This tale prior to now aired on July 2, 2016.
Seven years after she shot her husband of their suburban front room, Linda Duffey Gwozdz was once in a Los Angeles County courtroom denying, as strongly as she may just, that she is a murderess.
“This was once a terrible coincidence,” she cried in courtroom, together with her past due husband’s kinfolk having a look on. “I want and pray repeatedly that I may just be capable of remove your ache, however I will be able to’t.”
This example 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 mentioned it was once an terrible, and not going, coincidence. She has needed to persuade government that truth may also be stranger than fiction, as a result of her criminal protection has featured, amongst different issues, a forged of caricature characters.
Her attorney used the phrases of Insects Bunny and Elmer Fudd to give an explanation for her movements as he insisted she is blameless.
Linda talked to police voluntarily and with no attorney simply hours after the taking pictures:
Linda Duffey to police: It was once pointed down … and the following assume I do know, his head was once proper there! … he was once 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 might just about noticed all of it.
Then, on April 26, 2007, they were given a choice a couple of taking pictures on the Duffey’s area in suburban Whittier:
Linda Duffey to 911: My husband was once gonna move taking pictures … and I by accident shot him. We want assist.
911 operator: OK, keep at the line with me ma’am …
The detectives discovered Patrick Duffey lifeless at the sofa; his left hand was once in his pocket.
“And his proper knee was once being supported by means of a pillow. Very relaxed, comfortable,” Sgt. Laren advised “48 Hours” correspondent Richard Schlesinger.
There was once blood pooled at the flooring and splattered at the wall.
“There was once a lovely excellent sized blood puddle…” Laren mentioned, pointing to the ground on the finish of the sofa the place Patrick Duffey’s head rested.
“Obviously he had a gunshot wound to the top,” mentioned Lt. McCarthy.
The couple’s two teenage sons, Sean and Thomas, had been in class, so Linda was once the one surviving witness. Det. Laren had a humorous feeling.
“It appeared like he’d been napping at the sofa,” he mentioned, “and someone simply walked up and shot him in his sleep.”
“I used to be leaning … that this was once an coincidence,” mentioned McCarthy.
Detective McCarthy has been investigating murder instances for approximately 13 years and is aware of find out how to spot even the tiniest clues. He noticed little or no that made him suspicious.
“Did you guys disagree regularly on instances?” Schlesinger requested the detectives.
“I disagree with all of my companions on each case,” McCarthy responded.
“How does that paintings?” Schlesinger requested.
“I believe we more or less wait till now we have additional info,” mentioned Laren.
“I sought after to listen to her tale,” mentioned McCarthy.
“She was once very entertaining … liked to inform tales,” mentioned Julie Prendergast, who has been paying attention to Linda’s tales since they first changed into buddies in a school track program within the Nineteen Eighties.
“She mentioned, ‘Neatly, in truth I am from Eire,” Prendergast mentioned. “And he or she began speaking with what I assumed was once a lovely phony accessory. …That was once my first indication that Linda was once a bit of bit other.”
Prendergast mentioned Linda might be irreverent, even goofy.
“I might … say, ‘Linda … I am gonna let you know one thing and you might be gonna wish to chortle, however we are in school presently so do not chortle out loud.’ And it could simply come out anyway,” she mentioned.
When they left college the 2 buddies ended up operating on the identical position. And sooner or later, Prendergast mentioned, Linda known as with some information.
“She mentioned, ‘I am so excited. I am getting married, and I might such as you to be in my wedding ceremony!'” she mentioned.
Pam Nylen 
The groom was once a person Linda had met 4 years previous: Patrick Duffey, a radio engineer, gun fanatic, and personal pilot.
“She simply mentioned it was once like her dream come true and she or he could not be happier,” mentioned Prendergast.
Patrick’s sister, Katherine Hunt, mentioned he and Linda had been soul buddies and playmates.
“They appeared glad as a circle of relatives. …They perceive each and every different,” she defined. “They had been kidding with each and every different, joking with each and every different.”
Linda Duffey to police: We are simply all the time simply joking round with each and every different and playing around and having a great time…
And it was once that silliness that changed into a cornerstone of Linda’s tale when she defined to police what came about the day she killed her husband:
Linda Duffey to police: And I got here into the circle of relatives room and he was once sitting at the settee…
She mentioned that they had simply come again from a physician’s appointment. Patrick had continual flow issues. Linda mentioned he’d been making plans to visit the taking pictures vary. His .38, considered one of 3 revolvers he stored in the home, was once close by.
