48 Hours - The Mystery of the Slide Mountain

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

A June 1, 1998 car accident on Slide Mountain, near Reno, Nev., led to the death of Rinette Riella Bergna and left the driver, Rinette’s husband Peter, with only minor injuries. Bergna, who said he loved his wife despite marital difficulties, claimed that he had struggled to control the vehicle and remembered nothing of the accident. But Rinette’s family and the Nevada police had doubts about Bergna’s story. “48 Hours" correspondent Susan Spencer reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 8/12/2002. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.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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Eleven years of marriage suddenly ended by a terrible tragedy. What really happened on Slide Mountain? 48 hours, right now. It was a deadly crash on Slide Mountain. Why is it still in the vehicle? It ended an 11-year marriage. She my partner she was my best friend she meant the world to us peter who was driving was lucky he escaped serious injury i don't remember anything of it at all but was it really luck common sense alone tells me that this was not an accident

two years later he's charged with murder he came up here with the sole purpose of murdering his wife. Susan Spencer investigates. Were you angry with her? I was upset with her. And just six weeks after his wife was killed... He said, come over and sit in the jacuzzi. Was it a tragic accident? There was no evidence.

Or was it murder? If I was going to kill somebody, this would be a perfect place to do it. Do you feel persecuted? I feel persecuted. It's a conspiracy. The Mystery of Slide Mountain. What happened when a pickup truck went careening down a dark mountain road with deadly results? Can the police prove murder? They were husband and wife, seeing each other for the first time in more than a month.

Heading home when their vehicle plunged over a cliff. The husband, he was driving, is hurt but not seriously. His wife is killed in the crash. Almost from that very moment, there is suspicion of foul play. Still, two years would pass before the husband, Peter Bergner, would be charged with murder. A tough charge to prove, especially given the passage of time and mostly circumstantial evidence. No one else was there when Renette lost her life, no one but her husband. Susan Spencer investigates what happened at midnight on Slide Mountain. We were just a normal couple that just loved each other and loved to be together and loved to travel and do things.

I don't get it. Peter Bergna's life is normal no more. The night this all happened, tell me what happened. You went to the airport to pick her up. I went to the airport to go pick her up. A few hours before midnight, June 1, 1998, 45-year-old antiques dealer Peter Bergna drives to the airport in Reno, Nevada, to pick up his wife, Renette, a trip he'd made many times before.

But this night would be different. I remember talking to her at the airport, saying she had a great trip, wonderful. Renette had been on the road a grueling 24 hours, returning from six weeks in Italy. Renette and Peter often had traveled together to Italy. She loved it there. What a gourmet breakfast. Loved visiting her family's relatives. Video.

And at age 49, she had just made a dramatic career change, giving up a six-figure income as a pharmaceutical consultant to become, of all things, an international tour guide. Renette was ecstatic,

and Peter says he was happy about it too. I said, gosh, says he was happy about it, too. I said, gosh, go do it. You love to travel. And I was supportive of whatever she wanted to go do. The couple lived in another of the world's spectacular places, the beautiful upscale Lake Tahoe Resort area in the High Sierra Mountains. Married 11 years, they seemed a very good match to Renette's closely knit family, her two brothers and their wives. He was fun to be around, very outgoing, very friendly. What was your reaction when you found out they were going to get married? We were happy. I thought that's

great. She had never been married before and she was she was 39 when she got married. They had no kids but Peter was active in youth soccer groups and friends say he and Renette seemed very happy. Hello, Peter. This one was a marriage of love, of consideration, of kindness and gentleness. She was thrilled about her new job. But after being left home alone for six weeks, Peter's original enthusiasm for it had ended. He was miserable. She was gone,

wanted her home with me. So that night, after he picked Renette up at the Reno airport, Peter Bergna drove the Ford pickup into the high Sierras, heading for Slide Mountain. We'll go up to one of our favorite spots overlooking the valley. At night, it's absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous up there. And so we went up there to talk she was ready to go she was talk about the marriage she was right off the plane well she was fine going and talking with me we talked about her being gone so much off the main highway Bergna continued on a narrow winding access road. At the dead end he stopped and for half an hour or so he and Renette talked about their marriage. This conversation ends on an upbeat note. Absolutely, absolutely.

