knew it was coming. It`s been two years of hell for us, knowing what we knew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the first thing Caryn said to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank God. When she just hugged me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes. And now, what were you feeling during the deliberation process? What were you guys going through?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were confident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m very pleased. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: On the heels of the tot mom, Casey Anthony, not guilty verdict, now an Orlando jury hands down yet another not guilty verdict, seemingly in the face of overwhelming evidence. Not so, says Caryn Kelley`s defense attorney, joining us live tonight. Diana Tennis.
Diana, your client decided seemingly, again, at the last minute, not to take the stand. Why?
DIANA TENNIS, CARYN KELLEY`S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, frankly, it wasn`t necessary, Nancy. The law enforcement had already acknowledged that it was a struggle and an accident. There was no evidence that there was anything other than a struggle and an accident that caused the discharge.
We know that he entered the room, he crossed the room, he engaged with her physically, and a terrible tragedy ensued. So it just didn`t seem that having somebody testify two years after the fact, when you had all of the statements that she made that we managed to get in front of the jury right there in the hours afterward -- why would they believe those statements two years later if they weren`t going to believe what she said at the time?
GRACE: You know, Diana Tennis, I think that the jury was misguided. But I have to say, even so, you tried a heck of a case.
And you were right. She didn`t have to testify. You managed to win the case without her taking the stand. And I will point out that that was pretty wise because Jodi Arias -- I don`t know if you`ve followed that, on the stand 18 days, the jury just, you know, set them (ph) on their teeth listening to her for 18 days.
You made a very wise decision, speaking strategically. But out to C. Douglas Green, represents Phillip Peatross`s family. I`m sure you disagree with Diana.
C. DOUGLAS GREEN, PEATROSS FAMILY ATTORNEY: Yes, I do. I thought there was more than enough evidence to convict Ms. Kelley. I thought her words alone, and her statements, along immediately in the aftermath following the incident to the 911, and then with the cell phone video...
GRACE: You mean changing her story five times?
C. DOUGLAS GREEN: Yes, at a minimum of five times.
GRACE: And her own words, when he left the home, she said, Hey, don`t come back. I got a gun, and I know how to use it.
C. DOUGLAS GREEN: That absolutely made no sense to me. Why would someone say that to someone they love, who`s been in their house, who`s lived in their house to a certain degree, as far as slept there. You know, even if they may have had a little rift, to all of a sudden -- you know, I`ve got a gun. You know, if you come back -- you know, if you come back, I got a gun and it`s loaded, and so forth.
GRACE: To Deborah Roberts, news anchor, joining me joining me from Florida News Network. What happened?
DEBORAH ROBERTS, FLORIDA NEWS NETWORK: Nancy, I can`t tell you what happened. I am absolutely shocked by this verdict. I thought the words of the defendant, Caryn Kelley, alone would have been enough to certainly garner a manslaughter charge.
I do believe that there were a few things brought up at trial that managed to create enough reasonable doubt in the jurors` minds that they felt a not guilty verdict was the best verdict for this case.
GRACE: Clark, she said, Don`t come back. If you do, I`ve got a gun, and I know how to use it. Am I wrong?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): No, Nancy, you`re correct. That is the gist of what came out at trial. But there was no doubt in the minds of the jurors, taking just one hour and 35 minutes before reaching their verdict of not guilty.
In fact, Nancy, when the defendant left the court after being found not guilty, asked by reporters what she was going to do next, she replied, Go to Disney World.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY: Oh, my God! Hello? Oh! 911? Hello? (INAUDIBLE) Is this 911? Hello?
911 OPERATOR: You need to stop screaming so I can hear you.
KELLEY: (INAUDIBLE) Oh, my God! Oh! Oh! God, no! Oh, my God! (INAUDIBLE) the gun went off in the house (ph)! My boyfriend just died! (INAUDIBLE) He needs an ambulance! 911!
911 OPERATOR: What`s wrong with him?
KELLEY: What? What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: State of Florida versus Caryn Kelley verdict. We the jury find the defendant not guilty.
Juror number one, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number two, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number three, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number four, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number five, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juror number six, is this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And now back to the stunning not guilty verdict handed down by yet another Orlando jury.
Clark Goldband, the evidence seemed to be overwhelming, especially the drunk cell phone video taken by police, where she changes her story five times, admitting she shot him!
GOLDBAND: Yes, Nancy. It starts on the 911 call and continues on the cell phone video filmed by officers at the scene. And later during the police interview, the stories range from self-defense, accidental shooting, thought he was someone else, that he shot himself and was protecting her home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury find the defendant not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caryn Kelley looked down, smiled, and then hugged her lawyer after she was acquitted of manslaughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was your reaction in there when they -- when they read those words?
KELLEY: Relief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phillip Peatross`s family and friends were not. They didn`t say a word when they left the courthouse. Prosecutors tried to prove Kelley shot and killed Peatross during a drunken argument the couple had in Kelley`s College Park home. But it wasn`t enough for the jury.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believed in this case. I believed in Caryn. And I`m extremely relieved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Caryn, why were you so confident? You were so confident earlier.
KELLEY: Because I didn`t shoot him. I know that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defense argued Peatross took the gun and shot himself during a horrible accident. During closing arguments, Kelley`s attorney apologized for giving the impression her client was going to testify. Kelley changed her mind on Friday, earlier she told me, because she was so sure she was going to go free. When asked what she was going to do next, she told us this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do next?
KELLEY: Go to Disney World.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. Well, there you have it, another Orlando jury hands down a not guilty.
END