Linda Duffey to police: We stay it on this little locked field…
Linda advised police she generally stayed clear of the weapons. However that day, she picked up the .38.
“And the tale were given stranger because it went on,” mentioned McCarthy.
Linda Duffey to police: We do that little foolish factor. We all the time more or less relate little foolish conversations to, like, cartoons that we now have noticed once we had been more youthful and stuff. And he does this foolish little Elmer Fudd voice: “Not more buwwets.”
“And he or she claims she mentioned to him, ‘Not more buwwets?’ in Elmer’s Fudd’s voice,” McCarthy defined. “And he or she mentioned his reaction was once, ‘Not more buwwets.'”
Linda mentioned it was once a recreation they performed at all times. And when her husband mentioned ‘not more bullets’ in his Elmer Fudd voice, she took it to imply the gun was once empty; that it was once secure to check out one thing Patrick had taught her.
“She mentioned that she then sought after to provoke him by means of appearing him she will shoot it cowboy taste,” mentioned McCarthy.
It is known as fan firing, and any fan of westerns is aware of it; you cling the cause down and stay pulling again the hammer so the gun fires temporarily.
Linda Duffey to police: He advised me there was once no bullets within the gun.
She mentioned as soon as she began fan firing, she could not forestall in time to steer clear of hitting her husband, who leaned into the road of fireside.
Linda Duffey to police [crying]: …and the following factor I do know he —his head was once proper there.
“The observation in regards to the fan firing, it simply did not sound correct,” mentioned Laren.
However his spouse, Lt. McCarthy, who had heard his proportion of loopy explanations from suspected killers, listened to that panicked 911 tape, listened to Linda’s tale and concluded the tale was once simply wacky sufficient to be true.
“The overpowering feeling that I were given from her was once she was once atypical at absolute best and kooky at worst,” he mentioned.
After the detectives interviewed Linda for an hour, they let her move house.
“Whilst you left paintings that day did you may have to your thoughts that she was once a suspect?” Schlesinger requested McCarthy.
“No,” he responded.
His intestine advised him Linda was once blameless, 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 once lovely certain it was once an coincidence. He believed her tale that she had reenacted their favourite Insects Bunny caricature after which fan fired the gun.
And when he talked to Linda later that day, she mentioned not anything that made him doubt her:
Lt. McCarthy: Get started with when you were given up this morning
Linda Duffey: It’s my fault.
Lt. McCarthy: No, it is not your fault. … it is simply that we wish to perceive …
Detectives Laren and McCarthy had been starting to perceive extra about what came about within the Duffey house, particularly once they talked to the clinical examiner, who had simply finished an post-mortem on Patrick Duffey.
“There was once a moment gunshot wound,” mentioned McCarthy.
Linda Duffey claimed this was once an coincidence, however she had shot her husband within the head no longer as soon as, however two times. Consider it or no longer, even seasoned investigators can leave out that more or less clue on the crime scene.
“It is advisable no longer see the second one gunshot wound?” Schlesinger requested.
“As a result of dry blood and the quantity of blood and coagulated blood … we were not aware of the second one gunshot wound,” mentioned McCarthy.
“What did you’re making of that?” Schlesinger requested.
“Neatly, it is — it indisputably was once a pink flag,” McCarthy responded.
However it was once no longer only a pink flag for McCarthy’s spouse, Shannon Laren. It was once extra like a shiny pink arrow pointing proper at Linda Duffey.
“There was once such a lot of extremely incredible occasions that will’ve needed to have all coated up for this to in truth had been an coincidence,” he defined. “They did not line up.”
Nonetheless, McCarthy was once no longer satisfied. “Why did not you simply say this has were given to be homicide?” Schlesinger requested.
“As a result of I had to be satisfied myself that this was once homicide,” McCarthy responded. “The very last thing on this planet I wanna do is ship an … blameless individual to jail for the remainder of their lives.”
It wasn’t sufficient for McCarthy to understand what came about. He sought after to understand why it came about.
“We struggled to discover a compelling reason. And we seemed. And we seemed. And we seemed,” he mentioned.
However they could not actually in finding one. The Duffeys gave the impression to be a median heart magnificence circle of relatives dwelling within the Los Angeles suburbs. There was once a existence insurance plans on Patrick, however they might purchased it a long time previous. There was once no proof of dishonest. And taking into consideration her character, McCarthy could not simply push aside Linda’s tale.
