06x28 - Naked Justice

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: this is the story of a classic love triangle:

Husband, wife, and lover.

One of these three died

In what was described as an accident.

A forensic computer analysis

Uncovered photographs and e-mails so revealing

They even embarrassed a local judge.

Detroit, michigan--

Nicknamed the motor city

For its history as one of the world's

Largest automotive manufacturing hubs.

Just west of detroit is michigan state university

With almost , students.

In , michael "mick" fletcher

Was an undergraduate student there

With hopes of one day becoming a lawyer.

At a campus social event,

Mick fletcher met leann misener,

Who wasn't a student but worked as a telemarketer nearby.

For both, it was love at first sight,

And they were inseparable.

Years later, in september of ,

Mick and leanne married.

Woman: that was great. He was going to be a lawyer.

So he'd make a lot of money,

Be able to buy her a nice house.

And she wanted to stay home and have a lot of babies.

That's all she wanted of life.

That's all--since she was a little girl,

All she wanted to do

Was to get married and have children.

Narrator: the newlyweds settled in hazel park,

A working-class suburb just north of detroit.

They bought this house on hazelwood avenue,

And mick started law school.

Leann worked to support them,

And not long afterwards,

The couple had a daughter, hannah.

Gloria: that was her joy.

She was just crazy about hannah.

Here we go--whoo!

Narrator: the fletcher household appeared to be a happy one.

Gloria: I mean, she just got a thrill

Out of everything that hannah did.

Oh, my god, she dressed her so cute, too.

All the cute little outfits-- it was like her little doll.

Narrator: by ,

Mick was an up-and-coming criminal defense attorney

Working hard to build his practice.

Narrator: on august , , the couple had more good news.

Leann learned she was pregnant with their second child.

Mick was delighted with the news and sent her a note:

Man, as mick: leann, I might not always tell you,

But you mean the world to me.

I love you so much, sweetheart; and girl or boy,

So long as they are part of you,

Our children will all be beautiful.

I love you! Mick.

Narrator: that sunday night,

The couple celebrated their good fortune

With leann's parents.

Mick asked his in-laws if they would watch

Their granddaughter hannah the next day.

Jack: and he said,

"I wonder if you would babysit for about one hour."

And I said, "for one hour?" And he said, "yeah."

He said, "yeah, we want to go to the firing range."

Narrator: mick believed in having a g*n in the house for protection,

And he wanted leann to learn how to use it.

After visiting the firing range,

Mick and leann decided to return home

To spend some quiet time together

Before picking up their daughter.

Just a few minutes after they arrived home--

[g*nsh*t]

Mick made a frantic call to police.

Hazel park police found leann dead on the bedroom floor,

Naked from the waist down,

A b*llet hole through her right ear.

Mick told police he and leann were sitting on the bed together

Reloading the . Caliber smith & wesson

They just used at the firing range.

Man: he had trouble loading the second clip,

So he gave it to leann to help him.

He put the g*n down in the g*n box

At the foot of the bed,

Got up, went to the bathroom to wash his hands,

And that's when he heard the g*n go off.

[g*nsh*t]

Cleyman: he came running out of the bathroom

And saw his wife laying on the floor.

Oh, god, leann! Leann!

Jack: the last thing I ever wanted in my life

Was to bury one of my kids.

And then to have to bury one so young--

So young, so beautiful--

Not fair.

Narrator: at first glance, it appeared to be an accident,

But police decided to take a second look...

And then a third.

Narrator: as part of the investigation into leann fletcher's death,

Police first needed to eliminate the possibility of su1c1de.

Perhaps leann's pregnancy had caused some depression.

Woman: oh, my god! That's so exciting.

Woman: she was so excited. There was no way on earth

That leann would ever consider su1c1de,

Let alone go through with it.

Not in a million years.

Narrator: mick fletcher told police

His wife accidentally shot herself in their bedroom

Shortly after a trip to the firing range

As she tried to reload their p*stol.

Leann's mother suspected

That an accidental sh**ting in the head

Was a little too convenient.

Gloria: if this was a terrible accident,

She would have been shot in her hand, her arm,

Her foot, in the wall.

I said, "it wouldn't be in her head."

Narrator: in the couple's bedroom,

Police noticed blood stains

On the carpet [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] under[/span]leann's body,

As well as under the g*n and clip.

And there was blood spatter

On the computer stand by the bed.

There was more blood spatter on the edge of the bedspread.

The medical examiner dr. Lobeso dragovic

Performed leann's autopsy.

There was no gunpowder residue in the b*llet wound.

But there were some tiny dots of gunpowder

Called stippling

Imbedded in the skin around the wound.

Dragovic: that b*llet stippling is a phenomena

That occurs when partly burnt or a burnt-out part of particles

Land on the surface of the skin.

Narrator: the density of this stippling pattern

Indicated that the muzzle of the firearm

Was to inches away from leann's head

When the g*n went off.

