48 Hours - The Soldier's Wife

Episode Date: May 8, 2016

A young wife shot dead.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. 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. Real people. Real crimes. Real life drama.

911, what are you reporting? I think somebody's just been shot in my neighborhood. And I can hear somebody screaming through the door. When Skylar and Danielle met, it was something that you read in the fairy books. It was instantaneous. Skylar and Danielle loved each other. They were gushy in love.

I'm going to sign. No, that's not it. Beep. We're not sure if he's alive. I think she really believed that they really had this end of the movie, fade to black type dreamy love. There is like nothing that could keep them apart. Skylar joined the army.

I'm so excited. Danielle, the junior in high school. You couldn't think of a perfect cheerleader. Bubbly. Thank you. Outgoing. Today is pretty. La da da da da.

That was Danielle. Danielle had it in her mind that she was going to marry Skylar, and wherever he went, she went. He graduated from boot camp, and they got married. Danielle was lonely. She was away from her friends, everything she knew. She loved Skylar, but she just said he's gone all the time. And he was.

Skylar had been gone for 20 days out in the field training. When Skylar got home, he was so excited to see Danielle. Is she breathing at all? No. They love to go shoot their guns. Shoot that can. Danielle said it gave her power. Skyler bought her own rifle.

She decorated it out. The husband has said that she's dead, and he doesn't want me going in to see her. My son picked up a loaded gun. Oh, my God. He looked at it with a naked eye, did not see any ammunition in it. I'm a bad person. I'm a bad person. It went off.

Shot Danielle in the back of the head. I love my wife so much. This was an accident. I didn't mean to hurt anybody. He is seeing this as an accident. His family sees it as an accident. We believe he murdered his wife. Did you intentionally kill your wife, Skyler? No, I did not.

I never meant to hurt you. I love you so much, Daniel. My wife! I'm Erin Moriarty. Tonight on 48 Hours, the soldier's wife. 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 Informant's 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. right now. 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 a virgin. 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 pit can. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the pit can 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. or Spotify. is on trial in Tacoma, Washington, charged with murder in the first degree. He stood about five feet away from Danielle. He had his finger on the trigger, and he pulled it. I feel like my heart was ripped out of my chest and all the veins, too, with the day that my wife died. But you caused it. I know.

That's the most painful thing of all this is knowing that I caused it. Skyler Nemitz shot his wife. No one disputes that. The only question is why. Did he pull the trigger in a jealous rage or was it just an accident? And will you reach the same conclusion the jurors did? Skyler and Danielle were the picture of a happy couple. No one who knew them could have imagined the tragic events that unfolded on October 16, 2014. Skylar's mother, Danette Heller. None of it made sense to me. Danette calls her middle child a gentle and kind soul. Very loving, caring, sensitive. Who was and still is very much in love with Danielle.

She was so bubbly and fantastic. She was great. Danielle was everything. There was no issues in their relationship. Except for the times they were forced to be apart. In the fall of 2014, Skylar, an infantry soldier, had been on deployment in eastern Washington for nearly three weeks of battlefield training. After living in a striker vehicle with three guys, Skylar couldn't wait to get home to Danielle. Danielle had called me that morning, and she had bathed the dogs. She said she went and got candles. She was just so excited. On the afternoon of October 16th,

Danielle was waiting at the Army base to drive Skylar home to their small two-bedroom apartment. They ordered pizza to celebrate. I had a shot of Sailor Jerry's and a glass of Fireball with Red Bull. Were you drunk? I don't think I was drunk, but I was, I would say I was buzzed and tired, but also in a great mood. But less than three hours later, everything suddenly went wrong. Why me? I love my wife so much. Why me?

Hey, sir, were you notified you're being audio and visually recorded? That's fine. I'm not going to do anything. This is Skylar minutes after he was taken into custody. I've never been in trouble before. I've never hurt anybody. For the next seven and a half hours... I'm protecting George. You want to come talk to me? Yeah, I do. I want to talk to you. All right, Skylar, we're recording right now, okay? Everything he said...

