This story beforehand aired on July 2, 2016.
Seven years after she shot her husband of their suburban front room, Linda Duffey Gwozdz was in a Los Angeles County court docket denying, as strongly as she might, that she is a murderess.
“This was a horrible accident,” she cried in court docket, along with her late husband’s kinfolk wanting on. “I want and pray always that I might be capable to take away your ache, however I can not.”
This case isn’t a whodunit; it is extra of a why’d she do it? Linda admitted she shot her husband, Patrick Duffey, in 2007, however she stated it was an terrible, and unlikely, accident. She has needed to persuade authorities that reality may be stranger than fiction, as a result of her authorized protection has featured, amongst different issues, a solid of cartoon characters.
Her lawyer used the phrases of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd to clarify her actions as he insisted she is harmless.
Linda talked to police voluntarily and and not using a lawyer simply hours after the taking pictures:
Linda Duffey to police: It was pointed down … and the subsequent assume I do know, his head was proper there! … he was simply laying there!
Shaun McCarthy and Shannon Laren are veteran murder detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division for 13 years. Forgive the cliché, however they actually did assume they’d just about seen all of it.
Then, on April 26, 2007, they bought a name a few taking pictures on the Duffey’s home in suburban Whittier:
Linda Duffey to 911: My husband was gonna go taking pictures … and I by accident shot him. We’d like assist.
911 operator: OK, keep on the road with me ma’am …
The detectives discovered Patrick Duffey useless on the sofa; his left hand was in his pocket.
“And his proper knee was being supported by a pillow. Very comfy, relaxed,” Sgt. Laren informed “48 Hours” correspondent Richard Schlesinger.
There was blood pooled on the ground and splattered on the wall.
“There was a reasonably good sized blood puddle…” Laren stated, pointing to the ground on the finish of the sofa the place Patrick Duffey’s head rested.
“Clearly he had a gunshot wound to the pinnacle,” stated Lt. McCarthy.
The couple’s two teenage sons, Sean and Thomas, have been at college, so Linda was the one surviving witness. Det. Laren had a humorous feeling.
“It regarded like he’d been sleeping on the sofa,” he stated, “and someone simply walked up and shot him in his sleep.”
“I used to be leaning … that this was an accident,” stated McCarthy.
Detective McCarthy has been investigating murder instances for about 13 years and is aware of easy methods to spot even the tiniest clues. He noticed little or no that made him suspicious.
“Did you guys disagree often on instances?” Schlesinger requested the detectives.
“I disagree with all of my companions on each case,” McCarthy replied.
“How does that work?” Schlesinger requested.
“I believe we form of wait till we now have extra data,” stated Laren.
“I needed to listen to her story,” stated McCarthy.
“She was very entertaining … liked to inform tales,” stated Julie Prendergast, who has been listening to Linda’s tales since they first grew to become associates in a school music program within the Nineteen Eighties.
“She stated, ‘Effectively, truly I am from Eire,” Prendergast stated. “And he or she began speaking with what I assumed was a reasonably phony accent. …That was my first indication that Linda was slightly bit completely different.”
Prendergast stated Linda may very well be irreverent, even goofy.
“I’d … say, ‘Linda … I am gonna inform you one thing and also you’re gonna wish to snort, however we’re in school proper now so do not snort out loud.’ And it could simply come out anyway,” she stated.
After they left college the 2 associates ended up working on the identical place. And in the future, Prendergast stated, Linda known as with some information.
“She stated, ‘I am so excited. I am getting married, and I might such as you to be in my marriage ceremony!'” she stated.
Pam Nylen
The groom was a person Linda had met 4 years earlier: Patrick Duffey, a radio engineer, gun fanatic, and personal pilot.
“She simply stated it was like her dream come true and she or he could not be happier,” stated Prendergast.
Patrick’s sister, Katherine Hunt, stated he and Linda have been soul mates and playmates.
“They appeared blissful as a household. …They perceive one another,” she defined. “They have been kidding with one another, joking with one another.”