Bergna says in fact the conversation ended so well that Renette agreed both to cut back her traveling and to go straight home to make love tell me what happened next we started down the hill tired going down the hill and what burgna describes next truly is the stuff of nightmares and then i start saying we're not stopping we're not stopping. We're not stopping. I don't see anything. It's pitch black outside. And I'm hitting the brakes. I'm hitting the brakes. You panic. You're hitting that brake harder. And then I start screaming for Renette.

Renette! Renette! His wife is still in the vehicle. Oh, no. Does he think his wife's trapped? He thinks she's dead. He thinks she's dead. His wife is still in the vehicle. Does he think his wife's trapped? He thinks she's dead. The next thing I remember, I'm on the side of the mountain. I don't know if I want to stop. I don't know if I want to stop.

In my mind, I was breaking. Was I breaking, Susan? I don't know. I thought I was. Crashing through the guardrail, the truck ended up far down the cliff, killing Renette. But Peter Bergna was found on the side of the mountain, not far from the roadway, and not seriously hurt. He is haunted to this day, he says, by not knowing exactly what happened, how he escaped, or whether she suffered. She was my life. She was my partner. She was my best friend.

And she was my absolute angel from heaven. You love this woman. Absolutely. With all my heart, with all my mind, and with all my soul. This, I believe, is an incline. Renette's family has found it hard to accept her death. She was so full of life. Always up. You never saw her down. And if she had problems, she didn't share them. There was a card waiting for us from Italy when we got home from the house the day she died.

BUT NOW THEY'VE COME TO BELIEVE THAT THE MYSTERIOUS MOUNTAIN TOP ACCIDENT WAS NO ACCIDENT AT ALL. Now they've come to believe that the mysterious mountaintop accident was no accident at all. There was nothing to show that somebody coming down this roadway was steering, swerving, or braking or anything to try to avoid the guardrail. You don't want to think it was a murder. That takes a lot to really come out and think right off the get-go, man, this is a murder. Was this simply a tragic accident or something much more sinister? With its breathtaking drop-offs and reliable updrafts, Slide Mountain Road is the perfect place to go hang gliding. For police investigating Renette Riella Burdena's death, Slide Mountain Road also begins to seem like the perfect place to commit murder.

Common sense along with education that I've gotten in my classes tells me that this was not an accident, but it was a murder. Trooper John Schilling investigated the Bergna case for the Nevada Highway Patrol. He begins to travel down the roadway. Okay, so he jumps out about here? Somewhere over there he jumps out, and the vehicle heads towards the guardrail where eventually it penetrates and travels down. He specializes in accident reconstruction. Takes this one out completely. Completely takes it out and then continues through the guardrail and down the hill.

This is the mangled wreckage Trooper Schilling found some 800 feet down the side of that mountain, with Renette still in the passenger seat. As soon as he saw it, it was clear to him nobody possibly could have survived this. When I first got to the scene, I didn't know which was front and which was back. It was that messed up. Renette died of massive, multiple injuries, but the medical examiner couldn't say exactly when she died, or even if she was still alive when the truck went over.

This is how the car would react. Trooper Schilling videotaped road tests on the mountain as part of his investigation of a possible homicide with Peter Bergner, the son of a prosecutor, the only suspect. In interviews taped right after the crash, the police find his manner very odd and he seems to remember almost nothing. And you can't tell me how you got out of the car? I don't remember how I got out of the car.

I don't remember going for the guardrail. I don't remember airbag deploying or not deploying. I don't remember coming out of the vehicle. I don't remember hitting the ground. I don't remember anything of it at all. What's the last thing you do remember? Panicking. Going into a complete panic.

It seems like the immediate instinct would be to turn the other way, you know, grab that wheel and get away from the cliff. Should I make you a list of things I should have done and didn't do? I can make you a long list now, now that it's over. You just can't do it without striking the guardrail first up here. Trooper Schilling was busy making his own list. No roadway marks. Cooper Schilling was busy making his own list. No roadway marks.