This is the that happens to me. ...and everything he did was recorded... What's it like in jail? ...by video cameras. The details of what led up to the shooting are sketchy, but according to Skylar, when he got home, Danielle's rifle was in their bedroom closet. He had given her the AR-15 assault rifle for her birthday. She knew how to handle that rifle, load the rifle, discharge it, clean it.

It was something Skyler and Danielle loved to do. Skylar grew up with guns, firing his first weapon when he was just a kid. The rules in my home when I had my children were guns stay in your safe and always unloaded. And Skylar says those were the rules in his home as well. I'm always so big about gun safety. Always so big about gun safety. I'm the a** of my friends because I'm so big about it. And I'm the guy that it happens to.

Sometime before 6 p.m., Skyler says Danielle brought the rifle into the small second bedroom and asked him to put it away. Danielle's computer was also in that room. When she sat down to finish some work, her back was to Skyler. I seen her told her, I said, you're a very cute girl. Skyler, believing the rifle was unloaded, he says, picked it up and was checking to make sure when the gun went off. Danielle, how does this happen to people? Who does this happen to? What the? What the? Danielle!

What the f***? Danielle! Skyler insists he never saw the single bullet that was in the chamber of the rifle. That bullet went through the back of Danielle's head and into the computer screen. Danielle died instantly. My wife is dead. My wife! She just killed me.

She just killed me. My wife. My wife. She just killed me. She just killed me. My wife. My love. He said, please let me die. Please let me die. Danette says her son has been suicidal ever since. I am not positive that Skylar won't take his own life still. But Danette refuses to give up on her son. For the past year and a half, the divorced mother of three has been in a desperate battle for her son's future. Hi. A struggle she has documented

for 48 hours in these video diaries. I just know that I have to fight for what I have in front of me, and that's my son. My mom has sacrificed everything she's had for me. Danette spent what she had and borrowed even more to get Skyla released on bail and to assemble a top-notch legal team. The reality is I have spent every cent I have on this case. Danette has uprooted her life, putting everything she owns into storage. I'm Skylar's brother. Leaving her teenage son, Aaron, with friends in Utah and moving to Tacoma to be with Skylar. She went from living in a multi-million dollar home to living in a spare bedroom.

Danette and Skylar are staying with friends while he's under house arrest. Skylar wears an ankle monitor. And mother and son have learned to live in very close quarters. Skylar and I share a room. It's been tough on both of them. Just really lonely and scared. And the uncertainty of what the future holds for Skylar is always on Danette's mind. I know I try to put up a good front. I have everything in control, but I don't.

It's been really hard. I guess just hard on not knowing what's going to happen. What mother wouldn't reach to the ends of the earth to try to believe that it was an accident and try to convince themselves that their son's not a murderer? But James Peltier says Danette is wrong. Do you believe Danette is deluding herself? I think she's delusional. That's what I think she is. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch.

It was called Candyman. 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. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women.

Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. 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,

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Danielle was the happiest girl you could ever meet. A little spark, just full of energy. She'd just leap up and give you hugs daily, if not multiple times a day. You just could not fall in love with this little girl, just being around her for one day. Before Danielle became Mrs. Skyler Nemitz, she was a beloved high school student who adored everything about life. Her friends, her family and her two favorite high school pastimes makeup this is my makeup collection video and cheerleading she just shined out there she was beautiful to watch

super energetic coach Aaron Mickeli immediately casts 5-foot-100-pound Danielle as the flyer, the lucky one who gets tossed around in the air, a role she was born to play. And did she like being the center of attention? Loved it. Center of attention was where she belonged for sure. It was attention Danielle wasn't really able to get at home. Her mom died of cancer when she was just a toddler. And so Danielle and her three siblings live with their grandmother in McKinleyville, California. Money was tight. And then when Danielle was 14, her grandmother died too. The kids then moved in with their stepfather.