“It is like, ‘OK, perhaps this might’ve came about the best way she says, ‘motive she’s so quirky and kooky,” he mentioned.
However it was once about to get a bit of more difficult for McCarthy to consider Linda’s tale as a result of Tracy Peck, a firearms knowledgeable for the sheriff’s division who was once introduced into the case by means of McCarthy and Laren.
Have in mind, in line with Linda, she fired the best way they did within the motion pictures. It’s conceivable to do this lovely simply — with the proper of gun.
The weapons used within the cowboy motion pictures had been single-action weapons. You’ll simply stay firing temporarily by means of pulling and liberating the hammer whilst the cause is held again.
“When the hammer is fanned, the cylinder will rotate with this sort of gun. So it is 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 once no longer considered one of them. It was once a double-action revolver — and there is a large distinction.
“The shooter merely pulls the cause, which accomplishes each cocking the hammer and liberating the hammer. And the gun will fireplace,” Peck demonstrated.
To fast fireplace a double-action revolver, the shooter has to do all varieties of issues on the proper time and in the correct series.
Requested if that form of gun is designed to be fired that means, Peck mentioned, “No.”
“For the needs of this example, I necessarily invented some way during which I might conceivably fan this. That incorporated pulling the cause, liberating the cause, fanning the hammer, pulling the cause, liberating the cause, and fanning the hammer, however doing it lovely temporarily,” Peck demonstrated.
And Peck mentioned it is very laborious to attempt whilst doing all that. She mentioned the sudden, deafening noise of the gun, and the flinch, would have alarmed Linda if she did not know the gun was once loaded.
In keeping with Peck, it could had been subsequent to not possible for Linda, who claimed to be an newbie, to shoot her husband two times, all of a sudden accidentally — particularly because the wounds had been so shut in combination.
“I do not in finding it an overly plausible tale,” she advised Schlesinger.
“I nonetheless sought after to consider her,” McCarthy mentioned of Linda. “However it obviously could not have long past down the best way that she mentioned it went down.”
By way of now, Detective McCarthy was once all however sure that Patrick Duffey’s loss of life was once no coincidence, however the two detectives felt they did not have sufficient to turn out it. On account of a heavy workload — it took two years — however in January 2009, McCarthy and Laren introduced Linda again in for any other chat.
The dialog was once recorded:
Linda Duffey to police: He confirmed me find out how to do it actually rapid. He is going, “You gotta do it just like the cowboys.”
“Neatly, in the second one interview — I believe we had been each satisfied that this was once a homicide,” mentioned McCarthy.
The detectives confirmed her a video of Tracy Peck fan firing the gun.
“I believe she was once indisputably stunned once we defined to her how tough it could be,” McCarthy mentioned. “I may just inform the sunshine bulb went on in her mind. And he or she mentioned… I gotta a minimum of trade the tale a bit of bit.”
Linda now mentioned 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 advised Schlesinger, “No.”
However the detectives sought after to provide Linda one ultimate probability to turn them how she fired the gun. They made her an strange be offering.
“Meet us on the vary. We will deliver an actual copy and display us how you’ll fireplace this gun within the means that you simply mentioned,” mentioned McCarthy.
The detectives had been sure Linda would no longer kill once more, so that they let her move house once more and waited to listen to from her about their be offering. Days became weeks, then months, and existence went on on the murder bureau.
“We modified companions,” Det. Laren mentioned. “And when that occurs, you get started getting new instances. …And different instances get started falling in the course of the wayside.”
Because the years handed, Linda may have concept she was once off the hook, however her previous was once about meet up with her.
“The district lawyer mentioned, ‘I am gonna record this example. And you want to head get her,'” mentioned McCarthy.
A NEW LOOK AT THE CASE
And not using a information for just about 5 years, Patrick Duffey’s brother, John, and sister, Katherine Hunt, concept the police had made up our minds his loss of life was once an coincidence and had closed the investigation. However Hunt mentioned she had a troublesome time believing what Linda advised her when she known as on that terrible day.
“She was once incoherent,” Hunt recalled. “And I mentioned, ‘What came about?’ ‘He was once cleansing his gun, and it by accident went off.'”
Linda advised police that she had shot Patrick accidentally, however later that evening she advised his siblings he’d shot himself.
“May you image him having that more or less an coincidence? ” Schlesinger requested Hunt.
“No, completely no longer,” she responded. “We had been raised with weapons.”
