The Verdict

With her fate in the hands of a jury, Valessa Robinson could only wait.

"Let that jury come back with a nonguilty. Please, Lord,"> she pleaded.

It was an agonizing wait for her father, her sister and her attorney.

"My hope for Valessa is that...she gets out," said her father Chuck Robinson. "And that we can give her the help that she needs."

But as the hours turned to days, they prepared for the worst. Her father told a local reporter, "She's a kid; she's scared to death. I'm a big kid; I'm scared to death."

After deliberating for almost 18 hours, more than three days, the jury finally reached a verdict: third-degree murder.

Seventeen-year-old Valessa Robinson could have been sentenced to life in prison but instead received 20 years.

While Valessa's lawyer is appealing this conviction, there has been no decision since this broadcast was first aired more than a year ago. If it stands, Valessa will be in prison at least until her early 30s. Lawyers for Adam Davis are appealing his conviction as well.

Her grandfather Arthur Klug said he didn't want to see Valessa get out on parole.

In the end, jurors weren't convinced that Valessa planned, or participated in, the murder of her mother.

Her father Chuck Robinson said the verdict was the best that could have happened for except acquittal.

With a mother murdered, and a daughter behind bars, are there any lessons to be learned from a tragedy that makes so little sense? Here's what some of those close to the case told 48 Hours.

When Valessa was asked what she wished her mother had done differently in raising her, she said, "I wish that she'd disciplined me more. I wish she had laid down the rules."

"Vicki just got tired of disciplining her because she was very willful," said public defender Deeanne Athan. "And Vicki just said,...,'I give up; do what you want to do.' And basically, Valessa did whatever she wanted to do."

Her father, when asked if he felt as though he let Valessa down, said he did: "I think had that divorce not happened, Vicki would still be alive, and Valessa wouldn't be in jail. And Adam Davis wouldn't be anywhere near my family."

What should a parent do with a teen who is doing drugs and with a boyfriend like Adam?

Valessa's answer: "They need to be there for them, see that there's something wrong going on," Valessa said. "Get them away from the crowd that they're around."

That, of course, was Vicki Robinson's intention. But it was too little too late. Just 10 days before Valessa was scheduled to enter a program that may have saved her, Vicki Robinson was murdered.

Said Valessa: "I wish to God that I could just bring her back."

Away from drugs, away from Adam Davis, would Valessa's story have had a different ending?

Find out more about the Steppin' Stone Farm program in The Road Not Taken.