There was nothing to show that somebody coming down this roadway was steering, swerving, or braking or anything to try to avoid the guardrail. No skid marks, no swerving, no braking. And for a man who somehow was ejected from a deadly crash, Bergna wasn't badly hurt, suffering only a broken bone in his foot and some scrapes. Yes, I was in pain. Was I injured? Yes, I was injured. Did I feel like I was injured enough to suffice her death? No, not by the least. I've been telling you the truth from day one. But Berna admitted to police that at one point,

that little talk with Renette about their marriage had become quite heated. If there was some arguing, no question about that. They had even discussed divorce. Were you angry with her? I was upset with her. I was upset with the fact that I wanted her home. I did not want her gone, and yet she really wanted to be traveling. This is a woman who had been traveling for something like, what, 23 hours. Why did you have to talk to her right then?

That's a great question. Anybody who knows me knows the kind of person I am. Trooper Schilling thinks he knows exactly the kind of person Peter Bergna is, the kind who plans. What do you think happened up here? He came up here with the sole purpose of murdering his wife. And how does he know that she is going to die? I don't know. I just know that looking at this hillside, if I was going to kill somebody and I wanted to send him over a mountain,

this would be a perfect place to do it. You have no doubts about this? I have no doubts. Renette's family agrees. I think he just went up there and knew exactly what he was doing and that's exactly what he did. That it was planned ahead of time? Took me a long time to get to that point, but that I do believe it was premeditated. He planned it. He knew exactly what he was

doing. The police had what he was doing. The police had strong suspicions. Renette's family had serious questions. And all of Incline Village was buzzing with rumors about what had happened. There was a certain amount of whispering and talking going on behind the scenes. Before all the facts are in, you get people taking sides. That's the last part I need for that accident was that diagram. But there was very little solid proof. And as months and then years went by and the investigation continued without an arrest,

Peter's longtime friends felt that he was being victimized. It's just a waste of time and money. I've lost a lot of faith in our system because of this. You feel persecuted. I've lost a lot of faith in our system because of this. You feel persecuted. I feel persecuted. I feel honestly it's a conspiracy. I love my wife and this man can't understand that. He wants to take what he wants to do and win a case. The man who has so enraged Peter Bergna is County Prosecutor Dave Clifton,

who two and a half years after Renette died, finally arrested Bergna and charged him with murder. He thinks he's smarter than he is, and it's going to trap him. Dave Clifton wants to put Peter Bergna in prison for life for murder. That man killed his wife. You have prefaced a lot of your answers by saying, people who know me. Correct. Is knowing who you are the key to this whole case? I think so.

Prosecution might agree with you. All rise. The prosecution's case is next. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military, and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS

ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. 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 reached 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+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. To me, it never added up to what he was saying. Renette's family is making a pilgrimage of sorts to Slide Mountain, where she died. You can tell there's a section here.

She was our angel among us and we didn't know it. And it's really hard. It's been more than three years, but the pain is still fresh. My car wound up way down there. And the mystery of how it could happen, how Peter Bergna's truck could plunge down the mountain and kill Renette, but somehow spare Peter, is no closer to being solved. We want justice. Whatever the truth is, that's what we want.

Renette's family hopes that day has finally come. It never ends. This is going to be a tough four weeks. Peter's mother and the rest of his family are at the trial, too. It's been a whole year, and he's kept his faith and strength and even helped us. Antiques dealer Peter Bergna has spent the past year in jail, charged with murder and held without bail. I can only hope that this jury will render the truth. The evidence will show you that she was murdered

by her husband, Mr. Burton. But prosecutors Dave Clifton and Kelly Bell know this is no slam dunk. You don't have an eyewitness, you don't have a confession. So we're putting it together piece by piece. Clifton has seen enough of the pieces. You do see a little bit of a dirt pattern here. The evidence he'll present to think something doesn't fit. This case stinks if it's an accident.

But whether we can take that evidence and prove a crime of murder, that serious of a crime, beyond a reasonable doubt, that's another question. This case has been a conclusion in search of evidence. On the other side of the aisle, lead defense lawyer Michael Schwartz. I've said from day one this case exists in the minds of two or three people, the prosecutor, and a couple of cops. A tough case for them. For the prosecution? The wrong case. I honestly believe they had absolutely no business bringing this case to court ever. One of the prosecution's first witnesses, a key witness, is trooper John Schilling who

points the finger directly at Bergna saying he staged the crash and jumped free of the truck before it hit the guardrail do you have a conclusion to make as to whether or not you believe mr. Bergen was in the vehicle when it hit instructor's guard no I do not believe he was in the vehicle how certain is your conclusion I'm 100% certain Bergna's attorney immediately challenges Trooper Schilling's theory. I may not know all the calculations or to be qualified as an engineer, but I do understand the basics of accident investigation and reconstruction.

