48 Hours - Power and Passion

Episode Date: July 3, 2016

A powerful politician, a forbidden affair -- did he love her to death?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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Angel Downs first love was the beach. From the time we were kids, I think the beach was just always a part of her life. I'm Susan Bloodworth, Angel Downs' younger sister. Angel was a free spirit. She was very loving and caring. Angel was a beautiful person with a very, very big heart. Angel Downs was one of my best friends. My name is Stephen Nodine. I'm a former county commissioner in Mobile, Alabama,

a former city council member, and a political operative. We loved each other. We loved being around each other and I had a six-year affair with her while I was married. Stephen O'Donnell was a very well-liked politician. I'm Jack Tillman, former sheriff of Mobile County. He run with some pretty powerful people and apparently he had connections in Washington. When I first met him, he was very charming, very sweet, sweet to her. She fell for him.

She fell in love. But as time went on, she realized Stephen was not leaving his wife. Anytime she would try to end the relationship, he would get angry. Stephen O'Donnell had a double personality. One moment he was happy-go-lucky, but if you made him angry, he turned into a completely different person. I just asked her, I said, what is it going to take for you to leave him, for him to kill you?

I've never seen a violent side from him, never. 911, what is your emergency? Someone was being shot. Unit 501, female is laying on the ground, bleeding heavily. Gunshot wound to the head. Every bit of evidence showed it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. There was a red truck here, and he left very quickly. And I'm pretty sure the man's name

is Steven O'Donnell. I've been wrongfully accused of the murder of Angel Downs. There were several occasions where she said, I'm probably going to lose my life to him. There's a lot of theories out there, but I know that when I have to meet the Lord God Almighty, I can stand up there and say that I did not shoot, harm, hurt Angel Downs in any form or fashion. I was adamant. Her friends were adamant. We were all adamant it was not suicide. Stephen killed Angel.

I'm Richard Schlesinger. Tonight on 48 Hours, power and passion. 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 once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it.

It just happens to all of them. 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. Hot shot 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 Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defence 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 Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Angel Downs was hard to miss. Her friends joked about her startling good looks.

They called her Barbie. And her love of the beach kept her close to home in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We were best friends. We did everything together. Susan Bloodworth is Angel's younger sister. If you saw one of us, you saw both of us. We were just very tight, very close. Angel was 45.

She sold real estate in Gulf Shores and lived in one of those quiet subdivisions where nothing much ever happens. By all accounts, she was happy except when it came to affairs of the heart, emotionally and physically. She was born with a rare, life-threatening heart condition. May I ask about the heart condition? What was it? Thelma Hinckley is Angel's mother. Her heart was the size of a man 65 years old, and she was 18 months old when we discovered

that. Because of her heart trouble, Angel could never have children. Her animals were indeed her babies. Winston, her cat, now lives with Angel's sister Susan. He's all we have left of Angel. The emotional heartache in Angel Downs' life began on the beach. In 2004, she met Stephen Nodine on a weekend here centered around a storied local tradition called mullet toss. My God, you don't know what mullet toss is? I'm not from around here, sir. What is mullet toss? Mullet toss was an event.

We toss a dead mullet. One year it's from Alabama to Florida. Next year it's from Florida to Alabama. It's a beach party. It's a big fundraiser for the Marine Corps. One of my greatest assets was that I was a celebrity mullet tosser. Ladies and gentlemen, our celebrity tosser, Steve Nodine. Good fish. How'd you do? How far did you throw? 85. We were just down there having a good time, and we met through some friends and hit it off right away. Nodine had just been elected a county commissioner for Mobile County, Alabama.

He was also married, although he says the marriage was on the rocks. I lived in separate bedrooms with my wife for 14 years. He began an affair with Angel Downs, who lived 50 miles away in Gulf Shores. We spent the weekends on the beach, you know, down there playing frisbee or, you know, just enjoying ourselves. You didn't really keep this secret? No. I mean, you were seen in public with her all over the place.