She was the type of girl that it's like you knew she had a hard home life, but you would never know it at the same time. She just didn't dwell on it. Danielle and best friend Michaela Yingling formed a special bond after both losing their mothers at about the same time. She was always happy. Like, I didn't know where she got it from. same time. She was always happy. Like, I didn't know where she got it from. But deep down, she longed for what she was missing, says Coach McLei, and she went looking for it in boys. Every boyfriend was the one she was going to marry. She always got very close with the families of the boyfriends that she had because they always were the most stable part of her life. But it was just that need to be loved and for that nurturing and that attention.

And relationships would end, and the next one would start. In her junior year, Danielle found that next one on Facebook. A recent graduate from a neighboring high school who was about to join the army, Skylar Nemitz. I remember I fell in love with her just like that. I was head over heels like immediately. When Skylar and Danielle met, I had never seen the sparkle in his eye that he had with being with Danielle and the love he had for her. Danielle shocked everyone when just a month after meeting Skylar,

she moved in with him at his mother Danette's home. I felt sorry for her, for her upbringing. I loved spoiling her, you know, because she had never been spoiled. But she was an absolute doll, and I loved being able to help her. My mom saw Danielle as a daughter. I was crazy about her. She called me mom. After knowing each other for only three months, Skylar bought a diamond ring and proposed to her on the top of Neyland Mountain. That was a relationship that moved very quickly. Yeah, sometimes I would sit there and I'd be like, oh my gosh, I'm 18 and I'm getting married.

But the thing is, though, I loved her so much and she loved me so much and we didn't want to wait. We wanted to get married. Erin, what was your reaction? It wasn't positive. I felt like I needed to be the person to shake her and say, slow down, there's no rush. But she's the type of person, she was just so strong-willed that there was never going to be any convincing her, and there just wasn't an adult in her life that could put a stop to it. Danielle dropped out of high school and married Skylar at the courthouse the day he graduated boot camp,

five months after their first date. It was about 10 minutes long. He wore his uniform, and he was so happy. When she was with Skylar, she was just so grateful. And she'd always tell me how much she loved being married. She loved being Skylar's wife. They settled into off-base housing in Lakewood, Washington, where he was stationed at Fort Lewis. What was it that drew her to him? I think she just really wanted to get a fresh start and try to make a family of her own and to be happy. I think it was following a dream is what I think it was.

Something bigger than right here, you know. Former neighbor James Peltier became almost a father to Danielle. We took him to the movies, out to dinner. I mean, we went to church. We would go camping. Both James and Michaela were concerned that Danielle was pinning her hopes

on a guy she had known for less than six months. He took her away, and they moved away so quick, like nobody really got to know him. A guy who seemed to have no interest in knowing them. He just, like, ignored us. I met him on three occasions. Even the few times Danielle and Skylar dropped by for a visit. Danielle was her bubbly self.

Peltier says Skylar wanted no part of the conversation. I think I shook his hand and back to the car he went and he left. He says he let it go until he learned something he couldn't ignore. Danielle told him Skylar had smashed her cell phone in a fit of anger and then immediately rushed out to buy her a new iPhone. I sat her face to face and I said, I just need to know if there's any big problem. Because all you have to do is tell me

you don't want to be with them anymore. And I said, I can guarantee you the boy won't even come through that door. And she's like, no. I love him. I forgive him. Danielle enrolled in a local high school to finish her senior year, got a new puppy,

and a new job at a granite counter company. But Michaela, who FaceTimed and texted her every day, felt something was not right. Did she ever express fear of Skylar? No, but sometimes, you know, she acted a little weird. Like when I asked her like, when's Skylar coming home? And she's like, oh, well, I have to clean this before he gets home. Like I have to shampoo the carpets and make sure everything's just like in perfect order. Is that because she wanted to do that or she felt she had to do it for him? I don't think she wanted to do it. I think he was forcing her to do that kind of stuff. I just had a feeling like in my gut. When was the last time you talked to her?

