13x09 - Home Evasion

[bunniefuu]

Up next, a woman
fears for her life.

Judy was afraid.

She expected something to
happen to her.

He was waiting for her in the
house!

Does she know who shot her?

The evidence shows
it was an ambush.

Was it someone she knew?

Possibly a
m*rder*r-for-hire-type

situation.

Or a random attack,
the hardest to solve?

A maladjusted,
screwed-up-in-the-head defendant

that I had prosecuted in my 15
years as a prosecutor.

It was the end of a
long day, and Judy Southern

returned home from work to what
she thought would be an empty

house.

Instead, she encountered
something unexpected.

Judy tried calling
her husband at work, but he'd

already left.

He got home a few minutes later.

Allen!

I heard her call my name.

I can't remember if I rolled her
over.

I think I said, "what happened?"
She said she'd been shot.

Allen saw the
b*llet wound, carried her to his

car, and rushed her to the
hospital.

Car, and rushed her to the
hospital.

By the time they got to the
hospital, there was little

doctors could do.

And then, when they finally
brought the gurney out and got

her on the gurney, they started
yelling, "code blue, code blue,"

and I know that stuff don't
sound right.

Judy died on the
operating-room table before her

twin sister could get there.

If I had been able to see her
in that hospital, I would've

asked her, "Judy, were you
afraid?" And "did you even think

of us?

Because I would've been there
for you.

I would've so been there for
you.

I would have given any part of
my body that you would've

needed," and I would ask her,
does she really, really know how

much she was loved.

At the crime scene,
police found evidence that the

k*ller spent time in virtually
every room in the couple's

house.

I know he showered, I know he
played with a child's video

game, and I know that he used a
sex toy on himself.

Can't tell you the order in
which he did it.

There were
cigarette butts everywhere, and

they weren't the brand that
either Allen or Judy smoked.

Which would lead one to
conclude or at least need to

investigate whether or not the
assailant left those cigarette

butts, because it was a
different brand.

There was no sign
of forced entry.

From shell casings at the scene,
the m*rder w*apon was a 9mm

handgun.

In the yard near Judy's body was
a crumpled note.

"This is for my wife, Melanie.

I love you.

Sorry it had to end like this.

I leave everything that I have
to my loving, caring wife."

The note was signed
"Jonathan," but his last name

was hard to decipher.

It looked like "binney" or
"Barry."

Judy had mentioned this name to
her husband before she died.

Does she know who shot her?

She gave me a name of
somebody "Barry."

He was waiting for her in the
house.

Allen claimed he
didn't know anyone by that name.

In a search for suspects, police
usually start with the spouse.

Any time a wife is shot,
particularly at home, the

husband is not only a suspect,
but the prime suspect.

Allen said he was
driving home from work when the

sh**ting took place.

I have to be honest... at
that point, my suspicions were

on Allen.

I had nothing to do with it.

I don't know what else to say
other than that.

No one knew the

motive for Judy Southern's
m*rder, but the evidence

indicated the k*ller entered the
home planning to do v*olence.

The phone lines had been cut
so that someone entering the

residence would not be able to
call out for help... 911 or for

any matter.

It appeared that
the k*ller was inside the house,

waiting.

She comes home.

It is an average day for her.

There is nothing to indicate
that there is someone in the

home.

It appeared that
the k*ller fired twice... one

b*llet hit Judy in the abdomen.

The other missed.

The shot that took place in
the hallway traveled across the

hall and actually lodged in an
adjacent bedroom in the

box spring, and we believe that
is the shot that struck Judy.

When investigators
searched through the crime

scene, they discovered something
unexpected in Allen Southern's

private office.

Once inside the house, we
discovered a recording device on

the phones.

Allen had been recording
phone conversations on the home

phone about his suspicions for
an ongoing affair.

Police soon learned
that relations between Allen and

Judy Southern were
extraordinarily strained.

Marital discord is
well-documented between Judy and

Allen.

Recorded phone calls is unusual.

It is a sign of a troublesome
marriage.

Judy's twin sister
said both partners were having

affairs and that Judy knew Allen
was recording her phone calls.

We kind of figured we were
being recorded, so there were

some things that we completely
fabricated just to see if it

would come back, and it did, and
at that point, knowing my

sister and knowing how
bullheaded she is, at that

point, it was almost like a
game.

He had had at least two
affairs in the past that she

knew of and that she had an
ongoing affair at the time this

occurred.

Allen and Judy
slept in separate bedrooms.

They told friends they only
stayed together for the sake of

their 5-year-old son.

Jacob loved his daddy, and
Judy wanted that love to be

preserved.

She didn't want to separate the
two of them.

But their
relationship became increasingly

tense.

Two days before her m*rder, Judy
told her sister she and Allen

had decided to separate.

She was very afraid that day.

She was afraid that day that
Allen was gonna k*ll her because

it had gotten to the point where
their relationship was maybe a

little bit more hostile.