Linda Duffey to police: We’re simply all the time simply joking round with one another and fooling around and having an excellent time…
And it was that silliness that grew to become a cornerstone of Linda’s story when she defined to police what occurred the day she killed her husband:
Linda Duffey to police: And I got here into the household room and he was sitting on the couch…
She stated they’d simply come again from a health care provider’s appointment. Patrick had power circulation issues. Linda stated he’d been planning to go to the taking pictures vary. His .38, certainly one of three revolvers he stored in the home, was close by.
Linda Duffey to police: We hold it on this little locked field…
Linda informed police she normally stayed away from the weapons. However that day, she picked up the .38.
“And the story bought stranger because it went on,” stated McCarthy.
Linda Duffey to police: We do that little foolish factor. We all the time form of relate little foolish conversations to, like, cartoons that we have seen once we have been youthful and stuff. And he does this foolish little Elmer Fudd voice: “No extra buwwets.”
“And he or she claims she stated to him, ‘No extra buwwets?’ in Elmer’s Fudd’s voice,” McCarthy defined. “And he or she stated his response was, ‘No extra buwwets.'”
Linda stated it was a recreation they performed on a regular basis. And when her husband stated ‘no extra bullets’ in his Elmer Fudd voice, she took it to imply the gun was empty; that it was protected to strive one thing Patrick had taught her.
“She stated that she then needed to impress him by exhibiting him she will be able to shoot it cowboy type,” stated McCarthy.
It is known as fan firing, and any fan of westerns is aware of it; you maintain the set off down and hold pulling again the hammer so the gun fires rapidly.
Linda Duffey to police: He informed me there was no bullets within the gun.
She stated as soon as she began fan firing, she could not cease in time to keep away from hitting her husband, who leaned into the road of fireplace.
Linda Duffey to police [crying]: …and the subsequent factor I do know he —his head was proper there.
“The assertion in regards to the fan firing, it simply did not sound correct,” stated Laren.
However his companion, Lt. McCarthy, who had heard his share of loopy explanations from suspected killers, listened to that panicked 911 tape, listened to Linda’s story and concluded the story was simply wacky sufficient to be true.
“The overwhelming feeling that I bought from her was she was odd at greatest and eccentric at worst,” he stated.
After the detectives interviewed Linda for an hour, they let her go residence.
“Once you left work that day did you’ve got in your thoughts that she was a suspect?” Schlesinger requested McCarthy.
“No,” he replied.
His intestine informed him Linda was harmless, however he’d want extra. He’d want science.
IS FACT STRANGER THAN FICTION?
When he first studied the scene the place Linda Duffey killed her husband, Det. Shaun McCarthy was fairly positive it was an accident. He believed her story that she had reenacted their favourite Bugs Bunny cartoon after which fan fired the gun.
And when he talked to Linda later that day, she stated nothing that made him doubt her:
Lt. McCarthy: Begin with whenever you bought up this morning
Linda Duffey: It’s my fault.
Lt. McCarthy: No, it is not your fault. … it is simply that we have to perceive …
Detectives Laren and McCarthy have been starting to know extra about what occurred contained in the Duffey residence, particularly after they talked to the health worker, who had simply achieved an post-mortem on Patrick Duffey.
“There was a second gunshot wound,” stated McCarthy.
Linda Duffey claimed this was an accident, however she had shot her husband within the head not as soon as, however twice. Consider it or not, even seasoned investigators can miss that form of clue on the crime scene.
“You would not see the second gunshot wound?” Schlesinger requested.
“As a result of dry blood and the quantity of blood and coagulated blood … we weren’t aware of the second gunshot wound,” stated McCarthy.
“What did you make of that?” Schlesinger requested.
“Effectively, it is — it definitely was a pink flag,” McCarthy replied.
Nevertheless it was not only a pink flag for McCarthy’s companion, Shannon Laren. It was extra like a vivid pink arrow pointing proper at Linda Duffey.