Well, that's different than understanding the laws of physics, isn't it? No, because accident reconstruction and investigation are based upon laws of physics. Trooper Schilling is a partisan. He's not objective. He's not neutral. He's's not unbiased which police really do need to be how many uh degrees of freedom or degrees of motion are described by what's going on here i don't know wasn't that one of the laws of physics sure could be i don't know well wouldn't it be important to know i think he's above his head, way above his head. I think he's in the deep end of the pool right now.

Struck the guardrail. In exactly what position? The defense strategy becomes clear. Discredit Trooper Schilling's common sense theory of what happened. Well, if you don't know how long it would take, how can you sit there and say that you don't believe that there wasn't sufficient time and distance? And dissect the crash into very small, very complicated moments. There are forces applied and they move through distances and periods of time. Vacuum depletion is the absence of vacuum power assist. Shock to the vehicle that's

required to deploy the airbag is the change in velocity to close the arming sensor, which is in the area of two miles an hour. My calculation showed he's going to leave at about nine feet per second faster than the vehicle, perpendicular to the vehicle. You can get so tangled up in equations and things that people have no idea what you're talking about. I really think that was just a bunch of smoke.

I really think that was designed to try to create reasonable doubt because the more complicated we make it, the more the jury either won't understand it or will try to find a reasonable doubt when there really isn't any. Call it science or smokescreen, this case boils down to two competing theories. The prosecution insists that Peter Bergner was driving down the center of the road. Then he deliberately made a sharp right turn and jumped out. The truck hit the guardrail almost head-on and smashed through. The defense scenario could not be more different.

Defense lawyers say Bergna actually was hugging the guardrail. Then the truck accidentally hit it, pivoted, hung for a split second on the crumpled rail, somehow tossing Bergna out the window before plunging down the mountain. Two competing theories, but as always, the devil's in the details. So the jury takes an eerie trip to Slide Mountain to the site of the crash to see for itself. We're at Mount Rose on what is properly known as the Slide Mountain Turnoff. We can't show their faces nor can we know what Peter Bergner was thinking as he revisited the scene. There's another cap that's supposed to be on here.

Back in the courtroom, prosecutors focus on evidence that's easier to understand and harder for the defense to explain. They zero in on two gas cans that Bergner filled shortly before picking Renette up at the airport that night. The cans were not sealed shut. If any spark or flame were to come in contact with the interior of that camper shell, they could explode. But I was very much aware I was carrying gas and took precautions to take care of that process by putting in one, if not two, safety bars in the back of the truck. Why weren't the lids on? They were lost years ago. I've done this for years this way.

Stupid idea? Yeah. Doesn't look good. Doesn't look good. But whether it's gas cans or guardrails, she meant the world to us. Renette's family is getting frustrated with days of testimony that seem to overlook their loss. They lose sight that there was a person there and that's the part that always, you know, you sit there and you want to inject that into it more. Prosecutors agree and still worry that the jury is confused by the technical details of the crash. So they turn their attention to something the jury will understand. He said, come over and sit in the jacuzzi or the hot tub.

Were there other women in Peter Bergna's life? That's next on 48 Hours. When the murder trial of Peter Bergna began, he'd been in jail for almost a year. When the murder trial of Peter Bergner began, he'd been in jail for almost a year. And it had been more than three years since the night his wife, Renette, was killed in a crash with her husband at the wheel. At first, the trial focused on the physical evidence and competing theories as to why their pickup truck slammed into a guardrail and went plunging down the mountain. Also, could the crash have been planned so as to spare the defendant's life while killing his wife? As for Renette's close-knit family,

they care less about the pickup truck than about the defendant's character and possible motives for the murder, including money, marital strife, a husband growing angry with a wife spending more time away from home on her job. Susan Spencer picks up the case now amid a mountain of doubts. Defense attorney Michael Schwartz would like nothing more than to focus Peter Bergna's murder trial on this crushed and mangled wreckage. To me, one of the central issues in the case always was, were these marks caused by a parallel swipe of the guard into the guardrail?

