48 Hours - My Mother's Murder

Episode Date: October 2, 2016

A blockbuster new twist upends the case against a young woman charged with killing her mother.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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What's the problem? Something's not working. My mom is bleeding. It was put everywhere. Did you see what happened? No. I just got home. She was on the floor, not responding. Is she breathing?

No, she's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing.

She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not responding. Is she breathing? No, she's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's not breathing.

My name is Sergeant Tim Heldorfer with the Memphis Police Department. The individual who attacked Jennifer went down the hallway, got into the bedroom, they stood over her. Started stabbing her. This was absolutely a very violent scene.

I need an ambulance. I need an ambulance right now. It's on the line. Don't hang up. Ambulance came. They went in with the stretcher. The stretcher came back out so quickly, and no one was on it. I yelled at them, go back. Please go back. It's the last time I saw my mom.

You don't really want that to be your last image of the person you love the most. Her mom was her world. That's all she had. Nora's father was murdered 15 months prior to her mother's death. He was shot to death inside his business. To this date, it's unsolved. Oh my God, this child, just her father was murdered, and here we are again. What in the hell?

A single mother, doing her best to raise Nora. Making good money. Incredibly friendly towards everybody. She was so beautiful, you know. How can this beautiful person be gone? We followed the leads that we were able to follow. And we interviewed a lot of people. We can't explain Nora away. When I first heard Nora was a suspect, I thought, you've got to be kidding me.

She's the last person they should take a look at. Nora adored her mother. She's the last person they should take a look at. Nora adored her mother. Nora hated her mother. There is no doubt. I don't care how you add it up. You've got to go back and take a look at who killed Nora's father. And then you might find out who killed Jennifer.

I didn't do this. I love my mom. I'm Richard Schlesinger. Tonight on 48 Hours... My mother's Murder. Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen

some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet.

A brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans,

discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Jennifer was probably one of the warmest, most engaging, beautiful, inside and out people I've ever known. Jennifer Jackson had no shortage of friends, and Susan Tobey was one of the closest. When you got around Jennifer, you felt their energy, and Susan Tobey was one of the closest. When you got around Jennifer, you felt their energy, and their energy was positive. Jennifer was 39, divorced, and raising her 18-year-old daughter Nora in Memphis. Nora was the light of her life.

When you have a single-parent family, the bond is closer. It's not just your mom. I played basketball for my church, and I remember, like, you know, I'd be like, Mom, you don't have to come to the game because woo-hoo, nor, you know, and it just was so embarrassing. But, you know, it was just my mom. Like most single mothers, Jennifer was a juggler, managing her jobs as a parent and as a bond trader, and she seemed successful at both. She was the person who absolutely did it all. She made sure that life was as good as it could be.

Didn't have any siblings, which sometimes makes you a little bit more spoiled. Were you a little spoiled? A little spoiled, yes. Not, I wouldn't say rotten, but... You had stuff. Stuff, yes. Big birthday parties, you know, themes, mom dressing up. You smile when you talk about it. You have good memories?

Mm-hmm. But Nora has a few too many memories. After seeing her mother the night she was murdered. There was blood everywhere. I guess that's basically the thing that sticks with me. I guess the only thing that was on my mind was that I needed help. Nora ran to a neighbor for help and then made that frantic call to 911. My mom is bleeding.

Is she breathing? No, she's not breathing. She's not breathing. Police raced to the Jackson home. Sergeant Tim Heldorfer was one of the first to go inside. I'll always remember this case just because of how savage it was. He found Jennifer Jackson naked and bloody and dead. But she was just riddled with wounds. Her body was lying at the foot of the bed.