“There was so many extremely unbelievable occasions that may’ve needed to have all lined up for this to really have been an accident,” he defined. “They did not line up.”
Nonetheless, McCarthy was not satisfied. “Why did not you simply say this has bought to be homicide?” Schlesinger requested.
“As a result of I wanted to be satisfied myself that this was homicide,” McCarthy replied. “The very last thing on this planet I wanna do is ship an … harmless particular person to jail for the remainder of their lives.”
It wasn’t sufficient for McCarthy to know what occurred. He needed to know why it occurred.
“We struggled to discover a compelling motive. And we regarded. And we regarded. And we regarded,” he stated.
However they could not actually discover one. The Duffeys gave the impression to be a median center class household dwelling within the Los Angeles suburbs. There was a life insurance coverage coverage on Patrick, however they’d purchased it many years earlier. There was no proof of dishonest. And contemplating her persona, McCarthy could not simply dismiss Linda’s story.
“It is like, ‘OK, perhaps this might’ve occurred the best way she says, ‘trigger she’s so quirky and eccentric,” he stated.
Nevertheless it was about to get slightly more durable for McCarthy to imagine Linda’s story due to Tracy Peck, a firearms professional for the sheriff’s division who was introduced into the case by McCarthy and Laren.
Keep in mind, in keeping with Linda, she fired the best way they did within the motion pictures. It’s doable to do this fairly simply — with the correct of gun.
The weapons used within the cowboy motion pictures have been single-action weapons. You’ll be able to simply hold firing rapidly by pulling and releasing the hammer whereas the set off is held again.
“When the hammer is fanned, the cylinder will rotate with such a gun. So it’s going to fireplace the cartridges within the chambers of the cylinder as its being fanned,” Peck demonstrated.
The Duffeys had two single-action revolvers in the home. However the gun Linda used to shoot her husband was not certainly one of them. It was a double-action revolver — and there is a large distinction.
“The shooter merely pulls the set off, which accomplishes each cocking the hammer and releasing the hammer. And the gun will fireplace,” Peck demonstrated.
To fast fireplace a double-action revolver, the shooter has to do all types of issues on the proper time and in the correct sequence.
Requested if that kind of gun is designed to be fired that means, Peck stated, “No.”
“For the needs of this case, I basically invented a means by which I’d conceivably fan this. That included pulling the set off, releasing the set off, fanning the hammer, pulling the set off, releasing the set off, and fanning the hammer, however doing it fairly rapidly,” Peck demonstrated.
And Peck stated it is very arduous to goal whereas doing all that. She stated the sudden, deafening noise of the gun, and the recoil, would have alarmed Linda if she did not know the gun was loaded.
In response to Peck, it could have been subsequent to unimaginable for Linda, who claimed to be an newbie, to shoot her husband twice, quickly by chance — particularly for the reason that wounds have been so shut collectively.
“I do not discover it a really plausible story,” she informed Schlesinger.
“I nonetheless needed to imagine her,” McCarthy stated of Linda. “Nevertheless it clearly could not have gone down the best way that she stated it went down.”
By now, Detective McCarthy was all however sure that Patrick Duffey’s demise was no accident, however the two detectives felt they did not have sufficient to show it. Due to a heavy workload — it took two years — however in January 2009, McCarthy and Laren introduced Linda again in for one more chat.
The dialog was recorded:
Linda Duffey to police: He confirmed me easy methods to do it actually quick. He goes, “You gotta do it just like the cowboys.”
“Effectively, within the second interview — I believe we have been each satisfied that this was a homicide,” stated McCarthy.
The detectives confirmed her a video of Tracy Peck fan firing the gun.
“I believe she was definitely shocked once we defined to her how troublesome it could be,” McCarthy stated. “I might inform the sunshine bulb went on in her mind. And he or she stated… I gotta at the very least change the story slightly bit.”
Linda now stated she and her husband had practiced fan firing with an unloaded revolver for years:
Linda Duffey to police: Perhaps like, yeah, 15, 20 instances.