Sure. Front of media. Yeah. Why did you do that? Just because I was arrogant. Right next to that big hole up there. That's where your office was? Yeah. He was also powerful, with powerful connections and the pictures to prove it.

There are only three county commissioners in Mobile. They control the money. Nodine built roads and parks and bridges. Once you meet Steve, he's such a dynamic personality. I mean, he just latches on to you, you know, and you don't forget him. Jack Tillman is the retired sheriff for Mobile County. So if I'd come down here in, say, 2007, 2008, and I mentioned the name Steve Nodine, what would people say? Oh, they thought he was a tremendous commissioner.

But now, as far as his personal life, I don't know. I didn't run with him in that way. We were political friends. When Nodine was running around with Angel Downs, her best friends, Emily Simmons and Kayla King Donald, saw them together frequently. He was very nice, very polite, very loud, attention getter, wanted attention. Life of the party. Everybody look at me. Did you like him? Yeah, I liked him. He was very nice. He just had that hold on her that I can't explain.

We wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We loved each other very much. They had their ups and downs and even broke up a few times. Angel didn't like the role of the other woman, and she insisted repeatedly that Nodyne, who was not just married, but was the father of a young son, get a divorce. Desperately, she wanted him to get a divorce. She was in love with him. And Nodine promised he would. About six months to a year into the relationship,

she started questioning why it was taking so long for the divorce to be final. And then he, probably about a year into it, told her that he'd never filed. How did she feel about that? Not very good. Do you understand why you didn't get divorced? Sure. I wanted everything. I wanted to have Angel. I wanted to have my family life to come back over here in Mobile. I wanted to escape to the beach when I could to live two different lives.

It all worked pretty well for Nodine for six years. Until May 9, 2010, Mother's Day. It was a beautiful day. Were you getting along? Absolutely. Angel looked very happy in photos taken just hours before she died. We had a normal day. I mean, no fighting, no arguing.

Until Nodine dropped Angel off at her house and left to go home to his wife. When we dropped each other off, and again, the comment was made to me that, oh, you're going back to your wife. I assumed she was pissed off. I more than likely said, I love you big. And then I left, got up the road, forgot my wallet. Nodine turned around and went back to Angel Downs' place. We rented a similar truck and retraced his steps.

When I came back to get my wallet, I parked parallel to her house. My radio was going, my stereo, and my air conditioner was going. Did you see her at all? When I came in to get my wallet, I came in and grabbed my wallet and left. And that's when this quiet subdivision suddenly stopped being

one of those places where nothing much ever happens. Before the gunshots, had you seen the truck here? Oh yeah, the truck's been here. Angel's neighbor, Roger Whitehead, who's a firefighter, will probably never forget that evening. I think there was a gunshot. Mr. Nodine was still here, and then he got in his truck and left. I did not shoot her. I did not harm her. She took her own life. She's not here to accept that responsibility.

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The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, 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. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story.

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story behind the bathroom mirror murder. Early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. We continue to follow some breaking news out of Baldwin County. Police say a woman was found shot to death last night at a condominium. Even before police had a solid theory about how Angel Downs ended up shot dead with her own gun in her driveway, DA Judy Newcomb was on the case. The sheriff called me about 11 30 and told me what had happened. Ma'am, if you would just step back, okay? Police in Gulf Shores, Alabama wear body cameras and they recorded the scene that night. I think they were still

examining the issues of whether it was a suicide or a homicide. Why weren't they sure? It's someone who shot in the head with their own gun, which statistically would be a suicide. And what everybody's first impression when they see it is, someone killed themselves. They had one still in the chamber and six left in a magazine. Her gun lay just inches away.

Did it ever cross your mind that this could have been a suicide? Never. Not one time. But Angel's closest friends and her family knew four years earlier she had tried suicide. Angel was going through a very difficult period. At that time, I think she realized Stephen was not leaving his wife. In 2006, she took an overdose of pills. How did you find out that she had taken all those pills? Well, in 2006, she actually called me to tell me she was sorry for what she had done. She was so sorry for ever hurting me. By continuing the relationship with Stephen Nodine. Right.