This was absolutely, no doubt, a very violent scene. The blood cast off all over the sheets. It was a bloody scene. A coroner found no evidence of a sexual attack, but said Jennifer had been stabbed more than 50 times. It goes into what we would categorize as rage killing. Whoever killed Jennifer Jackson put a wicker basket over her head. It sounds strange, but Heldorfer says he's seen that kind

of thing before. Who puts a basket over somebody's face? Somebody who doesn't want to look at the face. Somebody who's close to the victim. A stranger wouldn't do that. And there was other evidence that the killer knew Jennifer. Broken glass from a door between the kitchen and the garage. At first glance, it could have been the way an intruder broke into the house. But something about that door didn't look right to Heldorfer. If you wanted to break into a kitchen through the door, the obvious point would be right down here where the knob and the lock is. Up here made no sense.

A second look revealed a second lock much closer to the broken pane. There is a hidden hinge lock that is right here on the door frame, but you couldn't see that from outside. Why is that important? Somebody had to know this lock was here. And what's more, all the outside doors leading into the garage were locked. So you couldn't have gotten to that door in the kitchen from the outside? Absolutely not.

And it looked to me it was staged. That was the first thing I thought, this looks staged. Police were still in the house when news of Jennifer's murder spread to family and friends Including Renee McMillan I just pretty much sat on the floor and cried so hard that, I mean, I can barely remember I fell to my knees. It was horrible. Who would want to kill her? Ansley Larson got to know Jennifer when their kids started dating, and she thought she had the answer right away.

The truth is, the first thing I thought of was him. Was? Mark. was him. Was? Mark. Mark Irvin is a Methodist minister who Jennifer dated around the time of her murder. There seems to be a seething, like a real underlying anger with him that he appears to be a very controlling person. Memphis detectives Lieutenant Mark Miller and Sergeant W.D. Merritt found out that Mark Irvin had called Jennifer the night of her murder. Did you like him as a suspect? I think the common thought was, man, that guy likes to talk a lot.

And he just kept coming back, and he just kept calling. You can look at it two ways. Either it's an honest interest, concern, or he did it and wants to know what we know. Irvin had an alibi of sorts. He told police he was asleep at the time of the murder at his house in Jackson, 90 minutes away from Jennifer's. If you're asleep, you're asleep.

If you're at home by yourself, alone, how can that be proven or disproven? Police in Jackson interviewed him and found no evidence implicating him in Jennifer's murder. You keep him on the back burner and keep going forward with the case. And by now, police already had another suspect. Just another picture of the bedroom. Everything pointed towards her. Someone who happened to have a cut on her left hand.

Nora Jackson, Jennifer's 18-year-old daughter. They're painting me like, gosh, I don't know, a monster, a wild child, a raving drug addict. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn. And it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still

have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction.

Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman,

the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. Hours after the discovery of Jennifer Jackson's bloody body, police started wondering about her 18-year-old daughter, Nora, and exactly how she injured her left hand. She had a bandage on her hand. Could you see any blood or any... It had not bled through, because all I saw was just the top of it,

and no, I did not see any actual blood. Sergeant Connie Justice was the first officer to interview Nora. bled through because all I saw was just the top of it and no, I did not see any actual blood. Sergeant Connie Justice was the first officer to interview Nora. Nora told her she cut her hand at a community festival the night before the murder. Do you remember how you cut it? Yeah, there were some broken beer bottles and I slipped and I fell. We had been drinking that night, slipped and fell, and cut it. But to Lieutenant Mark Miller and Sergeant W.D. Merritt, Nora's explanation only raised more questions. How do you fall on a bottle? With the back of your hand.

Like that? I mean, it would be very difficult to do. Didn't make any sense. But it wasn't just the cut. Lieutenant Miller also thought something was odd about the way Nora was dressed early that June morning. She had on a long-sleeved shirt, which seemed kind of strange because it was, you know, June in Memphis isn't exactly a cool month, so. Lieutenant Miller wondered if Nora was trying to conceal that cut. I was in long sleeves a lot, even on the beach. Sometimes I would be in long sleeves. You might see someone in a bikini or a T-shirt, and I might have on something that was long sleeve.