Not in a violent way, not in a
hitting way, just in a verbal

way.

We were learning from her
friends that she had told them

that if anything ever happened
to her, that Allen had something

to do with it.

Allen denied any
involvement in Judy's m*rder.

However, he clearly had a
motive.

Judy was seeing another man, and
if Judy were to die, Allen would

gain sole custody of their son
in addition to her life

insurance.

But he had no history of
v*olence and didn't own a 9mm

handgun.

I understand people's
suspicions.

There is nothing other than a
husband and a wife who are

having troubles.

Lord knows if every marriage
that I just described resulted

in homicide, we'd have to build
a lot more cemeteries than we

have.

Investigators were
perplexed and turned to the note

found at the m*rder scene.

Although the signature was
illegible, the name at the top

of the note was clear...
Melanie binney.

Since the note was addressed to
"my wife, Melanie,"

investigators checked marriage
records and identified the

woman's husband as 26-year-old
Jonathan binney.

The binneys lived just three
miles away from the southerns'

home.

Allen Southern said they didn't
know the binneys.

They're not any more
neighbors than people who live a

mile apart in Manhattan are
neighbors.

Investigators
needed to know whether this

might have been...

A m*rder for hire, with

Jonathan binney as the sh**t.

The cellphone records... and
trust me, we checked, looking to

see whether Allen Southern had
called Jonathan binney...

No... not a scintilla of
connection other than both were

members of the same public
library, along with the rest of

spartanburg county.

Investigators
decided to pay Jonathan binney a

visit, and by all accounts, what
they found was beyond

description.

It is as despicable and
sickening as anything you will

see.

At the scene of
Judy Southern's m*rder,

investigators found a su1c1de
note addressed to, "my wife,

Melanie binney," and on the note
was her address, just a few

miles from the southerns' home.

A background check revealed
Melanie's husband, 26-year-old

Jonathan binney, had recently
been arrested.

Jonathan binney is out on
bond for the r*pe of his



In the su1c1de
note, binney said he planned to

k*ll himself because the thought
of going to prison for the r*pe

of his child was too much for
him to bear.

"The pressure I am or was
under was intense.

I couldn't deal with it."

Certainly found to be a vital
piece of evidence in the case.

Knew that we would be able to
get handwriting analysis.

Document examiner
gaile Heath compared the

handwriting on the note to
Jonathan binney's handwriting

samples.

In this particular case, we
were looking at hand-printing,

and hand-printing can also be
extremely identifiable back to

an individual.

Most individuals, when they
first learn to write, do learn

to write from something called
"copybook style," which is

printed letters within a
textbook.

There were a number
of clear similarities.

The lower-case "g," especially
at the end of words, was

unusually open.

The lower-case "f" was almost
always tilted at an angle to the

rest of the letters in the word.

In examining the question to
the known, I pretty much was

able to account for each and
every pen movement and pen

characteristic that I saw in the
question.

Gaile Heath
concluded that Jonathan binney

most likely wrote this note.

On the nine-point scale, this
was at the first position of

total identification of the
handwriting.

That's pretty much it... that's
the top of the scale.

And prints on the
note matched binney's.

When police went looking for
Jonathan binney at his home, he

was gone.

We used a helicopter which
has a flare during the night,

trying to get thermal imaging of
anyone that would be out in the

woods, as well as continued with
the k-9 teams, trying to track

the suspect, Jonathan binney.

The next morning,
investigators returned to

binney's house and this time
found him hiding in the

basement.

He was shirtless with six
nicotine patches on his chest.

Jonathan binney indicated to
us that he had applied numerous

nicotine patches to his body in
hopes that he could overdose and

eventually commit su1c1de.

If you would have bought six
boxes and put on 50 nicotine

patches, then I'll hear you out
on your bona fide effort to k*ll

yourself.

Four?

Uh, I know people studying for
exams that do that...

Just to stay up.

They were bringing him out of
the basement, and

Jonathan binney made what we
refer to as a spontaneous

utterance of "she's dead, isn't
she?"

And the deputy just replied,
"who?"

And he said, "the woman I shot."

But without saying
anything more, Jonathan binney

asked for an attorney, and he
recanted his confession.

The cigarette butts at the scene
were given to analyst Ken bogan.

He cut them open to extract any
cells that might be present from

saliva.

There usually is no problem
in extracting DNA from cigarette

butts.

It's just usually a matter of
how much DNA is deposited on the

cigarette butts.

The saliva on the
cigarettes came from

Jonathan binney... proof he was
at the scene.

Investigators found a


field in between the binneys'
home and the crime scene.

Scientists fired a test
b*llet...

And compared it to the b*llet

from the crime scene.

Just like looking through a
pair of binoculars.

You're actually looking at one
specimen on the left stage, one

specimen on the right, and
you're looking for commonality

of markings between the two
items.

The test left no doubt.

The g*n found in the field was
the m*rder w*apon.

