The Evidence Room - Encore
This episode appears to contain dynamically inserted ads. Transcript timestamps may be approximate.
The trial begins today for a local woman accused of killing her husband on New Year's Eve. It happened so fast and he had put his hand over my nose and my mouth and I couldn't breathe and he's shoving me, he's like, "Go to the bedroom, bitch, go to the bedroom!" and I'm going, I'm like, "Okay, okay, okay, I'm going, I'm going!" My name is Scott Rotor, I'm an evidence specialist. I received a phone call, the domestic homicide case, a woman who's being accused of murder. And I'm like, I'm gonna call the cops and he grabbed me and he shook me like this and he took my phone and you guys, "I'll give you a f***ing reason to call the cops, you dumb bitch, I'll give you a f***ing reason!" And he wiped out and he left, he left the room and he went down the hallway screaming it over and over again. Everybody was really interested in this trial because it was this small town with this beautiful young lady who's being accused of this horrible crime. I walked down into the hallway and I had the gun at my side. He said, "What do you think you're going?" and I said, "I'm leaving, I'm going," and he started to walk towards me and he raised the gun. We've got a dead man and we've got a woman whose life is hanging the balance. She's the only eyewitness to this situation. And then it was over, it was so quick and he was on the ground and I was still holding the weapon out and I was still pulling the trigger. Some people were immediately making a judgment for, "This is a battered woman." My daughter is innocent, she's innocent of murder. And then some other people were immediately making a judgment cold-blooded killer. How could she even do that? I think she's a monster. People want to rush to an opinion, they want to rush to the story before the evidence even has been analyzed. I stick to the physical and the forensic evidence. What was your purpose in firing that first shot? To stop Rob. I thought my life was in danger. I was just trying to stop and I was defending myself. Evidence. In a criminal court of law, it can send a defendant to prison for life or prove their innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. Tonight, on a special 48 hours, we'll go behind the closed doors of legal strategy sessions and cutting-edge evidence analysis to show just what it takes to convince a jury that you have the most compelling evidence of all. Sometimes I'll work for the defense, sometimes for the prosecution, sometimes for the plaintiff, sometimes for the defendant. I look at the totality of the evidence and put it together, kind of like a puzzle. This isn't about emotion. We evaluate the evidence, we conduct experiments, we reduce it to a visual presentation, and then we try to demonstrate that for the benefit of the jury. If you hire me, you get what you get, and I'm going to do my best to demonstrate what I think the truth is. Ultimately, at the end of the day, that's what we do. 48 hours, the evidence room will be right back. Well, two months ago, I moved to Los Angeles, California to open up a new office, just settling in. You know, I get the phone call on this domestic homicide case, of course, back in my hometown. Yesterday, I jumped on an airplane, and now I'm back in Cleveland. I lived in Cleveland all my life, born and raised here. Scott Roader has come home to work a murder case. We've got an interesting case. A young lady is being accused of murder. She shot and killed her husband, apparently over some sort of domestic dispute. Cleveland defense attorney Ian Friedman has hired Scott and his company to help convince a jury that his client had only one choice, kill or be killed. Thanks for coming on board. Scott Roader is not a lawyer, not a detective, and not a forensic scientist. His specialty, using evidence to create visual presentations of a crime. Who's the defendant in this case? The defendant in this case is Colleen McCurnan, 20 years old, white female, married to Rob McCurnan. The victim? The victim, yes. Colleen has been charged with one-count murder. This happened on New Year's Eve, in the minutes just before the ball would drop. New Year's Eve, December 31, 2014. Colleen and Robert McCurnan went out to celebrate with friends, but wound up at each other's throats. Back at home, their night ended with this call. Rob was found lying face up with ten shots, nine millimeter casings surrounding the body,
Transcription truncated.
Accused of murder, a young woman’s life hangs in the balance. "48 Hours" goes behind the scenes with her lawyer and a forensic animator -- can they save her? CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith investigates.