It's just the way I dressed. Memphis PD started asking Nora's neighbors and friends about her relationship with her mother. And that's when Sergeant Heldorfer started hearing about the fights. Nora and her mother had problems. Nora wanted to be an adult on her own. hearing about the fights. Nora and her mother had problems. Nora wanted to be an adult on her own, and Jennifer was trying to straighten her out. And just hours before Jennifer was killed, one of Nora's friends said she heard her say,

my mom's a bitch and needs to go to hell. I heard a lot of concern from Jennifer about, I don't know what to do. Susan Tobey said Jennifer had confided in her. She's not going to school, and I don't know what else to do. It was a mother who was absolutely frustrated. But she says Jennifer was reluctant to discipline her daughter. I think there's a certain amount of guilt that comes with being a single parent, and it causes you maybe to be a little easier on children than you might ordinarily be. But in the months leading up to the murder,

Susan says Jennifer had finally decided to crack down on Nora. To detectives, that sounded a lot like a possible motive for a teenager used to having her way. She didn't want to be reined in. She wanted her freedom. What teenager doesn't want freedom and what teenager hasn't fought with, even cursed, apparent? Happens all the time, but police thought this became much more. They thought this was a case of matricide, the murder of a mother by her own child. And Nora's activities the night of the murder just added to their suspicions. Police believe Jennifer Jackson was killed here between 1 and 3 a.m., and Nora's friends say they last saw her at a party around midnight.

So where was she later? I don't think to this day we know exactly what she did. But little they do know came from Nora's statement to Sergeant Connie Justice. She said she purchased some cigarettes. She said she rode around. But there was one stop Nora failed to mention. Where did she go that she didn't tell you? She went to a Walgreens and purchased some medical care products. Police learned about her trip to Walgreens when they found a bag filled with first aid products in Nora's car.

Bandages, peroxide, things you would use to clean up a cut. After the bag was found, Sergeant Merrick took it to a nearby Walgreens to check the sales records. I asked the manager if we could review her video surveillance system, and lo and behold, here comes Nora walking in the Walgreens. Nora admits she bought those things to treat the cut she says she got the night before the murder. But police thought Nora was behaving as though the cut was fresh. She asked for a paper towel

to dab her bleeding wound. Nora can be seen on the store video taking the paper towel from the clerk. Did you think in your mind, bingo, gotcha? I knew it was a very important piece of evidence. Police also examined Nora's cell phone records and noticed a pattern they thought was suspicious. Nora seemed to live on her phone, but that night, between 1 and 3 a.m., there was nothing. between 1 and 3 a.m., there was nothing.

That cell phone was nonstop, except for a limited time frame, which we feel was when the murder took place. So what do you think happened? I think they had a confrontation verbally earlier, and that was it. She just went crazy. Not losing her mind, but that rage, you know, She just went crazy. Not losing her mind, but that rage, you know, it just kicked in. Detectives believe by now, Nora, having just committed a savage murder, coldly and methodically started cleaning up and concocting her cover-up.

I'm sure there was serious panic. She's got to figure out what to do now. By 3 a.m. The cell phone cranked back up again. Nora is on the phone again, calling friends. And not just calling, Nora also drove to a friend's house. She had an alibi. She had somebody who had seen her.

Heldorfer believes Nora then headed back home, ran to her neighbor, and called 911. Is she breathing? No, she's not breathing. She's not breathing. And in the process, she may have dropped one more clue. The 911 call taker asked Nora, has your mother been shot? Was anyone shot? No! She said no. And? How was she going to know that? I don't think the average person under those bloody conditions could tell whether or not those were knife wounds or gunshot wounds. She was adamant it was no.

Detectives now have their theory that Nora is the killer. But there's one big problem. Make that a huge problem. Was there any DNA, any blood, any fingerprints from Nora at that crime scene? No. But there was DNA from someone else at the crime scene. We know that there was some unknown DNA

that was on a bed sheet. Could have been skin, it could have been sweat. Were you ever able to find out whose DNA that was? No, we were not. The only thing they can say for sure is it's not Jennifer's, and it is not Nora's. I think we know who did it. We just have to find them. For more of Nora's 911 call, go to 48hours.com.