The night she died. Skylar had just returned from a grueling 19-day training mission in Yakima. It was around 5 p.m. We were FaceTiming and she was sitting at her computer desk. Skyler was in the background on the couch and she like ran over to him and like jumped on his lap and was acting all happy that he was home. And did he talk? Could you see whether he was in a good mood? He seemed like he was in a good mood. Do you remember the last thing she said to you? She just said that, I love you so much and I can't wait to talk to you next.

They hung up. And 12 minutes later, Danielle Nemitz was dead. Is she breathing at all? I'm really excited. I hope you enjoy. Thank you guys for watching my video and I will check you later. Don't forget to like and subscribe and yeah, have a good one. Bye. James Peltier will never forget the last time he saw the girl he loved like a second daughter.

She come through the door and just come running over to me, jumped in there, gave me a big old bear hug. What is the hardest part, James? Not hearing her voice, not seeing her. James and his wife, Sam, plan to attend every day of the trial hoping to find justice for Danielle as soon as I knew he had shot and killed her there was no doubt in my mind it had to have been purposeful I mean who takes a gun and

points it at somebody why are you pointing a gun at somebody it's clear that he's an expert when it comes to handling firearms. Too much of an expert to make such a mistake, says Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Greg Greer. By the time he's in the Army, he's building AR-15s. It's clear he's obsessed with guns. How could it be accidental considering his expertise with firearms? The detectives doubted Skyler's story from the beginning. I'm good with weapons. I've used weapons a lot, okay? But this time, I just... That's just it.

I don't think you'd violate those safety rules to the back of your wife's head if you really loved her. You mind if you were pissed off? That direct hit, dead center to the back of Danielle's head, seemed more like an execution than an accident. Tell me what happened. The more Skyler talked, the guiltier he looked in the eyes of his interrogators, in part because he kept changing his story about how he held the gun before it went off.

I was holding it like this and I hit it on my thigh. And when I did that, I don't know what happened, but when I hit it against that, it went off. I was holding it up like this, and I hit it on my thigh. And when I did that, I don't know what happened. When I hit it against that, it went off. Then he switched to this. It was on my shoulder. It was on my shoulder, it was on my breast. It was up high. It was around here.

I don't know why I thought it was on my thigh, but that was just... You didn't think it was on your thigh. You thought the story sounded better, Skyler. I'm not a f***ing stupid guy. I'm in the interrogation room 45 minutes after Daniel dies, and I'm trying to figure it all out for myself. My mind is just destroyed.

I don't remember where the hell they were. I don't know where they were. But Greer says Skyler's actions speak louder than his words. The strongest evidence, believe it or not, is what he does immediately after the fact. Skyler didn't call 911. A neighbor did. And there wasn't a single drop of Danielle's blood on him. A clear sign that he didn't try to save or even comfort her, says Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jared Ossor. He doesn't render aid at all. He never checks on his wife. If it was an accident,

he's going to drop the weapon immediately, run over, grab her, assess her. He doesn't do that. She wasn't alive. Skyler, sitting with his lawyer, told us in his only interview, not holding Danielle is something he regrets to this day. I wish I would have held her. Why didn't you? I was scared. I was freaked out, and I didn't know what to do.

I seriously didn't. My brain was, I was not all there. Good morning. Please be seated. But at trial, Greer hopes to show that Skyler knew exactly what he was doing. This is a case about control. Greer uses Schuyler's own texts to paint him as an angry, controlling husband

who wanted Danielle to know he was in charge. Danielle, what the we have? Amazon, you don't need the prime. Come on. Can you ask before you with my money? Thanks. You're an idiot. Who talks to their wife like that at any stage of their marriage, much less the beginning stages of their marriage?

Someone consumed by jealousy, says Greer. In one text, Skyler accuses Danielle of going on a date with Jeremy Henry, an old friend from high school. Danielle writes back, you have either insecurities you need to work on or you don't trust me when it comes to hanging out with Jeremy. I think that this truly was her friend from high school. I think everything was just in the mind of Mr. Nemitz that he believed the worst and it got to him. Greer says Schuyler erupted in a jealous rage the day he got home from training. Believe it or not, over those bottles. The most significant aspect of this case is going to be two bottles of alcohol.