As your client says, running more or less parallel to it. Right. Peter Bergna's fate could rest on those marks. fate could rest on those marks. No one disputes that his Ford F-150 pickup crashed through a guardrail and tumbled nearly 800 feet down Slide Mountain, killing his wife, Renette. In fact, no one disputes the guardrail itself was defective, weakened by years of wear and tear. But was this proof of an accident or evidence of murder? You get into matters that are so rooted in science and engineering, I don't think juries can reasonably be expected not only to understand it, but to believe one side over another when you've got different sides saying different things.

The actual science of what happened here on Slide Mountain that late spring night may well be above the jurors' heads. But all Bergner's lawyers have to do is cast reasonable doubt on the prosecution's case. If just one juror thinks that doubt exists, Peter Bergner cannot be convicted. Hoping to head that off, the prosecution now turns its focus away from Slide Mountain and on to Peter Bergna's character. He would, on numerous occasions, fly off the handle at her. Rick Riella, Renette's brother, takes the stand. Peter was upset with my sister because she did not keep the financial matters in order.

In his words, he said if she did not straighten her finances out, he wanted a divorce. How did you respond to that at all? I thought to myself, she's never going to give him one. What we talked about was, hey, look at us. We're having this spat. People who get divorced do these kind of things. Isn't this stupid? What caused the spats?

Renette's brother testifies it was money. Peter didn't have a problem with my sister traveling as long as she was making a lot of money. But when she was traveling as a tour guide and not making as much money, the complaints got extremely more frequent. Riella says money was a problem between Peter Bergna and Renette's family even after her death. They fought over her $220,000 share of the family inheritance. My brother and I had two years to buy Peter out. He didn't want that.

He wanted the money now and he wanted it right away. When Renette's brothers reluctantly agreed to pay, Riella says Bergna actually demanded even more money. And he says, I want $400,000. And he told me, I've lost your sister's earning potential for the next 13 to 15 years. I need to get all the money I can from you. In all, between the inheritance and life insurance benefits,

Peter Bergna got nearly three-quarters of a million dollars as a result of Renette's death. Would I kill my wife for that amount of money? And the answer is no. And the answer is no. There's no amount of money I would ever, ever even think in those terms. Ever. People have killed their wives for less. Not this man. Not this man. But then on day 10 of the trial, a broadside. Please take the witness to NMBC.

Prosecutors produce evidence that Peter Bergna was pursuing other women while Renette was still in Italy. And he was sitting on a bench and I just walked up to him and he said would you go out for dinner with me? In my mind I was going out for the purpose of business. Some of these women apparently didn't understand it that way. They did not. They completely did not understand that. He asked me if I would be interested in going to the movies with him. I asked her to go to the movies. As a business engagement? You bet. I have no problem with that whatsoever. Were you going to talk in the movies or what? Prior to, during, after. He said he wanted to show me the art collection and come over and sit in the jacuzzi or the hot tub. And

just six weeks after Renette's death, Bergna began pursuing this woman. And what did he do after you got? Well, then he started to touch me. Where did he touch you? Right here. When he touched your breast, what did you do? I started to panic. I said, I got to go. I felt we got a very good reception from the jury today.

I noticed that they picked the pens up and started writing on the points that I wanted them to get. All the while the one man, the only man, who could shed light on the subject will not take the stand. Peter spoke to the police for about eight hours within the first day and a half after the death of his wife. I know I did something wrong. Did I do it on purpose? There's no way in hell. It's either on audio tape or video tape. It's all been given to the jury.

But you've been so dismissive of the district attorney and so complimentary of Peter. Surely he could have stood up and, you know, met that challenge. Whatever I've said about Mr. Clifton that's dismissive goes to his ethics and his role as a district attorney. He is as capable as any lawyer I've ever seen at screaming at people and badgering them and berating them. Will you stop talking about things I didn't say? Gentlemen. In the courtroom, tempers fly.