Investigators discovered
evidence in binney's room that

proved the g*n was in his
possession.

We found blue jeans that had
one unspent 9-millimeter makarov

b*llet in the pocket.

We found a holster, magazine
holders, and a security badge,

as well as some other items that
related to the possession of a

g*n.

All the evidence
pointed to binney.

But what was his motive?

We looked for every
conceivable connection.

Did she bank where he was
briefly a security guard?

Did they shop at the same place?

The closest we could ever find
was that they may have both had

public-library cards at the same
library, which is not very close

at all.

But there was
someone who had a motive...

Judy's husband, Allen.

Some domestic problems that
they were having in their

relationship.

We immediately began to
investigate that aspect of it.

Was Jonathan binney the
go-between to end

Judy Southern's life for
Allen Southern?

Did binney and
Allen Southern know each other?

As police attempted to answer
that question, they got a call

from the jail.

Jonathan binney wanted to talk.

We were expecting him to tell
us that her husband had hired

him to do it and that he was
just a paid hand to carry out

this act for somebody else.

Police had to
consider the possibility that

Allen Southern hired
Jonathan binney to k*ll his

wife, Judy.

One of her co-workers was
quoted as saying that she

expected something to happen to
her and she expected the culprit

to be Allen.

Police checked
everywhere but couldn't

establish a connection between
Jonathan binney and

Allen Southern.

There was no phone record or
anything to indicate any type of

relationship between the two.

Allen actually took a polygraph
test and was able to pass that.

Because of the
forensic evidence against him,

Jonathan binney was in jail.

After several days, he told
police he wanted to talk without

his lawyer present.

He wanted the death penalty.

He was wanting to plea to the
death penalty.

He was ready for it then.

He told us... everything we
asked, he told us and even added

more.

What binney
proceeded to tell investigators

ranks among the most bizarre
confessions any of them can

recall.

He is the most sexually
deviant, um... Um... forgive my

lack of psychiatric finesse...
Maladjusted, um...

Screwed-up-in-the-head defendant
that I have prosecuted in my



Something is wrong inside his
head.

Binney admitted to
the r*pe of his 3-month-old

daughter.

He knew he was going to prison,
and it scared him into m*rder.

He didn't want to go to
prison as a child molester

because he said he would be
somebody's bitch in prison.

He wanted to go as a m*rder*r.

Binney said he
didn't know the Southern family

and that Allen had nothing to do
with the m*rder.

He was at the bowling alley.

He could not have been the
sh**t.

There is no forensic evidence.

There's no circumstantial
evidence.

There's no evidence no matter
what modifier we use that he was

present when his wife was shot.

Based on the

forensic evidence and his
confession, binney chose the

southerns' home at random while
driving down the street on his

moped.

He entered the empty home
through an unlocked window, then

cut the phone lines.

Since his intent was m*rder, he
would have k*lled whoever came

home, and he had no way of
knowing whether it would be

Allen, Judy, or their 5-year-old
child.

While waiting, the evidence
shows he had some lunch...

Went through the family's
personal belongings...

And even took a shower.

Judy came home at 3:30 from her
mail-carrier job and probably

found binney's su1c1de note.

She and binney stumbled upon
each other.

As she tried to run, he fired
two sh*ts.

One missed.

The second hit her in the
abdomen.

Binney got on his moped and fled
through the fields.

Judy used her cellphone to call
her husband, who arrived a short

time later and rushed her to the
hospital.

Since she saw the su1c1de note,
she knew the perpetrator's name.

She gave me a name of
somebody "Barry."

She died later in the hospital.

Apparently, he felt like that
he was not gonna go to prison as

a child molester.

He decided that he was gonna be
a m*rder*r.

And from what I understand, he
was supposedly gonna be a mass

m*rder*r.

Me and my son just didn't come
home at the right time.

Jonathan binney was
convicted of Judy Southern's

m*rder and for the r*pe of his
infant daughter.

He was sentenced to death.

What is most troubling about
Jonathan binney's case is that

he picked a total stranger, and
that's what the jury and others

and even Judy's family members
have such a hard time with.

It ranks among the
strangest and most senseless of

crimes, and it almost resulted
in the arrest of Allen Southern,

a victim, not a k*ller.

That's what the evidence is for.

And I feel like the evidence
pretty much speaks for itself as

far as my involvement is
concerned.

Despite the unusual
nature of the crime and the lack

of witnesses, science proved
that Jonathan binney m*rder*d

Judy Southern despite having no
connection to her whatsoever.

They could prove without a
doubt that, yes, he was there,

so the science that's out there
today is more than anybody

can... actually knows until
you're going through it because

you never think about it, but
you're way happy that it's

there.

You're glad that they do have
that knowledge.

We were genuinely concerned
that we had too much evidence,

that there were no missing links
for the jury to have to... you

know, sometimes jurors like to
connect the dots themselves.

There was nothing to connect
here.