And this is the state star witness, Schuyler's Army buddy, Anthony Foss. He was supposed to buy the two bottles of alcohol for Skyler. I was going home early, a few days before the rest of the guys, so he asked if I could buy alcohol for him because they weren't 21. Turns out Foss did not get the alcohol. Too busy, didn't do it. Danielle panics somewhat because she needs to get this. He really wants this alcohol.

So Danielle gets two other guys to go with her to buy the alcohol. One is her old friend, Jeremy Henry. But Skyler had no idea until he went to thank Foss for the alcohol. And Foss gives a look and says, I didn't buy that. And you know who did. Foss claims Skyler got visibly angry. He was mad because she lied about how she got the booze because Mr. Foss didn't get it for her like he promised. And while Schuyler may have appeared in a good mood on that FaceTime call between Danielle and Michaela,

prosecutors believe he was hiding his anger, lying in wait like a well-trained soldier. He waited for her to get off the phone and shot her in the back of the head. This was an act of rage. You were mad for some reason and you shot her. No, I'm not in my way. And then you went and tried to hide everything. Skyler had told police he stashed the gun back in the closet, emptied the bottles of alcohol and threw them off the balcony. The police believed he wanted to get rid of evidence linking him to a motive.

Throw the gun in the closet like it didn't f***ing happen. Oh s***, it didn't happen. Skyler knows it looks bad, so he's about to do something defendants rarely do. I can live with, I'm the reason Daniel died. But I can't live with being called a murderer. Danette Heller still remembers waking up in terror one autumn night in 2014. I had a horrible dream that Danielle shot Skyler in the head. It really shook me up. A month later, that horrible dream became a terrible reality. Only it wasn't Danielle who pulled the trigger.

It was Danette's son. And as the detective who broke the news put it, it didn't look good for Skyler. He goes, your son's going away for prison the rest of his life. Danette believes the detectives had their minds made up the minute Skyler walked into that interrogation room. They found him guilty within hours without investigating. I don't know if you're trying to accuse me of killing. I understand I killed my wife. I killed my f***ing wife, okay?

I killed my wife! I'm just trying to figure out why. Danette knew she was in for a fight and went looking for the best criminal defense lawyer she could find. Okay, all right. She chose Michael Stewart. I've been a defense attorney for 20 plus years. Toughest case I've had. Why? Because I've got a kid that I absolutely believe. I believe this is an accident and the facts and the circumstances around it

look bad. He knows the challenge will be convincing 12 jurors that a highly skilled soldier with years of weapons training could make such a fatal mistake. The state wants you to believe that a dead tired kid could never make a mistake. It had to be intentional because nobody makes mistakes with guns. But Stewart is able to get the state's own gun experts to admit on the stand that mistakes can be made. It's not always easy to tell when the AR-15 rifle is loaded. If the order is not followed precisely, you can easily load a weapon thinking that you are actually clearing it, correct? Yes. You put a gun to your shoulder and you pulled a trigger.

Next, Stewart takes aim at the contention that Skyler shouldered the gun when it went off. I don't know. Stewart says the investigators pushed Skyler to admit that as Skyler was struggling to remember what happened. I thought it was on my thigh. He told the police that he had it down low, and then he said it was around here and around here. I think it might have even been on my breast or my shoulder. I don't know.

They're ratcheting you into a story that makes it fit how they view a case. Defense forensics expert Kay Sweeney testifies that Schuyler was not shouldering the gun. What do you believe the height of that bullet was? 46 and a half inches above the floor approximately. That would put the gun just below his chest. But what about that direct hit to the middle of Danielle's head? That is just sheer chance. And there's so many times I've thought, like, why couldn't it have been two inches to the right? On day 12 of the trial, Stuart has a heart-to-heart with his client about the single most important decision he may ever make.

I said, kid, we've shown so much in this case. I don't think you need to take the stand. Despite the risks, Skyler felt he had no choice. I don't think you need to take the stand. Despite the risk, Skylar felt he had no choice. I needed to. I wanted to for Danielle. On the night before, I watched Skylar preparing for one of the toughest days of his life. How are you feeling tonight? I'm a little overwhelmed. I'm nervous. I'm really nervous. I just, I'm so nervous for Skylar. The defense calls Skylar Nemitz.