There's no way that Nora Jackson could have done that to anybody. And never to her mother. She loved her mother. I've never had a case where a daughter killed a mother. 18 years old, you know, you don't want to think that, but who else is there? Even though police have almost no scientific evidence against her, they are convinced Nora hated her mother, snapped that night, and killed her in a fit of rage. I think the biggest concern everybody had was we don't have the eyewitness,

we don't have the smoking gun, and we didn't have the DNA. But what we had was a lot better than what we didn't have. Three and a half months after Jennifer Jackson was stabbed to death in her bedroom, police finally arrested her daughter. The charge? First-degree murder. My grief was interrupted because you get arrested and you have your back up against the wall. You're constantly having to explain, I didn't do this, I didn't do this. You don't have time to grieve. You have to defend yourself.

Nora insists police have her relationship with her mother all wrong. There was a good report there. I felt comfortable with allowing my mom to know whatever was going on in my life. I didn't, we didn't have secrets and it was a two-way street. Nora's supporters, mothers who knew Jennifer as well, say Nora was a devoted, loving daughter. Ansley Larson. I don't know a whole lot of 16-year-olds that will cancel their plans to hang out with their mother. Mom needs me. There she'd go.

Dana Frederick's daughter was Nora's best friend, and Dana says Nora practically lived with her. Had there been a darker side to Nora, I would have picked up on it. Something would have raised a red flag to me, and there were no red flags ever. But Nora doesn't just need good friends anymore. She needs a good lawyer, and Memphis defense attorney Valerie Corder has taken her case for free. Ms. Jackson wasn't shot. Ms. Jackson was stabbed over 50 times. It's very difficult to believe that her teenage daughter could have wanted her dead, much

less have committed the crime. Valerie Corder will argue the very evidence police say proves Nora is a killer may actually prove she's not, especially this photo of the cut. What was significant, in my opinion, about that photograph is the pristine nails. Her nails? My client's nails were not bloody. They were not torn. They were not chipped.

They looked as if she had been handling paper instead of committing a brutal crime. She had been handling paper instead of committing a brutal crime. And Valerie Corder believes other pictures the police took within days of the murder might also prove Nora's innocent. She's photographed from head to toe, and there are no injuries. There are no bruises. It doesn't appear that she was in hand-to-hand combat. It doesn't appear that she was in hand-to-hand combat. If this was such a violent struggle,

wouldn't you have expected Nora to have more wounds on her? No, because Nora had the weapon and she was the offender. Jennifer was totally defensive, trying to block. She wasn't trying to attack. But Corder says that doesn't explain away the cops' big problem, why they didn't find any blood or DNA evidence linking Nora to the crime. So rarely is a teenager accused of such a horrific crime with such a paltry amount of evidence. Remember, police confirmed that DNA found on Jennifer's bedsheets was not Nora's, but they were never able to identify it. That DNA could have been on the sheets for any length of time. It's a nagging

question. Oh, absolutely. Police never found the murder weapon or the bloody clothes Nora would have been wearing if she did this. And there's more evidence that Valerie Corder says raises serious doubt about Nora's guilt. When Jennifer's body was found on the floor here in this bedroom, she was clutching some strands of hair in her hand. A preliminary examination showed the hair might be Jennifer's, but did not appear to be Nora's. Police were so confident in their case, they didn't do any further tests on the hair, which Valerie Corder argues could very well be the killer's.

We do not know whose hair it was. Should we have tested the hair, hindsight being 20-20? Yeah, we probably could have. But gee whiz, who's in her? Who's in her hand? Like you said, hindsight's 20-20. When the scientific evidence excluded Nora Jackson as the assailant, it was ignored. Nora's supporters also can't believe police dismissed what could be an obvious answer to the question about who killed Jennifer. Nora's father had been killed less than a year and a half earlier.

What if whoever had murdered him had struck again? Nobody was really working on solving what happened to Nazmi. Nazmi Hazania and Jennifer had divorced shortly after Nora was born. Police thought he might be involved in prostitution and or drug trafficking. He did some things that if we had known about it, he would have been arrested. But he was shot dead in the convenience store he owned in a rough part of town. He was shot just out of range of the security camera. Police called it an assassination.