Requested if he believed her this time, McCarthy informed Schlesinger, “No.”
However the detectives needed to provide Linda one final likelihood to point out them how she fired the gun. They made her an uncommon provide.
“Meet us on the vary. We’ll convey an actual duplicate and present us how one can fireplace this gun within the method that you just stated,” stated McCarthy.
The detectives have been sure Linda wouldn’t kill once more, in order that they let her go residence once more and waited to listen to from her about their provide. Days become weeks, then months, and life went on on the murder bureau.
“We modified companions,” Det. Laren stated. “And when that occurs, you begin getting new instances. …And different instances begin falling via the wayside.”
Because the years handed, Linda may need thought she was off the hook, however her previous was about meet up with her.
“The district lawyer stated, ‘I am gonna file this case. And you could go get her,'” stated McCarthy.
A NEW LOOK AT THE CASE
With no information for practically 5 years, Patrick Duffey’s brother, John, and sister, Katherine Hunt, thought the police had determined his demise was an accident and had closed the investigation. However Hunt stated she had a tough time believing what Linda informed her when she known as on that terrible day.
“She was incoherent,” Hunt recalled. “And I stated, ‘What occurred?’ ‘He was cleansing his gun, and it by accident went off.'”
Linda informed police that she had shot Patrick by chance, however later that evening she informed his siblings he’d shot himself.
“May you image him having that form of an accident? ” Schlesinger requested Hunt.
“No, completely not,” she replied. “We have been raised with weapons.”
“And we have been taught to empty our … weapons earlier than even coming into the home. And that was just like the primary rule,” stated John Duffey.
“It was arduous to imagine that he had achieved one thing like that,” stated Hunt.
And Hunt realized she was proper the day after Patrick died, when she met Linda on the funeral residence.
“I stated, ‘The place was he shot?’ And he or she went like this. Identical to that,” she stated, tapping the highest of her head. “That is when it hit me that he did not shoot himself… I stated, ‘So inform me what actually occurred’ … she stated, ‘Oh, you are gonna hate me, you are gonna hate me.’ … I stated, ‘No, I am not gonna hate you, however I must know what the reality is.’ …And I stated, ‘Did you shoot my brother within the head?’ And he or she stated, ‘Sure.'”
It was there, within the funeral residence the place Hunt first heard the story of Elmer Fudd.
“Pat had informed her, ‘No bullets.’ Like, ‘No buwwets,’ like — like Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, as a result of they might discuss in cartoon characters typically,” Hunted laughed. “She thought the gun wasn’t loaded, and it went off. …I could not fairly perceive why she had lied. If it was an accident, it was an accident. However she had lied to us.”
However police nonetheless needed to show she had lied to them about why she shot him. Detectives had interrogated her twice, and launched her twice. The second time they let her go they’d made that uncommon provide to satisfy her on the firing vary.
“We even informed her, ‘it may be at your comfort,'” stated McCarthy.
They weren’t shocked after they did not hear again from her and several other months later they stopped by the Duffey’s home and noticed a “For Sale” signal. Her sons have been residence.
“They usually stated … ‘She’s on her honeymoon in Italy,'” stated McCarthy.
Two years after the taking pictures, Linda Duffey was Linda Gwozdz — newly married to Lawrence Gwozdz, a world class saxophone participant.
“Once we Googled him, he was enjoying in Carnegie Corridor,” stated McCarthy.
And as soon as once more when marriage ceremony bells rang, so did Julie Prendergast’s cellphone.
“She requested me would I sing in that marriage ceremony. And I stated, ‘What?'” Prendergast stated. “‘Linda, I am not coming to your marriage ceremony. …one thing’s not proper, surrounding the demise of Patrick.'”
Prendergast stated she was uneasy with how Linda simply moved on.
“She dyed her hair blonde. She was sporting completely different type of garments. She gave the impression to be strolling on air, on clouds, like oh, simply as blissful as may be,” she stated.