Did you intend to hurt your wife? I did not. I did not intend to hurt my wife. I never did. Stewart wants to show Skyler as a loving husband, not the controlling person depicted in those texts. He points to the scores of other texts from Skyler. Ones like, I'm going to bed, hon. I love you. Hey, babe, how was your day?

Then Stewart turns to the state star witness, Anthony Foss. Remember, he said Schuyler was furious when he told him that Danielle had turned to two other men to buy the alcohol. I was not angry at all. In fact, I never had any sort of conversation with Anthony Foss. But why would he lie? I mean, why would under oath act? Why does anybody lie? But I know that never actually happened.

Another Army buddy, Richard Oakley, backed Skyler's story. He testifies he didn't even see Anthony Foss on base that day and that Skyler was excited to see Danielle. They both seemed pretty happy. They were both smiling. Everything seemed good.

You look at everything leading up to this day, and there really isn't any of this tension. There never was a motive. This is an accident. But now it's the moment Greer has been waiting for, his chance to grill Skyler. And he wanted to show him as a killer. He puts the gun that killed Danielle back into Skyler's hands,

hoping to burn that image into jurors' minds. I wanted to expose him. I wanted to show them that he had things to hide. Mr. Foss told you he did not purchase those two bottles. But his repeated challenges... I do not recall him saying that. ...don't seem to rattle Skyler. I did not talk to Anthony Foss that entire day, sir.

He either dodged the question or claimed to not remember. Your finger takes from safe to fire, and you pull the trigger, and she's five feet away from you, and that round hits her square in the middle of the back of the head. That is not how it happened, sir. You don't recall telling the detectives that? Are you asking if I know that from my memory, sir? Mr. Nemitz, do you recall telling the detectives that?

Not from my memory, sir. That's all I have, Your Honor. the detectives that? Not from my memory, sir. That's all I have, Your Honor. Skyler and his attorney hope the impression that stays with the jurors is Skyler's emotional testimony

about what he says really happened that terrible day. I got off the couch and I went into the room to put this rifle away. The gun went off and um. Did you pull the trigger, Skyler?

I don't recall pulling the trigger, but I know the trigger had to be pulled for the weapon to go off. After the smoke cleared, I saw my wife and she wasn't moving. I dropped the weapon and I, I went up to my wife on the left side and I saw her face and my wife wasn't there anymore. Did you know she was dead? She was dead.

And I didn't know what to do. I never meant to hurt her. I never meant to hurt her. Stewart fears that Skyler's tears may not be enough to win the full acquittal they had hoped for. So he makes a stunning strategic move. And this is hard for a defense attorney to say. He actually tells the jury to find his client guilty. Manslaughter in the second degree. Of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

It is manslaughter. It is. Tell you what it's not. It's not premeditated first-degree murder. I believe his soul is pure, but his hands aren't. He was negligent in the operation of that weapon. Thank you very much. What will the jury decide? They will wrestle with the case for days. My days are like roller coasters going up and down and just hard. My heart hurts all the time.

It's just hard. My heart hurts all the time. After a month-long trial, Skylar Nemitz's future is in the hands of the jury. Most jurors are asked to decide whether someone's guilty or innocent. That wasn't the case for you. Ralph Flick, a civil lawyer, is the jury's foreman. This is not a whodunit case. We know who did it.

He says he pulled the triggers. So our question was what was going on in his head, which was what made this case so challenging. Jurors have to determine Skyler's intent on that terrible day. If they believe he pulled that trigger to kill his wife, that's murder. And he could face more than 30 years in prison. But if he pulled it by accident, even a reckless accident, that's manslaughter. I never meant to hurt you. I love you so much, Danielle.

