Officials and press react to the Vertetis trial | Forensic Files

[Applause] murder is a very big deal in Morris County my name is Peggy right I'm a reporter
for The Daily Record newspaper in Parsippany New Jersey Virginia virtus wasn't the type of person you would
associate with a shooting I think it's the kind of story that's that always mesmerizes people because anybody could
be in this kind of relationship the first tragedy is that a man's life was cut short the second tragedy is that my
client Virginia 40 DS has been wrongfully charged with his death this was a case about a woman who shot and
killed the person attacking her Patrick fealy it's two people and one is dead so you don't have the counterpoint of
the victim as you would in another case and how difficult is it when only one person survives
she's a vulnerable looking schoolteacher no criminal history isn't that a tough case to try to
prosecute try to convince 12 people that this woman killed him there was no question that she killed him
the question was that she murdered him or was it self-defense I wanted to see what her demeanor was I
wanted to see how she was gonna characterize her boyfriend as we got closer to the time of the shooting
and talking about the darker parts of their relationship I did not get any sense of that here's a woman with her
heart pounding and absolutely petrified I had no sense of that at all it was really like she was going through a
script I quickly looked and he was still in the stairs I just kept shooting it down the stairwell I was very confident
in this case based upon the evidence based upon what I saw at the trial that there was going to be a guilty verdict
was a absolutely positive you never can bake she struck me as just a very like defeated person what is the verdict of
the jury guilty she had her eye squeezed shut she didn't jerk a flinch some people have fallen apart they've
almost collapsed at being found guilty or not guilty [Music] I think she was in a frenzy that night
of bitterness rage longing to keep him all understandable emotions but she chose not to keep a grip on them

Morris County Prosecutor Fred Knapp and crime reporter Peggy Wright discuss their views on the Virginia Vertetis case.

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Brief Summary

Virginia Virtus faces murder charges after shooting her boyfriend in self-defense amid a complex domestic violence case.

Key points

The Case of Virginia Virtus. A woman's life is forever changed after a shooting incident. Was it self-defense?
The Verdict. The jury's decision leaves everyone in suspense. What will happen next?

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Murder is a very big deal in Morris.

0:03WatchOct 8, 2017

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