Now be still and listen to me. I've had enough of the lawyers in this trial interrupting each other and making comments about each other. Peter Bergna's family directs its anger at prosecutor Dave Clifton. A prosecutor is supposed to be for the people. He was for the one side. They didn't want to hear the truth ever. They wanted to hear that I killed my wife and it's not what happened. You don't believe that he honestly believes you did this? I don't know what he believes, Susan. I think he wants to put a notch in his belt, in my honest opinion. Bergner's lawyers put up a number of witnesses to paint a more positive portrait of Peter. I believe that he was generally

devastated by Renette's death, and I continued to work for Peter long after Renette passed away, and I never would have done that unless I believed he was not guilty. Peter flirts with everybody. Life is great. Whether it's man, woman, child, he has a ball talking to people. He missed her and was looking forward to her return back, and all I heard was love. Is it in Peter's nature to put up a strong front? I would say so. His mother, Pat, takes the stand in her son's defense. Did Peter seem obsessed, interested, focused on obtaining money? No. He was good at making money because he would buy things and sell them at a better price and he was very good at that. Did he seem focused on acquiring money or wanting to go out and spend a lot of money? Not that I ever noticed, no. Please be seated. Then finally after six

long weeks the jury gets the case. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury thank you again for your time patience and attention. Your work begins now. Will the jury buy the prosecution's charge that Peter Bergna is a greedy and clever killer? You can never read a jury. They're only given so much information, and they have to go with that. So we have to go with what they decide. Or will they see Peter Bergna as a victim who lost his wife and now may lose his freedom?

Is it accurate to say that you guys feel confident? I do. I think if the jury looks at it reasonably, I don't think there's any way that they could come away saying that the state proved that beyond a reasonable doubt. Please be seated. Peter Bergna is clearly worried he could spend the rest of his life in prison. The jury has my life in their hands. That's pretty scary. Up next... The bailiff will please return the jurors to the courtroom. Peter Bergna discovers his fate. 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 bolder 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 We'll see you next time. 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+. It's just the best idea yet. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder?

Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour-plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Counsel, on behalf of the state, Mr. Clifton, you may proceed. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bergna murdered his wife premeditatedly and deliberately, constituting first-degree murder. Thank you for your time and attention. Do you have any gut feeling about this at all? Well, I have a gut feeling, number one, we did as well as we could possibly do. My second gut feeling is I think we've proved it. This trial is in recess until the jury returns.

As the jury goes out to consider Peter Bergna's fate, the prosecution's confidence leaves the defense seething and insisting till the end that this was a traffic accident, not a murder. Persuasive, passionate prosecutors can win cases that they shouldn't. That we're even at this moment where a jury is deliberating Peter Burden's fate, I just find it outrageous, deplorable, whatever term you want to use. Even as they wait for a verdict, Renette's family already feels some satisfaction. You know, a year and a half ago, we never thought we'd be here. So we're, you know, to be honest,

thankful for every day that he's had to pay some price. For a man whose future is at stake, Peter Bergna seems remarkably calm. You're at peace either way? Absolutely. Absolutely at peace. I know I'm an innocent man. I know I've done nothing wrong. No verdict by the end of the first day. No verdict on the second day. By day three, everyone is very nervous. And then a note from the jury, and it's not good news for the defense. Nine of the 12 jurors seem ready to convict Bergna. There is a majority on the jury panel that is voting for conviction at this point. But in order to reach a verdict, all the jurors must agree. They're saying they won't budge. Day four comes and goes. And day five. All rise.

On day six, facing an apparent deadlock, the judge steps in. I think there was an indication of what four jurors who believe that additional deliberations would not be fruitful. Could you raise your hands again, please? All right. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I will ask you to return tomorrow morning. He tells them to make one more effort to reach an agreement. All eyes on the jury.

But on the seventh day, Judge Brent Adams pulls the plug. The court declares a mistrial in this case. And declares a mistrial. This has been the longest and perhaps most difficult trial of my 27-year career as a lawyer and a judge. I've never seen a better jury. The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre said, not to decide is to decide. And this may be a case of just that nature.

The jury is deadlocked, 9-3 to convict, mistrial, ordered, and Peter was granted bail. The judge will release Bergna if he comes up with $750,000 bail. A fine or jail term could be imposed upon you if your son fails to appear or abide by other conditions. Do you understand that? Yes. Peter's mother literally bails him out. Is that a responsibility you're willing to take in this case? That leads to a moment of pure joy.