And the trajectory of the b*llet was almost horizontal--

An unusual path

For a self-inflicted g*nsh*t wound to the head.

Dragovic: in order to accomplish that,

Your arm has to be about foot long.

This lady had only inches-

Or / inches-long right arm.

Narrator: when police searched the couple's home,

They found a brown folder in mick's office

Containing numerous romantic greeting cards.

Inside were pictures of susan chrzanowski,

A local district court judge.

Investigators also discovered

That mick had earned $, in legal fees

From cases assigned by and presided over by

Judge susan chrzanowski.

If the two were romantically involved,

This was a gross violation of legal ethics.

Investigators seized the fletcher's home computer

And susan chrzanowski's office computer

For examination by a forensic computer expert.

Man: for years and years,

We've always been willing to look in a file cabinet

For some type of an incriminating document.

Well, people aren't using file cabinets anymore.

They're using computers.

Narrator: sergeant duke copied the hard drives

From the confiscated computers

Onto a forensic examination computer,

Which is equipped with special software

That can access password-protected files

And reconstruct documents which have been deleted.

Sergeant duke found

Nude photographs of judge chrzanowski

And hundreds of e-mails between her and mick.

Duke: they read as love letters.

They appeared to be intimate. They appeared to be lovers.

They talked about being together.

They talked about wanting to be together in the future.

Narrator: mick had been corresponding with the judge

For months.

Police also learned that before she died,

Leann had suspected her husband was having an affair,

And the couple separated.

But months later,

They reconciled and moved back in together.

[Speaking indistinctly]

[Woman speaking indistinctly]

Yes.ok.

Narrator: police no longer believed

That leann's death was an accident

And were beginning to suspect

That mick fletcher and the judge

Might be involved.

Narrator: when investigators discovered that attorney mick fletcher

Was having an affair with a sitting judge

At the time of his wife's death,

Both were considered suspects.

He had his-- what should I call her?

His whore? Because as far as I'm concerned,

That's what she is.

Narrator: judge susan chrzanowski

Denied she had anything to do with leann's death,

But she was able to provide some useful information.

Cleyman: so I asked the judge

When was the last time they had sexual relations,

And she stated the night before the homicide.

Narrator: this meant

That after having dinner with leann's parents,

Mick dropped his wife and daughter off at home

And made some excuse

So that he could secretly meet with his lover.

Cleyman: she believed there was no sexual relationship

Between himself and leann.

And she told us that if there was

A sexual relationship between michael and leann

That their relationship would be over.

And all of a sudden now at the time of her death,

She was weeks, weeks pregnant--

We believed that that was indeed the motive for her death.

Narrator: mick insisted

That leann's death was an accident.

He claimed leann was reloading their g*n--

[g*nsh*t]

That he heard the g*nsh*t when he was in the bathroom.

Leann! Leann!

But the evidence told a different story.

The g*n and extra clip were found on the floor

And not in leann's hand.

Cleyman: in a lot of cases where people sh**t themselves,

The g*n is still in their hand

Because of anatomy that I can't explain.

The body grabs the g*n.

Narrator: there was also blood on leann's palm.

If the g*n had been in her hand when the shot was fired,

The g*n would have prevented the blood

From striking the palm of her hand.

And there was blood on the carpet

Underneath the g*n and extra clip.

Townsend: blood should have been on top of those items,

But there was blood [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] underneath[/span]the items.

If she had shot herself, the blood would have fallen

On top of the g*n and on top of the clip.

Narrator: and by the dresser,

There was a shell casing standing on end.

Cleyman: and everything looked like it was placed.

Townsend: we swabbed leann's hands

And sent it to a lab to determine whether or not

There was any type of gunpowder residue

That may have been left, and it came back negative.

Narrator: forensic serologist

And blood-spatter expert dave woodford

Examined the shirt mick fletcher wore

The day of the sh**ting.

A phenolphthalein chemical test

Found blood on the right cuff.

Using a stereo-microscope,

Woodford saw high-velocity impact blood spatter

On the right cuff.

A fine mist of tiny blood particles

Had been driven deep into the fibers.

Man: to me, it was critical

Because it pretty much took his story

And didn't give it any credibility at all.

There was no way

That he could have been in the bathroom

At the time of the sh**ting.

Narrator: high-velocity impact blood spatter

Is created when a g*nsh*t wound hits an area with blood

And the fine mist of blood blows back toward the g*n.

Woodford: he had to be in close proximity to leann

When she was shot.

Narrator: had leann shot herself, investigators say,

There would have been

High-velocity impact blood spatter

On [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]her[/span]hand, and there was none.

Dragovic: it doesn't make any difference

If there are additional drops of blood

That occur later

Or contaminate on top of it or some smudging occurs.

There would still be areas

That allow for this pattern to be recognized,

And that was not there.

Narrator: to find out

Where leann was when she was shot,

Investigators analyzed the angle of the blood spatter

On the computer stand next to leann's body.