And that suicide attempt is just one fact that makes this case so hard to figure out. It obviously became a huge red flag immediately in May 2010. But her sister says Angel died with plans for the future. She was expected at a dinner party that night and had just made appointments for the following week. It looked nothing like suicide to Susan Bloodworth. If she was going to do it, she would do it peacefully. Take pills, go to sleep. Not take a gun and shoot yourself.

I hate to say, you know, she was vain, but Angel was vain. In the sense that she wouldn't want someone to see her that way. You know, to find her that way. She was found face up in a pool of blood in the middle of her driveway for all her neighbors to see. I had a neighbor come to my door. I lived just around the corner, and she told me someone had been shot, and she knew I was a nurse. Ann Myers came running. She knew right away what she was looking at.

I knelt beside her, and I did an assessment like I normally do. I looked at the wound and pretty much figured out it was a fatal shot. Stephen Nodine was nowhere to be found. Remember, he says he drove off moments earlier after getting his wallet from inside Angel's condo. And he says when he pulled away from her driveway, he saw nothing and heard nothing. My radio was going, my air conditioner was going,

somebody, you know, one of the people said it sounded like a firecracker. A horrible hearing to begin with. If I would have heard it, I would have known. If I would have seen her, I would have stopped and did everything I could to help her. A few hours later, Nodine got a call from a friend saying the police wanted to talk to him. So he called his lawyer. I said, what the hell's going on? And that's when he told me that there had been a shooting on Fort Morgan Road of a blonde-haired young lady. I immediately knew, obviously.

You knew? I didn't know really, but I had a horrible sinking feeling in my gut. Nodine went right to the police. How long were you there? Hours. Four hours. Four hours? Offered to take any test. How did they treat you? I mean, did you feel like you were a suspect?

No, absolutely not. But he was wrong. Authorities didn't believe his story about what really happened earlier at the condo and also questioned what really happened afterwards. He told them after leaving Angels, he first stopped at a convenience store where he's seen on surveillance tape. Then he went to this golf club, but it was closed. Next, he says he drove to one restaurant, changed clothes in his truck, but then decided that restaurant was too crowded and ended up again on tape at this restaurant nearby. And that's where you ate, didn't eat, drank some coffee, drank some water and watched

the game. The next morning, I received further calls from law enforcement. What were some of the things that had concerned the police? Well, I think the statement Mr. Nodine gave that night, I think the more they looked at the scene. Trucks been in and out here, you know what I'm saying? What they knew about the day, just different issues were concerning them. It was like the gunshot and he was pulling off. That, in fact, could be a homicide. And then things started moving more quickly than anyone had seen before.

Just two weeks after Angel's death, What have you been indicted for? Stephen Nodine was indicted for murder and arrested. The timing raised some eyebrows because D.A. Judy Newcomb was up for re-election, and Election Day was just days away. Nobody gets indicted on a murder charge two weeks after the murder. Dennis Knisely was Nodine's lawyer. He put it together with being eight days before the election.

It appeared to be not so much going after Steve, but an opportunity to have some high-profile prosecution immediately before the election. Did politics and your desire for re-election play any part in the way you handled this case? No. Not at all? Not at all. Most people know that I'm probably the least political person in Baldwin County. Did you ever think you'd find yourself in handcuffs, Steve? Nodine was pretty well known to the police, and not just because he was a public figure. In 2009, before Angel's death, traces of marijuana were found in Nodine's county-issued pickup truck. He was forced to resign. Nodine admits he smoked pot to control hip pain and later became addicted to prescription

painkillers. He got addicted to lower tabs and he was abusing them at the time of this arrest. Nodine's problems were piling up. Shortly after he was indicted for murder, prosecutors here in Alabama discovered he had guns. None of them had anything to do with Angel's death, but he was still charged under a seldom used federal statute for being a drug user who owned guns. I believe it was collusion between the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Baldwin County D.A. It was first things

