Defending Your Life

In Third Trial For Wife's Murder, Man Acts As Own Lawyer

(CBS) 
The Defense

Jerry insisted he knew who really killed Lee, and he was to put him on the stand. For more than 16 years, Jerry has insisted that Daniel Busby is his wife’s real killer.

Doersch says there is no evidence that Busby, then 15, was involved. "There is no connection, basically, between Danny Busby and the crime scene that night. All the DNA evidence tends to exclude Danny Busby."

But Doersch knew Busby’s tough-guy presence would vastly complicate his case. He remembers thinking, "He’s kind of a loose cannon and I’m concerned about that."

At the time of Lee’s murder, Busby was a friend of Beth Jones, and she says he had a crush on her. She also remembers him as a neighborhood loudmouth.

Jerry says Lee didn’t like Busby. "She didn’t want him associating with Beth. Or calling Beth or coming to the house. ...We know he has grown and developed into a very disturbed, vicious, uncaring, brutal person."

For the first time in three trials, Jerry was allowed to tell the jury about Busby’s troubled past, a history of violence Jerry says included the night Lee died.

He directly confronted Busby about his assaults against ex-girlfriends, and threats to kill people.

"Would you describe yourself as prone to violence?" Jerry asked Busby on the stand. "I have been in the past," Busby answered.

Jerry says when he sees Busby, he sees a disturbed, violent person.

And he says Busby’s uncontrollable temper erupted after Lee banned the teen from visiting and calling Beth.

Jerry claims an enraged Busby was looking for Beth the night of the murder, but found Lee, instead. "And he viciously stabbed and slashed and attacked her over and over and over again that night."

But there is no physical evidence or a witness that links Busby to the crime scene.

In court, Jerry asked Busby if he had ever growled at Thomas like a lion or tiger to frighten him. "I don’t recall," Busby answered.

"Are you saying that never happened?" Jerry pressed Busby.

"No. I’m saying I don’t recall," Busby replied.

Jerry claims Busby growled at Thomas prior to going upstairs and murdering Lee.

But Doersch believes, if there was any growling sounds that night, they came from Jerry himself.

Then there’s Busby’s long history of violence against his girlfriends. He testified that he had physically abused some of them.

And things got worse for the prosecution when those former girlfriends took the stand.

"He was both verbally and physically mean," one stated. "He would just kind of snap and change personalities. He’d be so furious," another ex-girlfriend told the court.

Doersch acknowledged that the women were sympathetic people and that there was no question that Busby put them through hell, but said Jerry was using Danny Busby as a convenient scapegoat.

"On any occasion, did he, in your opinion, seriously try to kill you?" Doersch asked one of Busby's ex-girlfriends. "No," the woman replied. "Danny never threatened you with a knife or any kind of weapon, did he?" Doersch asked. "No," she answered.

Doersch says the challenge would be to draw that line between Busby as a 15-year-old and as an adult. "If the jurors decide that he is volatile enough to have done this, well, then, the case is lost."

[LisaK13]

Sad story. It seems like the husband did kill the wife. Stabbed 63 times. There would have been more screaming. Was there signs of forced entry into the home? He should just have let her get a divorce. Now he's free already. And poor Thomas who it sounds like witnessed his mother bloody and stabbed to death. I never understand these stories.