From watching the videotape of the murder, this was not a robbery. The person that murdered him was looking for something specifically in his office. Police never caught the killer. After Nozme's murder, Jennifer took control of his estate. And Renee McMillan wonders if Jennifer may have unwittingly become a target of Nazmi's enemies. Who's to say that he didn't owe somebody money and they felt that Jennifer may have the money that they're looking for? We looked over the case and read over the case, but could not make any type of connection. I think Memphis Police Department was feeling the heat.

I think they wanted a quick fix. Nora was a scapegoat. It's just like a witch hunt. They turned her into a witch. I took off out the front door running across the street. Then I cocked my weapon and I turned the corner. And the bed was covered in blood. And there she was.

Blood all over her. She's dead. She's been murdered. Almost four years after her mother, Jennifer, was murdered, Nora Jackson's trial is finally underway. She's now 21 years old, facing a first-degree murder charge and the possibility of life in the penitentiary. No one wants to say the words that a daughter could kill her mother. Amy Weirich was the prosecutor. Had you ever had a case of matricide before? Never.

Someone murdered their mother? No. I have been told that it is very rare. In fact, it could hardly be rarer. Less than 2% of all the murders in America are matricides, and of those, just a fraction is committed by daughters. There will be signs that you can't ignore. Weyrich has to convince the jurors that this is one of those all-but-unheard-of cases. That defendant killed her mother with premeditation.

But if the jury is looking for much forensic evidence against Nora, Weirich is in a lot of trouble. DNA evidence is essential to solving crime. Yes, it is. Defense attorney Valerie Corder. Within all the items that you tested, the pillows, the pillowcases, the sheets, the light switch, on none of those items did you find Nora Jackson's blood or DNA of any kind. No, I did not.

The state's theory was never, let's draw conclusions from the unalterable scientific facts. Let's construct a case based upon a teenager's behavior. As the state presents its case, Nora sits quietly in the court alone. Not one member of her family stands by her side. In fact... You recognize her? Who is she?

It's my sister. Cindy Idson is Jennifer's sister, one of Nora's aunts, and a witness for the prosecution. I had a lot of conversations with Jennifer and the problems that she... She tells the jury that Jennifer and Nora had a heated argument about Nora's drug use and party lifestyle just one week before the murder. Jennifer said, you can go to boarding school or you can move out. I'm sick of it.

You're 18 years old and you're still in 11th grade and partying all the time and you've got and i just had it jennifer and nora nora's uncle testifies that right before the murder nora seemed unusually interested in what she might inherit if jennifer died jennifer got on the subject about having nor well taken care of. If something happened to her, that Nora was on the life insurance policy. How did it come up? Nora asked Jennifer how it all worked. How convenient for me to be asking about life insurance a week before my mother's murder. I don't know.

Are you calling your uncle a liar? Yes. And that's hard to do because I really I love him. And her friends weren't doing Nora much good either. Kirby McDonald was the teen who said she overheard

Nora curse her mother at a party just hours before the murder. Nora said my mom's a bitch and she needs to go to hell. Nora told police that she drove around after that party and didn't get home until 5 a.m. But prosecutors say phone records show Nora was in her home around the time of the murder.

When you checked your cell phone, what did you find? I had a voicemail and a missed call. Nora's friend, Clark Schifani, testified that at about 1 a.m., he got a call from the Jacksons' house phone. Seconds later, another call, this time from Nora's cell phone. I think she accidentally picked up the house phone and realized, hey, I'm not supposed to be here, let's hang this up, and then turned right back around and called him from her cell phone.

That's odd. Well, it's odd for someone that's claiming they were never never at home but most of the prosecution's case is based on what nora did after the murder 283 like that early morning trip to walgreens why is she at walgreens buying liquid bandages and hydrogen peroxide at 10 after 4 in the morning? And why is she not telling anybody about it? She said, my mom, my mom, somebody's breaking into my house. Joe Cock lived across the street. Nora woke him at 5 a.m. after the murder. I reached up in my closet and grabbed my pistol. He ran with Nora back to her house. and grabbed my pistol. He ran with Nora back to her house. And Nora went in in front of me.