first. The gun case would have to wait for the murder case, and it took seven months for that trial to begin. It had been probably the most publicized murder case in South Alabama in, you know, 50 or 100 years. Did you shoot your girlfriend in the head? Prosecutor Judy Newcomb was in the spotlight and on the spot. Prosecutor Judy Newcomb was in the spotlight and on the spot. Remember, she had no forensic evidence, nothing to physically tie Nodine to Angel Downs' death. But she told us she was ready for trial. Other than some of the big cases people do on television and a whole lot of cases that we do,

there's not a lot of forensic evidence. She'll get some help from Angel's friends and family who say Nodine could be not just controlling, but frightening. Her sister says he stalked Angel online and in person. He would do drive-bys. He would come by her home. He would send her text messages and say, I see someone's at your house. Who is it? He would leave notes on her car. Did you stalk Angel? Absolutely not. Even during these periods where you were fighting and all,

when you would break up, did you do anything that could be interpreted as stalking? No, not in any sense. Imaginary art, likewise. I mean, there's just no way. But Emily Simmons and Kayla King Donald say Angel told them Nodine beat her and pushed her several times. Nodine denies it all, and there were no police reports filed. But the friends say in the weeks before her death, Angel was getting more afraid of Nodine. She broke down in tears in her kitchen. And I said, why are you crying? And she said, he's not the same person I've known all these years, Emily.

He's changed. Just always know that if you ever find me dead, he killed me. I'm sorry? If you ever find me dead, he killed me. And the DA knew she could count on some powerful and chilling testimony about the last few moments of Angel Downs' life. Angel was obviously scared for her to pull her gun and call me and ask where to shoot someone. I think of Angel Downs every day. I think of her when I walk on the beach.

I think of her almost every chance I get. And that is something that I'll miss for the rest of my life. Prosecutors have spent seven months preparing the case against Stephen Nodine for murdering Angel Downs, and the trial is about to begin. He told me that he misses her every day and seemed to be crying. Seemed to be. I can't believe it. I don't believe it. I believe it's an act. He's a politician. Turn the waterworks on when you want to, you know, flip the switch. Nodine, the one-time county commissioner, was now a defendant in a murder

case, and his lawyer, Dennis Knisely, says that meant a big adjustment. It took a while for Steve to get out of the mentality and the mode of I'm a person in a position of authority into I'm a person charged with a crime, murder, and I'm fighting for my life. I'm used to being in control, but certainly I'm at a loss here of my destiny. His destiny would be determined by others, a judge and jury. What made me nervous leading up to the trial is that there was no smoke and gun. In December 2010, prosecutor Judy Newcomb opened her murder case against him, and she says there's plenty of circumstantial evidence, starting with the position of Angel Downs' body. The biggest thing that struck everyone as extremely strange is that

Angel's hair, literally her hair looked like it had been laid out, as opposed to someone falling back. And Ann Myers, Angel's neighbor, the retired nurse, thought so too. Her hair was just a perfect, like somebody combed it out like a halo, which I've never seen before, you know, in a trauma case. Newcomb's theory was if Angel had shot herself, she would have crumpled to the ground, and her hair would never have ended up arranged like that. To the DA, it looked as if someone had staged the scene. She tried demonstrating by falling backwards onto the floor herself,

right here in this courtroom. It would have been a dramatic moment for the prosecutor if only it had worked. Her hair flayed out exactly like Ms. Downs did. So showing it was not staged. It was just that's what happens when ladies with long hair fall back. You must have been quite pleased with the way that turned out. It

was a positive time for the defense there. A positive time? Yeah. It didn't come out as clearly as maybe you would have hoped. Clearly is the good word. Right. Yeah. But I do not think it was the failure that it was reported to be. Newcomb could still try to get the jury to focus on what happened just before and just after Angel's death.

That night, Angel called. It was Mother's Day. Angel's sister, Susan, got a call that evening from Angel, but she was busy and ignored it. And then she got a second call. All she said was, if someone's trying to break into your home, where do you shoot them? And I said, the chest, the largest part of the body. And I said, is it Stephen? She said, no, it's not Stephen.