A yr after taking pictures her first husband, Linda met Gwozdz on-line. She moved to Mississippi the place her new husband was a music professor. She was out of sight, however for detectives Shannon Laren and Shaun McCarthy, she was not out of thoughts.
“Did you neglect about this case? Was there a time period the place -” Schlesinger requested the detectives.
“Oh, no. Completely not,” Lt. McCarthy replied.
When their workload with their new companions permitted, McCarthy and Laren every turned their consideration again to Linda. They needed to take a brand new have a look at the blood proof with a brand new professional, Paul Delhauer. He studied the images and police stories and concluded Linda needed to be mendacity. Primarily based on her statements, police believed Linda was claiming that she had fired rapidly and from the identical spot.
“She moved and the — the relative place of the gun to the pinnacle modified,” stated Delhauer.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. 
Standing subsequent to the sofa the place Duffey died, Delhauer stated the blood proof informed him so much — particularly the tiny stains on Linda’s clothes and the partitions, known as spatter, which he says got here from the primary shot.
“The barrel needs to be inside about three inches of the pinnacle in an effort to produce the spatter,” he defined.
Delhauer stated the second shot created a big pool of blood on the ground — within the actual spot the place Linda stated she was standing.
“…she would’ve been getting jets of blood hitting her,” Delhauer identified.
Requested if Linda had any blood on her, Laren stated, “Little or no. Very, little or no.”
Police thought they now had proof that Linda was mendacity — she did not have sufficient blood on her after the taking pictures to assist her story. Laren and McCarthy thought they knew what actually occurred.
“She took goal, fired one spherical whereas he was sleeping … realized he wasn’t useless … comes again on course, fires the second spherical, and that is why they’re inside two inches of one another,” stated McCarthy.
They imagine Patrick’s demise wasn’t an accident; it was an execution. By 2012, the brand new prosecutor assigned to the case was keen to maneuver forward. And police started speaking to Linda’s co-workers.
“Boy, that was very revealing,” McCarthy stated. “They persistently talked about how … she was so charming. However then as time went on, they began discovering out that she was this compulsive liar.”
And Julie Prendergast had a couple of tales to inform about her one-time buddy’s file when it got here to telling the reality.
“All of us have one gallbladder. Linda had hers eliminated 3 times,” Prendergast stated. “Linda simply all the time wanted — appeared to wish to have consideration.”
It was sufficient for McCarthy. “I grew to become completely satisfied that we have to prosecute her,” he stated.
Lastly in Might 2012, 5 years after Patrick Duffey’s demise, Lt. McCarthy flew to Mississippi the place Linda and her new husband have been dwelling in a cushty residence and she or he had gotten a job on the college.
“You knock on the door,” Schlesinger stated to McCarthy. “What’s her response?”
“Her response was … ‘I assumed the investigation was throughout,'” he replied.
The investigation wasn’t over. McCarthy arrested Linda Duffey Gwozdz for homicide. And everybody was in for some surprises.
LINDA DUFFEY GWOZDZ GOES ON TRIAL
Six years after Linda Duffey shot her husband to demise, she thought she was happening along with her life with a brand new husband, a brand new home, a brand new look, and a brand new city. However now, she was happening trial for homicide.
“Sadly, on this explicit day, she was going to play with the gun once more like she’d achieved so many instances earlier than and she or he fast fired it into the highest of his head. It was a whole accident,” stated her lawyer, Joseph Low.
Low argued that, based mostly partly on the phrases of Elmer Fudd — “No extra buwwets” — Linda thought the .38 revolver was empty.
“Did you ever think about the likelihood that this — what we’ll name a Bugs Bunny protection, for lack of a greater time period, may very well be true?” Schlesinger requested Prosecutor Legal professional Robert Villa.
“Zero p.c likelihood it is true,” he replied.
Robert Villa stated in 27 years on the job, he is by no means seen a protection rely even partly on a cartoon.
Watching a prosecutor parrot a bunny was a primary for “48 Hours” too, however an official transcript of the cartoon needed to be made.