She went in right in front of me, you know, and I found that odd because somebody was breaking into this house. Sergeant Tim Heldorfer thought that was odd, too. If someone's in the house, why would you run back in? Let the man with the gun go in first. She led the way. In the early hours of the investigation, Jennifer's friend, Genevieve Dix, noticed that Nora was acting strangely. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her, and she just stood there. She had her sweatshirt pulled down like this to her knuckles.

Prosecutors argue that Nora was trying to cover up that cut on her hand. And every time anybody's around her for the days later, she's wearing long sleeves and it's 600 degrees outside, and she's hiding it. Why? Remember, Nora says she got that cut the day before the stabbing. But several of Nora's friends saw her at that party just hours before the murder. Do you recall seeing a cut on any of her hands that night?

No, sir. No, sir. Or a bandage on her hand? No. And witnesses say as time went on, Nora told several different stories about how she cut her hair. She said that she cut it on a beer bottle at Italian Fest. She told me that her cat was stuck in the garage and she cut it trying to get the cat out of the garage. She's the greatest.

Any doctor would tell you that was a burn. I burned it cooking macaroni and cheese. Did you tell other people different stories about how you cut your hand? No. What I told the police is what happened. Forensic evidence doesn't lie. None of Nora's DNA is at the scene. Nora's defense attorney, Valerie Corder, challenges almost every detail of the state's case,

including how investigators handled that hair found in Jennifer's hand. And did you analyze the loose hair from the right hand? No, I did not. Did you analyze from the victim's left hand? No, I did not. And you spent less time than that in Mrs. Jackson's bedroom where she...

And quarter-hammers crime scene investigator David Payment for almost two days. You are a trained crime scene investigator. The property was not taped off. We're running this crime scene. You didn't take any casts. He lifts. Suggesting he overlooked evidence pointing to someone else.

And you didn't take any close-up photographs of any of those, did you? No, ma'am. What is that in the entry hall? It's a cat, isn't it? Oh, yes, it is. So a cat walked around the crime scene while you were in charge of it? Yes, ma'am. Porter clearly wants the jury to conclude that the police bungled this investigation right from the start.

The cat may have left trace evidence. The cat may have digested evidence. Sir, do you solemnly swear or affirm? And now the jury is about to hear from Jennifer's ex-boyfriend. It was not unusual for y'all to fight and break up. Whose relationship with Jennifer might have been just as volatile as Nora's. Just going to dinner in the late afternoon, and I said, Jennifer, you're so controlling.

She became infuriated and said, I'm leaving As Nora Jackson's murder trial winds down Jennifer's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Pastor Mark Irvin, takes the stand He was the most controlling, manipulative person that I have ever met in my whole entire life And he scared me During this point, were you broken up? We were. But in a move that surprised some, it was the prosecutor who called Irvin,

hoping to dispel any suspicions about his involvement in Jennifer's murder. Had it been in a violent breakup? Not in any way. And that's the truth. And that's the truth. Irvin admits on the night of the murder, he called Jennifer. But he claims he was at home 90 minutes away. Before I even possibly even heard it ring, I just said, it's too late to call. So, he says, he hung up and went to sleep. Mr. Irvin said that he was asleep until 7 a.m. in the morning.

There's no verification of that. Do you think he's a viable suspect? I think he was an unusual man. Everyone agrees that Jennifer's relationship with him was quite turbulent. So y'all had communication problems, correct? Yes. On cross-examination, Corder tries to make what she can out of the problems in the relationship. So y'all didn't have violent arguments regularly?