But Susan feared the worst. And I said, if you can't tell me who it is over the phone, send me a text in case something happens. I know what's going on. Had she texted you? When I looked at my phone, I actually had a text from Angel that said, Stephen Nodine is here. My heart sank. Six to seven minutes later, we have a 911 call and she's dead. So what do you think happened that evening? I don't know. I've played it in all scenarios, but at the end of the day, I don't think she was the one that pulled the trigger. I don't know what happened. I don't know if she came out to threaten him with it and he turned it on her. There's only two people that know, and now only one.

So, exactly where was Nodine when the shot was fired? This man might well know. Roger Whitehead is the neighbor who lived across the street and a few houses down from Angel. He heard the shot, and as he told the police that night, he rushed outside. When the gunshot went off, I heard it. I stepped outside, and he was pulled off that way. It is a critical point in this case, because if Nodine's truck was still in front of Angel's house after the shot was fired, he would have been in a position to have killed her. And that's just where Whitehead told us he saw the truck making a U-turn, as we demonstrated.

He would have been coming out of the turn at an angle that was nearly directly facing me like this, and then proceeded to leave. facing me like this, and then proceeded to leave. But Nodine insists he left as he always did, by first driving all the way around this traffic island, as we did, then passing in front of Whitehead's condo on the way out. And he says he heard and saw nothing since his radio was playing, the air conditioner was on, and the windows were rolled up. So there's really two ways to get out of there.

You could have pulled around that end of the cul-de-sac, or you could have just made a U-turn. I know exactly what I did. I pulled around the cul-de-sac. That would mean that when the shot was fired, Nodine was more likely around here, hundreds of feet from Angel's driveway. around here, hundreds of feet from Angel's driveway. Nodine could be in trouble if the jury believes he was much closer to Angel's at the time of her death than he said. But he got a boost for his case that Angel shot herself

from the autopsy report, which listed a potent mix of drugs in her system at the time she died. When you have Ambien, and you have Xanaxx and you have Adderall and you have alcohol and you've got health issues, that just pushed her over the edge and she killed herself. No, you don't call and ask where to shoot someone who's trying to break into your house and then you're going to go and take pills and go shoot yourself in the driveway of your home? I mean, Angel was calling because someone was trying to get into her home. That someone was Stephen Nodine.

In most cases, the medical examiner's opinion helps jurors decide the manner of death. But this case isn't anything like most cases. In December 2010, when Stephen Nodine went on trial for murdering Angel Downs, Prosecutor Judy Newcomb knew this was a tough case. For starters, the state's own medical examiner could not settle on the circumstances of Angel Downs' death. There's no doubt that the fatal shot came from Angel's own gun, but that's about all that's clear in this case. Alabama medical examiner Eugene Hart came to this courtroom to testify for the prosecution. He's the one who performed the autopsy on Angel.

When he came to court, he said from a forensic pathologist standpoint, everything indicated it was suicide. But he didn't call it suicide? Didn't. He called it what? Inconclusive. Inconclusive, which could mean suicide, could mean homicide. Knisley says the prosecutor tried to influence Dr. Hart

into not calling Angel's death a suicide. Pressure would not be the word. It may have influenced him. Okay, influenced him? Well, pressure, it has a negative connotation of some maybe impropriety. But Newcomb says she just asked Dr. Hart to review the evidence. I never tried to influence his decision about a suicide. What we did try to say is we'd like you to really examine this case to see if you can reach a decision. Hart would not call it murder, so Newcomb called in another medical examiner from another state, Georgia. He did not examine Angel's body, but three months after her death, he did review crime scene photos and other evidence.