I love you. You're kind of so wonderful. God bless you. Let's go. When you know deep inside that you are honest and you are truthful and you've done everything possible to bring that part out and you know you're not guilty, you have to hold your head up and keep walking forward. The jury's decision or lack of one saddens Renette's family. From the very beginning of this case pretty much was led to believe it was gonna be tough to get a conviction you know you don't have a witness you

Peters the witness and he didn't get up and talk so you got to prepare yourself for both both outcomes we didn't quite think it was going to end like this. So I wasn't surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. I actually prayed that we would make the right decision because I would hate to send someone to prison if it wasn't exactly right. But Juror Jean Westman would have had no problem sending Bergna to prison. She was one of the nine who voted for conviction. The car was supposed to have come down the guardrail

and then hit something and then immediately turned. And then somehow goes through the brake in the guardrail like water in a hose. But if it had, there would have been skid marks of some sort. The videos of him. We're not stopping. We're not stopping. of some sort the videos of him how fake can you get and then the 911 call and not a tear ever any place another thing his wife's been on the plane for 27 hours. She wants to go see the lights. Give me a bath and let me go to bed.

Not going to happen. Not going to happen. Westman was just as sure about one other thing. I thought we're going to go in there. We'll be out of here in 10 minutes. With a verdict of? Of guilty, of course. You had no doubt in your mind?

I had no doubt in my mind. But neither did juror Eric Carnes, one of the three jurors who voted for acquittal. When we all made our original vote and I heard all these people saying guilty, I couldn't believe it. And no amount of deliberation was going to change his mind. I don't think the prosecution had very much evidence and I think had the prosecution had evidence they would have prosecuted him when it first happened instead of waiting so long. You're not saying that you feel like there just wasn't enough evidence to go beyond a reasonable doubt. You have no doubt about this whatsoever that Peter Bergna is innocent. I have, personally, I have no doubt at all that he is innocent. Free for the moment on bail,

but still charged with murder, Peter Bergna's future will depend on one more judgment. It doesn't automatically get retried. The prosecutor has a week to decide whether to try him again. That's next. 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 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.

It took District Attorney Richard Gammack seven days to reach a decision. We will go back to trial on Peter Bergna for the charge of murder. There is no reason to change venue. It took District Attorney Richard Gammack seven days to reach a decision. We will go back to trial on Peter Bergna for the charge of murder. There is no reason to change venue. And Prosecutor Dave Clifton again will lead the charge. We still believe we should have and could have gotten a unanimous verdict of guilty, and we are hopeful we will the next time, but the tone of the case will be the same. I'm very disappointed as to this process going on.

Whoever thinks that you get in an accident and the rest of your life you're trying to fight to survive and to swim and to keep your head above water, and that's what I'm having to do here. Eight months after his mistrial, he is back in Reno, facing murder charges for the second time. By physics, by logic, by common sense, and by everything reasonable, there is only one thing that happened in this case. And that is that Peter Bergna, the defendant, murdered his wife. The case, from the defense point of view and from the evidentiary point of view, is about bad brakes, blue paint, and bad faith. This guardrail... Guardrails.

That part in there is missing. Gas cans. That piece of evidence must be accounted for. And paint smears still are the key evidence, but this time the prosecution zeroes in on Peter Bergna, the man. You got to know the real Peter Matthew Bergna in this courtroom. He is a man who is driven entirely and completely by money and by image. He is what he has. The testimony that we were listening to about who likes who

and who doesn't like who and who's mean to whom, how could that have anything to do with a murder trial? Four years since Renette Riella Bergna died, after two long trials, this jury finds her husband guilty of first-degree murder. The mandatory sentence is 20 years. The question, will the jury allow for the possibility of parole after that? We're very, very close. Renette's brother Jack speaks for the Riella family. He did it. He hurt my family. He's hurt his family. And there was no reason for either family to go through this crap. I'll tell you that right now. Peter's mother, Pat, pleads for compassion. I would like to ask the jury if they have any mercy in their hearts that they could show some in the penalty phrase. And though Peter Bergman never took the stand,

he stands now to speak to the jury. Not one day will ever go by or has ever gone by. I will not think about Merget. What she meant to me, to my family, to the Brielas. Life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Bergna will spend 20 years in prison before he is even eligible for parole. I think we can go home in peace now and my sister can rest in peace. And I'm glad it's over. Paramount Podcasts