But in the end, nothing comes out at trial that links Mark Irvin to Jennifer's murder. Nobody had any reason to believe that he was responsible for this. And after nine days, the prosecution rested Nora never testified

The state's called all the defense witnesses, Your Honor, and we will rest And Valerie Corder believed the state's case was so weak She decided to rest without calling any witnesses There was never any testimony about the murder of Nora's father. If the state hasn't met their burden of proof, of proving this is the crime that was committed and this is the person that committed it, there is no defense to be put on.

For Nora, everything is now riding on Valerie Corder's closing argument. The brutal, ugly truth is this was a brutal, ugly crime. And a brutal, ugly, incompetent investigation. Let's put everything on this side of the courtroom that does not indicate Nora Jackson killed her mother. Basket, pillow, comforter. None of Nora Jackson's blood. Step stool, bag, another pillow. Bottom sheet. Hoodie. None of Nora Jackson's blood. Ladies and gentlemen, we ask you to return

the only verdict that the real evidence justifies, and that's not guilty of any charge. But Amy Weirich has the last word and she reminds the jury of that one burning question from the night of the murder that remains unanswered. Just tell us where you were. That's all we're asking, Nora. Weirich tries to convince the jury one last time that despite the lack of forensic evidence, this is one of the rarest of murders, that a daughter stabbed her mother to death. And there's one picture that keeps playing over and over and over in your head. You know the picture I'm talking about? It's the picture of an 18-year-old enraged, out of control Nora Jackson

snapping. It is the perfect storm that has brewed. It is the volcano that has erupted. It is the spring that has sprung. As the jury files out, Nora knows what's at stake. I'm so scared. Nora knows what's at stake. I'm so scared. So who is Nora Jackson? An innocent girl? Or a savage killer capable of stabbing her own mother to death and then lying about it? Bring Ms. Jackson out, please. It took nine hours for the jury to decide.

All right, verdict reads as follows. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of second-degree murder as included in the indictment. Guilty of second-degree murder. As hard as it's been for them, it's the word Jennifer's family had waited to hear. The word Nora dreaded. The police were hoping for first degree. You disappointed?

Sure. I thought it was a first degree murder. I think one or two just couldn't sentence an 18-year-old kid to jail for the rest of her life. Nora was sentenced to 20 years and nine months. And to this day, she insists she is innocent. In the morning when I wake up in a cell, and you have to remind yourself why you're here, my mother said, you can't help but relive it every morning when you wake up.

Of course, almost all murders leave questions in their wake, but this one, a daughter convicted of matricide, has left even more frightening ones. I shudder to imagine what that would be like to know that your attacker might well have been your daughter. I cannot imagine what that did to her spirit. We lost our friend. She lost her mother. Everyone lost. After Nora Jackson spent almost a decade in prison, the Tennessee Supreme Court granted

her a new trial. To my knowledge, there has never been a case in the state of Tennessee in which a conviction has been reversed for two episodes of constitutional misconduct. The court said the prosecution withheld evidence from her defense team and violated her right to remain silent in their closing arguments. Just tell us where you were. That's all we're asking, Nora. With a second trial looming, the prosecution shocked everyone by offering Nora an unusual plea deal to a reduced charge, voluntary manslaughter. She was allowed to use a rare legal procedure called an Alford plea, where a defendant proclaims innocence and yet pleads guilty Nora accepted the deal her attorney Michael working is an incredible thing that she's asked to do today but frankly it's Nora's position that she doesn't have any more faith in the justice system Nora's sentence was

reduced to 15 years but with time served and credit for good behavior she would walk free in just over one year. To be offered an opportunity to to walk free without going through a second trial when one has lost confidence in the system was simply an offer that was too good to pass up. 8.30 this morning in her blue... In August 2016, Nora Jackson, who is 29 years old, walked out of prison still proclaiming her innocence. The prosecutors in this case deceived the judge, my lawyers,

and the jury by hiding very important evidence. This should never be allowed. Just one month later, disciplinary proceedings began against the two prosecutors in her case. On her Facebook page, Nora thanks those that stood by her, and she vows to pressure the state of Tennessee to find her mother's real killer. to see to find her mother's real killer. Nora Jackson is in a legal battle with some of her family over her mother's one and a half million If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.