And when he rendered his opinion, it matched Newcomb's. His opinion was that it was a homicide. Homicide. So the jury heard two experts, both working for the prosecution, with two different opinions about how Angel Downs died. One said it was homicide. The other said he couldn't be sure, but it looked like suicide. The jurors also had to sort through different theories about how the gun was held to Angel's head. Angel would have had to be kind of cocked back like this,

the way the angle of the gun was, to commit suicide. And that's not natural, someone who's going to commit suicide. This was pressed so hard against her head, there was a muzzle imprint. Defense attorney Dennis Knisely thinks the evidence about the gun helps his client. So the gun was against her head like this. Right hand, gun exactly as you would expect the gun to be, up and slightly back, if it was a self-inflicted wound. The gun was laying down beside her body. There was absolutely no signs of struggle on her or him. There was no blood on his truck. There was no blood in his truck. There was no blood on him. There was no blood on his hands. There was no blood

on his clothing whatsoever. But no tests were required or done at that time for gunshot residue on either Nodine or Angel. And no fingerprints were found on Angel's gun. You had gloves on before you touched that, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, I did. They had taken the gun and they had tested the gun without testing it for fingerprints until it came back. The gun had already been handled by forensics and everything else and wiped down. That's why they didn't have any

fingerprints. All of that, plus Angel's previous suicide attempt, proves, says Knisley, that she shot herself. You're going to see blood down. Still, DA Judy Newcomb thinks given the strange stories Nodine told police and the allegations that he beat and stalked Angel, she's proved her case. I think the totality of all the circumstances, I mean, you know, unless you have a video of a crime, and, you know, in today's world, sometimes people think we should have a video of every crime. We have to apply our common sense and logic. And, you know, I support the case that we build against him.

Well, where do you live out here? Angel's neighbor, Roger Whitehead, the man who comes closest to being an eyewitness, is not so sure. If you were a juror, would you convict Stephen Nodine of murder? No, sir. Because? We're supposed to be convicted beyond a reasonable doubt, but I have no idea what transpired here that night. That was up to the jurors to decide.

They wrestled with the evidence for six hours and came back deadlocked on the murder charge. The judge had no choice. He had to declare a mistrial. We wanted to get a verdict and we're hoping to put this behind us now. I was disappointed that they weren't given a longer time to deliberate.

We wanted him to be found guilty of murder. We believe 100% it was murder. That he murdered her. Stephen Nodine was a free man, but only for four months. He agreed to plead guilty to that old federal gun charge, possessing a gun while using drugs. God will, God will show the way. And that put him away for a year in prison, while Alabama prosecutors decided whether to retry him for murder. That was now up to Hallie Dixon,

the newly elected district attorney who had defeated Judy Newcomb. And it was one tough call for her. The public had been completely convinced, completely convinced that this was a murder. I had law enforcement and a chief of police and investigators telling me that it wasn't a homicide, and that's tough. Dixon convened a new grand jury to examine the case. After hearing the evidence, there was a decision.

Stephen Nodine would not be charged with murder again. Our grand jury returned an indictment for criminally negligent homicide. In Alabama, that's not a felony. It's a misdemeanor that says Nodine was partially responsible for Angel Downs' death. That but for him that night, that day, she would still be alive. And that was the question. It's not a matter of proving suicide. It's a matter of proving whether or not there was a homicide.

It's a matter of proving whether or not there was a homicide. And when I have no evidence, physical evidence, that is consistent with somebody else being the trigger person, then as a prosecutor, I don't bring a case on that. There we are. There's the whole family. Angel's family was furious that Dixon was not refiling a murder charge against Nodine. I think Hallie Dixon sabotaged the case. That's exactly what I think happened. They would not rest. And we were ready to go through another trial, no matter how hard, no matter how difficult it is. Angel's dead. Angel can't speak. You know, we're the only people who can push for her. So they went over Dixon's head.

They appealed to the Alabama Attorney General and demanded a special prosecutor. They won. A special prosecutor was named, took the case away from Dixon, and decided to retry Stephen Nodine for murder. And how did you feel then? We were elated. We were like, thank God, you know, hopefully, you know, finally maybe we can get justice and, you know,

get somebody who's going to take this case and move forward with it. I just hope that there's peace for everyone. We can move on with our lives. Once again, Stephen Nodine finds himself in a familiar place, a courthouse. And this time, he isn't just asking for help from his lawyer. We pray for real fairness and compassion that Steve, O Lord, now will be able to put this behind him in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Lord.