The size and shape of the blood spatter

Told investigators that the blood hit the computer stand

At a - to -degree angle.

Strings, which were connected to each drop of blood spatter,

Revealed the exact location of leann's head

When the shot was fired.

Woodford: say, for instance,

The angle you got was degrees.

So then you take the string from the blood droplet,

And you measure up degrees,

And you bring that out into space somewhere,

And you do that with each blood droplet.

Narrator: where the strings intersect

Is the spot where the blood originated.

Woodford concluded that leann was on the floor

When she was shot.

Woodford: she was not sitting on the bed

While she was shot--

That she was on her hands and her knees

While she was shot.

Narrator: investigators also discovered

Fresh sperm in the vaginal swab from leann's autopsy,

An indication that the couple had sexual relations

Shortly before the sh**ting.

It's my opinion that sexual relationships occurred

Pretty close to the time of her death.

Narrator: police repeatedly test-fired the g*n

In order to recreate the same stippling patterns

Found on leann's head.

They fired at close range

And gradually moved back at -inch intervals.

The tests confirmed

Dr. Dragovic's earlier observation.

The g*n was - inches away from leann's head

When the shot was fired--

Too far away for leann to have held the g*n herself.

Dragovic: which in essence takes out the possibility

Of this wound being self-inflicted.

Narrator: leann's family never believed mick's story

That the sh**ting was accidental.

Judge chrzanowski said she was out of town

On the day of leann's death, which checked out,

And investigators did not believe

She knew about mick's plans.

Police arrested mick fletcher and charged him

With the premeditated m*rder of his wife.

Narrator: prosecutors believe that the m*rder

Of leann fletcher was premeditated

And that her husband mick k*lled her

In order to protect his romantic relationship

With judge susan chrzanowski.

Judge chrzanowski testified that mick had lied to her

About his relationship with leann.

Mick told her he no longer was having

Sexual relations with his wife.

And so susan chrzanowski believed that the two

Had a future together.

But when leann became pregnant,

Mick realized that the judge would discover

He had been lying.

Gloria: I really do think if she wouldn't have gotten pregnant

She'd still be alive.

I think that panicked him when she got pregnant, you know.

Narrator: prosecutors believe

The couple's trip to the firing range

Was probably a setup,

A way to explain why the p*stol

Was out of its case in the bedroom.

Cleyman: they had to pick up their daughter,

But before they picked up their daughter,

They wanted to come home

And have what he quoted as a quickie.

Narrator: when they returned from the firing range

And leann went into the bathroom,

Mick placed the g*n near the g*n case

At the foot of their bed.

The medical evidence shows

That the couple had sex on the floor.

We have to go pick up hannah now.

Narrator: as leann was getting up,

Mick grabbed the g*n and pulled the trigger.

[g*nsh*t]

Narrator: the mistakes mick made

Were numerous.

Blow-back blood spatter

Landed on the cuff of mick's shirt.

And he placed the w*apon and clip

On top of a blood stain

Next to leann's bloody hand,

Which clearly showed she hadn't been holding the g*n.

Mick then went into the bathroom

And rinsed off leann's blood--

Blood that was later found in the sink trap.

Then he called police.

Townsend: you have the evidence of the night before

Where he is professing his love

To another woman, not his wife.

You had the blood in the trap of the sink,

Which would indicate that he washed his hands

Prior to making a call.

You have the high-velocity blood mist

On the cuff of his shirt.

You have the stippling patterns

That are on the right side of leann's face.

So it's a combination of all this evidence

That just pointed towards him

As the person that committed this crime.

Mick didn't want to be with leann anymore,

But the thought of her being with somebody else--

He just couldn't handle it.

Juror: guilty of the lesser offense

Of second-degree m*rder.

Narrator: but the jury did not believe

Mick fletcher planned leann's m*rder,

So he was convicted of second-degree m*rder.

Hughes: we were grateful that it was second-degree,

But it should have been first-degree.

It should have.

I mean, it was clearly, clearly premeditated,

And anybody that knew him knew that.

Narrator: the trial judge sentenced fletcher

To the maximum penalty allowed,

Life in prison.

In this exclusive phone interview from prison,

Mick fletcher tells the producers of this program

That he is not a m*rder*r:

Townsend: unfortunately for him,

All the evidence points the other direction.

It points to the fact that indeed he did

Commit this m*rder and he did commit this crime.

It's hard when you have two people in the house

And only one left to tell the story.

And so you have to have the forensic evidence,

And that basically will tell the story for you.

And I'm so glad.

You have to look at the scene

And what does the scene tell you, forensically.

And that's exactly what happened in this case--

That the story by the defendant that--

"Oh, my god, my wife accidentally shot herself"--

Was seen through.

I hope they find him in the same humiliating way

That he left my daughter--

Half-naked in the prison somewhere, dead.

And I hope he rots in hell.