As the jurors deliberate, I'm hoping that it's going to be a swift verdict. Everyone else waits. The jury's been deliberating now for two days plus. Day. There's nothing I can do. It's out of my hands. After day. This is the sixth day. Who can take this way after day I'm nervous I'm wondering what the jury is doing right now I think when you play dangerous games there are consequences for jurors agreed to explain the difficult decision they had to make prosecutor said Skylar shot his young wife in a jealous rage but at at trial, there was only one witness, the Army buddy Anthony Foss, who says Schuyler Nemitz was angry that day.

Without Anthony Foss, there's no evidence of any kind of a fight that day. Nobody heard anything or saw anything. And Foss was contradicted by other witnesses, including Schuyler. I do not remember seeing Anthony Foss that day. If it's at all questionable, that whole part of the case falls apart. Jurors were troubled by Schuyler's suspicious behavior after he shot Danielle, not calling 911 and emptying bottles of alcohol. But more significant was the 12 minutes leading up to the shooting

when prosecutors claimed Schuyler was seething with anger. Jurors just didn't see it. Where did this jealous rage that led to an execution come from? And what did they think of Schuyler himself? Was he credible? He seemed very coached, very rehearsed. Yeah, seemed coached, rehearsed. Even the crying for me was a little bit like theatrical, I guess you could call it. I thought he was so unreliable every time he spoke that I don't really think that his testimony hurt him or helped him, it was really hard to believe him anything he said.

But what troubled jurors most was how Schuyler, a firearms expert, could make this kind of mistake. Brad Hardesty is a retired Army soldier. Never point the weapon in the direction of anybody and pull the trigger like that, believing that it's unloaded. To me, there was one key fact in the whole case. Did Skyler know or did he believe that there was a bullet in the chamber? So jurors did their own test, recreating what the state's gun expert had demonstrated in the courtroom. Was it possible that Skyler thought the gun was unloaded? Yeah, absolutely.

A round could have been in the chamber and Skyler pulled back on the charging handle. Nothing came out. He thinks it's empty. The bolt goes back forward and he pulls the trigger. Still, what about that perfect shot right to the center of Danielle's head?

Now, you might believe that it's not or it's unlikely but it still could have been. It's a reasonable conclusion that it could have been a mistake. If they could have given me one good piece of evidence that proves that there could have been intent, I might have taken that and said, well, it's good enough for me, but it wasn't there. After seven long days, the jurors finally agree on a verdict.

When the verdict form is handed to the judge, there is nothing like it. That moment when you know what your fate is going to be, wow. Find the defendant guilty of manslaughter in the first degree. Guilty of manslaughter in the first degree. The reckless taking of a life. It's a win of sorts for the defense. A terrible disappointment for prosecutors. Before Skyler is taken to jail, he and his mother are allowed a final goodbye. Three weeks later,

inmate Skylar Nemitz is back in court to learn his sentence. Danette is there. So are Danielle's friends and family, including her younger sister. All eyes are on Skylar as he addresses Judge Jack Nevin. It was about Danielle, and it always will be.

They were my actions and my actions alone, and I take full responsibility for them. I was reckless and negligent, and for that I will pay. And then Skyler apologizes. I'm sorry to everybody here. For what he's done. Most of all, I'm sorry to Danielle. I'm sorry that she was ripped out from this world,

and I'm sorry to her friends and family, and I accept any punishment that you give me. With that, Judge Nevin gives Skylar Nemitz the maximum sentence. Thirteen and a half years in prison. Watching from the back of the courtroom are some of the jurors. I kind of feel like I owe it to Danielle. some of the jurors i kind of feel like i owe it to danielle juror ralph flick says he will be hunted forever by this video of danielle's shooting a rifle there she is holding a weapon just like the one that killed her she finishes shooting and

she looks into the camera with this big bright smile on her face her whole future in front her, and what was lost when she was killed was to me captured in that final frame of that little clip. Skyler Nemitz is appealing the length of his sentence. Skyler Nemitz will be eligible for parole in 12 years. He will be 33 years old. If you were on the jury, how would you have voted? Chat now with correspondent Aaron Moriarty on Twitter. 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.