But Susan Bloodworth thinks his attention should be directed elsewhere. I say that Stephen O'Dine is on track for a one-way ticket to hell, and that's honestly where I'd like to see him. But in this case, neither side's prayers were answered. Special Prosecutor David Whetstone was set to try Nodine again for murder, but they were all in court because there was a change in plans. There was a plea deal and a remarkable admission from the special prosecutor. Did we have proof beyond a reasonable doubt? No. And that was the basis of the plea. A sudden turn today in the Steve Nodine murder case. After more than two years of trying to convict Stephen Nodine of killing Angel Downs,

the state of Alabama dropped the murder charge and a stalking charge. In return, Nodine pled guilty to a much less serious charge, perjury for lying on a legal form. He also agreed to plead no contest to a charge. He harassed Angel Downs with emails and text messages. So you got what a lot of people might consider a pretty good deal. Do you think it's a good deal? No. Why?

Because I was innocent of all the charges. He was ordered to spend two years in jail, and even then he was just barely incarcerated. He spent nights and weekends in the county jail. He spent his days working for his lawyer. It was a far cry from his one-time high-flying, high-powered life. What do you do here? What's your job? Manage the office. It's a different life than you were used to, but do you like it?

No. What would you rather be doing? I'd rather be back in politics and working to help shape some of the future of South Alabama like I was before. But that will have to wait. Nodine's only real responsibility now is to be sure he makes it across the street, to the jail, every evening, and on time. Angel's family had been hoping for a lot more. He got off very lightly.

Special treatment. He got special treatment. It goes back to politics. Stephen's a politician. You know, he's very persuasive. What sentence should he have gotten? There's no sentence good enough for him. There is nothing that will ever bring Angel back.

She's gone. I think he should have been sentenced for murder. We have to accept what happened and move on. That was Angel's graduation picture. Angel's family will move on, but they will carry with them a grudge against DA Hallie Dixon, who declined to prosecute Nodine for murder. She's got a lot of similarities with Steve and Nodine. You know, the two would

make a great couple. No family wants to believe that their loved one killed themselves. That family has the additional pressure of they're very strong in their faith. And I think there are religious reasons for some folks that suicide is unacceptable. Show us the proof. Show us the documentation. We have a hard time accepting what Hallie Dixon did to this case. There's absolutely no way that Mr. Nodine could have shot, staged a crime scene, and still been blood-free and speeding off within the seconds that were talked about. Dixon says a lot of people would get the answers they still seek had she been allowed to prosecute Nodine even for the misdemeanor, criminally negligent homicide. The way it went down,

I think it has left people going, what happened? What happened? What happened? And it was a little frustrating for me because if it had gone to trial, the truth would be there. had gone to trial, the truth would be there. Almost everyone is frustrated with the way this case turned out, but perhaps no one is more dissatisfied than Angel Downs' family. They are still hoping for answers from Stephen Nodine. It's hard to not know him unless he tells what really happened that night. What really happened that night. Stephen Nodine ended up back behind bars full-time when he violated the terms of his work release program, mainly by missing his curfew.

In October 2014, having served his two years, Nodine was released from jail. His wife had divorced him, but he was reunited with his son. STEPHEN NODINE, son I'm gonna spend time with my son I have to find a job I'm hoping people realize that people make mistakes in their lives and have forgiveness as I forgive those who wrongfully prosecuted me no dine was arrested just before Christmas for Lee didn't take long before no dine ended up back in court again. This time, he violated the terms of his probation.

He left the state without permission and failed a drug test. Nodine pled guilty. His probation was revoked, and he was sentenced to 60 days behind bars. And that was probably the end of Stephen Nodine's hope for a return to local politics. He's back out of jail, but unable to find a job in Mobile. So Nodine decided to move to Florida. Nodine is on supervised probation until October 2017.