“Bugs is having a dialog with Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd,” Villa defined earlier than studying the transcript. “‘What have you learnt, no extra buwwets.’ After which Bugs Bunny says ‘No extra buwwets?’
“As they’re having this dialog, simply as she was about to fan fireplace the gun, he laid down and put his personal head proper in entrance of the gun,” Villa stated of Linda’s account. “It is so ridiculous.”
“You realize and I do know, unusual issues do occur,” Schlesinger famous.
“Unusual issues occur. This wasn’t certainly one of them,” Villa replied. “He was asleep. She shot him within the head twice.”
“It was that easy, open and shut?” Schlesinger requested.
“For me, it was,” stated Villa.
Nevertheless it wasn’t so easy for the jury. Over two weeks they heard three recordings of Linda’s statements to authorities about cartoon rabbits and cowboy fan firing. In addition they heard days of testimony from dueling forensics consultants about whether or not Linda’s clarification made any sense in any respect. It was so much for the jury to think about.
“It was troublesome,” juror Brandie Jones stated. “For each professional there’s one other one who can inform you a unique story.”
The protection questioned whether or not prosecution professional witness Paul Delhauer was actually an professional in any respect. The jurors deliberated for a day, however couldn’t attain a verdict.
“Only a few of us thought the intent was there,” Jones stated. “So how do you convict someone when it might have occurred precisely the best way she defined it?”
With a deadlocked jury, the decide had no alternative and needed to declare a mistrial.
“It sends a transparent message that the jury wasn’t prepared to convict on homicide,” stated protection lawyer Joseph Low.
“Had been you dissatisfied?” Schlesinger requested Prosecutor Villa.
“I am all the time dissatisfied when there is not any verdict, as a result of meaning I’ve to do it once more,” he replied.
And roughly one yr later, with Linda having remained in jail, Villa was doing it once more. This time his case could be very completely different – streamlined and easy.
“He laid down on the sofa,” Villa addressed the court docket in his opening. “His spouse got here as much as him, put a gun between one and 7 inches from his head, and pulled the set off. …A while glided by. She pulled the set off once more.”
He stated the Duffey’s marriage was strained and Linda thought she may need to deal with her ailing husband.
“She’s like, ‘I am not gonna wait on this man for the remainder of his life,'” Villa informed Schlesinger.
“This was a premeditated and deliberate homicide,” he informed the court docket.
For his opening arguments, protection lawyer Joseph Low introduced his personal couch to the courtroom to current this as a easy case.
“No motive, no intent, no crime,” he informed the court docket. “Pat was her greatest buddy, and she or he was his. … One of many issues they liked to do is to observe cartoons collectively… They have been kinda goofy.”
However there are numerous facets to this trial which are, if you’ll, offbeat.
Decide John Torribio has a popularity for lightening the ambiance for the jury.
“One in every of you requested the clerk about how the cameras work. Effectively, they’re solely on me,” Decide Torribio joked to the jurors, who laughed in response. “I am the star, so don’t be concerned.”
However issues rapidly bought severe when the district lawyer took jurors again to the second proper after Linda Duffey shot her husband:
Linda Duffey to 911: My husband was going to go taking pictures and he was exhibiting me easy methods to use a gun and I shot him. … He stated there have been no bullets within the gun! …I assumed that is what he informed me.
“It is arduous to make out among the phrases ‘trigger she will be able to’t even discuss,” Low informed jurors about Lind;a 911 name to police.
“She sounds terrified and frantic to me. What does she sound wish to you?” Schlesinger requested Villa.
“She seems like somebody who’s appearing,” he replied.
Utilizing the firearm to exhibit, Tracy Peck informed the jury Linda needed to pull the set off on the gun twice to get two bullets to fireplace.
“If I don’t launch the set off, the cylinder is not going to advance,” she testified.
The massive shock on this trial is what prosecutor Robert Villa leaves out.
“I ask that folks’s reveals 1 via 35 be admitted into proof, and with that I relaxation,” he informed the court docket.
“I rested my case after principally two-and-a-half days,” he informed Schlesinger.
In contrast to the primary trial, there was little or no dense forensic testimony about blood stains and, most crucially, he didn’t introduce Linda’s taped interviews with police, the place she first mentioned Bugs Bunny.
“There was no want for Bugs Bunny,” Schlesinger famous to Villa.
“No want, until she took the stand,” he stated.
Villa has thrown protection lawyer Joseph Low a curve ball. Because the protection is not allowed to introduce the police interrogations until the State does first, the one means jurors will hear Linda’s aspect of the story is that if she takes the stand and exposes herself to cross examination.
“Had been you hoping she would take the stand?” Schlesinger requested.
“Completely,” Villa replied.
“Had been you prepared?”
“Completely.”
Low started his protection with an excellent offense. His first witness was the detective who at first didn’t assume Linda was a murderess:
Joseph Low: Once you’re achieved asking her questions, you allowed Mrs. Duffey to go residence.
Lt. Shaun McCarthy: Right.
“Speaking to her … was very convincing to me,” McCarthy informed Schlesinger. “She was eccentric and, how might she hurt anyone?”
Joseph Low: You wouldn’t let someone who you thought had simply dedicated a homicide return out on the road … Is not that right, sir?
Robert Villa: Objection, relevance.
Decide Torribio: Sustained.
“That evening I appreciated her. Because the investigation went on, I appreciated her so much much less,” stated McCarthy.
Low tried to color a sympathetic image of Linda by calling her sons to the stand.
“She’s a really emotional, caring particular person,” Thomas Duffey testified.
“We have been all the time actually blissful,” Sean Duffey informed the court docket. “They appreciated cartoons so much. They have been all the time making humorous jokes to one another … all the time poked enjoyable at one another and stuff.”
The protection has a really large determination to make: will Linda take the stand herself?
“And if she took the stand, we have been gonna hear all about Bugs Bunny,” stated Villa.
Linda determined to not take the stand. Frightened that the jury will hear nothing about fan firing, her lawyer comes up with an thought.
“I might wish to refer the court docket and counsel to web page 5 of the 911 transcript,” Low addressed the court docket.
He discovered a reference to it within the 911 tape prosecutors have already launched.
“A very long time in the past he confirmed me easy methods to pull the factor again on the highest of the gun and pull the set off it quick,” the Decide Torribio learn aloud.
So Low is allowed to name firearms professional Lance Martini, who stated fan firing a double-action gun like Linda claims she did is not so far-fetched in spite of everything.
Lance Martini: This may be achieved. It is not overly widespread, nevertheless it definitely may be achieved.
Joseph Low: Is it humanly doable to shoot multiple spherical in lower than a second? Double-action mode?
Lance Marini: Sure it’s.
“There is not any means, completely no means that it occurred that means,” Villa informed Schlesinger.
In his closing, Villa informed jurors, “This was an execution.”
The jurors in Linda’s second trial by no means bought to see any cartoons, however they did see an animation produced by the prosecutor. It’s no laughing matter; it makes an attempt to reply a lethal severe query: what occurred to Patrick Duffey?
The video animation of a girl taking pictures her husband within the head twice does not go away a lot to creativeness, though the protection, in closing arguments, stated it and the remainder of the State’s case are all a fantasy.
“She by accident shot her husband,” Low informed the court docket. “It ain’t proper, it is not truthful to guess someone right into a conviction, guess someone right into a concrete tomb.”
“All of it comes down as to if it is one phrase or two phrases from the jury,” Schlesinger commented to Villa. “Responsible or not responsible.”
“Right,” he replied.
A TALE OF TWO JURIES
It has been an extended highway – now practically seven years since Patrick Duffey died and one yr after a jury deadlocked in his spouse’s first homicide trial. This time, the jury got here again in simply over 24 hours:
“We the jury above and titled motion discover the defendant Linda Doreen Gwozdz responsible of the crime of second-degree homicide…”
The responsible verdict floored Linda, who collapsed whereas leaving the courtroom. It hit her lawyer arduous, too; he waved off the digital camera. For his half, the prosecutor is extra relieved than the rest.
“I am happy that I haven’t got to strive it a 3rd time,” Villa stated.
“You noticed how she reacted,” Schlesinger commented to Villa.
“Sure,” he stated. “I’ve all the time thought she was an actress, so, that was her second.”
Patrick Duffey’s sister, Katherine Hunt, has waited years for today.
“That is the primary time I noticed her actually cry,” she stated following the decision. “She did not get away with murdering my brother.”
When it got here time to condemn Linda three months later, it was her final likelihood to deal with the court docket:
“I needed to let all of you know the way grieved I really feel. Most of all to Patrick and — my lovely sons, Sean and Thomas, since you misplaced such a loving fantastic father,” she stated.
Her sons strive their greatest to ask for leniency.
“If there’s something you are able to do to assist out with my household,” Sean Duffey stated in court docket, “that is all I can ask.”
“I imagine she’s harmless, and I’ll till the day I die,” Thomas Duffey informed the decide.
Linda’s second husband, Larry Gwozdz, additionally appealed to the decide.
“To say that this was a premeditated purposeful act, I am sorry. It is unacceptable to me,” he stated.
“Take a look at these two folks, superbly in love,” Gwozdz continued, shakily holding up a photograph of himself and Linda. “Why? As a result of she’s an exquisite human being … who does not deserve this.”
However the decide does not have a lot leeway.
“On this explicit occasion the legislation mandates 40 to life, and my oath requires that I impose that,” he stated.
“48 Hours” discovered it curious that one jury couldn’t agree on a verdict in any respect and a second jury convicted Linda in a day. It’s ironic, however in these two trials it is apparently true, that, within the case in opposition to Linda Duffey Gwozdz, much less was extra.
“48 Hours” sat down with jurors from each trials to see why one jury rapidly reached a verdict, whereas the opposite by no means did.
Keep in mind, the jury that convicted Linda solely heard the naked bones prosecution — little or no about fan firing or cartoons.
“They heard much more than you heard,” Schlesinger commented to the jurors from the second trial.
“And we will solely make the choice based mostly off of the proof that we heard,” stated juror Danielle Wong.
The jurors from each trials — those who heard the lengthy story and those who heard it made quick — sat round our desk and contemplated: whereas much less could also be extra, is it sufficient?
“You are placing a girl away for the remainder of her life, so current every little thing,” stated Brandie Jones, a juror within the first trial, who voted not responsible.
“I believe I actually should agree with Brandie. Perhaps all of the proof ought to be offered,” stated Wong.
“Do you know she gave an interview to police?” Schlesinger requested.
“Uh-uh,” Wong replied, shaking her head “no.”
“Would you’ve got appreciated to?” Schlesinger requested.
“I’d have liked to listen to what she needed to say. Would which have modified my determination? Do not know. Probably,” Wong replied.
“In the event you had heard every little thing … do you assume it could have affected the deliberations?” Schlesinger requested.
“Completely,” stated Wong.
And though they made their determination, among the jurors who convicted Linda nonetheless have questions.
“Did it hassle you that they by no means stated precisely why she did it?” Schlesinger requested.
“Um, yeah, it did,” stated Wong.
“How’d you recover from that?”
“I am not over it. I nonetheless wanna know!” she replied.
“Once I heard the responsible verdict, I stated, ‘Yay, justice is lastly served,” stated Julie Prendergast.
Prendergast has little doubt the second jury did the correct factor by discovering her former buddy responsible. And he or she wonders how Linda’s life, which was as soon as so blissful, grew to become so unhappy.
“I am unhappy for everybody concerned … These two boys misplaced their father. And now, they’re dropping their mom,” she stated. “It is a tragic story … in each means you may give it some thought.”