“And we had been taught to drain our … guns earlier than even coming into the home. And that was once like the number 1 rule,” mentioned John Duffey.
“It was once laborious to consider that he had finished one thing like that,” mentioned Hunt.
And Hunt discovered she was once proper the day after Patrick died, when she met Linda on the funeral house.
“I mentioned, ‘The place was once he shot?’ And he or she went like this. Similar to that,” she mentioned, tapping the highest of her head. “That is when it hit me that he did not shoot himself… I mentioned, ‘So inform me what actually came about’ … she mentioned, ‘Oh, you might be gonna hate me, you might be gonna hate me.’ … I mentioned, ‘No, I am not gonna hate you, however I wish to know what actually.’ …And I mentioned, ‘Did you shoot my brother within the head?’ And he or she mentioned, ‘Sure.'”
It was once there, within the funeral house the place Hunt first heard the story of Elmer Fudd.
“Pat had advised her, ‘No bullets.’ Like, ‘No buwwets,’ like — like Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, as a result of they might communicate in caricature characters once in a while,” Hunted laughed. “She concept the gun wasn’t loaded, and it went off. …I could not somewhat perceive why she had lied. If it was once an coincidence, it was once an coincidence. However she had lied to us.”
However police nonetheless needed to turn out she had lied to them about why she shot him. Detectives had interrogated her two times, and launched her two times. The second one time they let her move they might made that strange be offering to satisfy her on the firing vary.
“We even advised her, ‘it may be at your comfort,'” mentioned McCarthy.
They were not surprised when they did not listen again from her and a number of other months later they stopped by means of the Duffey’s area and noticed a “For Sale” signal. Her sons had been house.
“And so they mentioned … ‘She’s on her honeymoon in Italy,'” mentioned McCarthy.
Two years after the taking pictures, Linda Duffey was once Linda Gwozdz — newly married to Lawrence Gwozdz, an international magnificence saxophone participant.
“After we Googled him, he was once taking part in in Carnegie Corridor,” mentioned McCarthy.
And as soon as once more when wedding ceremony bells rang, so did Julie Prendergast’s telephone.
“She requested me would I sing in that wedding ceremony. And I mentioned, ‘What?'” Prendergast mentioned. “‘Linda, I am not coming in your wedding ceremony. …one thing’s no longer proper, surrounding the loss of life of Patrick.'”
Prendergast mentioned she was once uneasy with how Linda simply moved on.
“She dyed her hair blonde. She was once dressed in other taste of garments. She gave the impression to be strolling on air, on clouds, like oh, simply as glad as may also be,” she mentioned.
A yr after taking pictures her first husband, Linda met Gwozdz on-line. She moved to Mississippi the place her new husband was once a track professor. She was once out of sight, however for detectives Shannon Laren and Shaun McCarthy, she was once no longer out of thoughts.
“Did you fail to remember about this example? Used to be there a time period the place -” Schlesinger requested the detectives.
“Oh, no. Completely no longer,” Lt. McCarthy responded.
When their workload with their new companions accepted, McCarthy and Laren each and every grew to become their consideration again to Linda. They sought after to take a brand new have a look at the blood proof with a brand new knowledgeable, Paul Delhauer. He studied the pictures and police experiences and concluded Linda needed to be mendacity. In response to her statements, police believed Linda was once claiming that she had fired temporarily and from the similar spot.
“She moved and the — the relative place of the gun to the top modified,” mentioned Delhauer.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. 
Status subsequent to the sofa the place Duffey died, Delhauer mentioned the blood proof advised 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 must be inside about 3 inches of the top so as to produce the spatter,” he defined.
Delhauer mentioned the second one shot created a big pool of blood at the flooring — within the precise spot the place Linda mentioned she was once status.
“…she would’ve been getting jets of blood hitting her,” Delhauer identified.
Requested if Linda had any blood on her, Laren mentioned, “Little or no. Very, little or no.”
Police concept they now had evidence that Linda was once mendacity — she did not have sufficient blood on her after the taking pictures to improve her tale. Laren and McCarthy concept they knew what actually came about.
“She took intention, fired one spherical whilst he was once napping … learned he wasn’t lifeless … comes again not off course, fires the second one spherical, and that is the reason why they are inside two inches of one another,” mentioned McCarthy.
They consider Patrick’s loss of life wasn’t an coincidence; it was once an execution. By way of 2012, the brand new prosecutor assigned to the case was once keen to transport forward. And police started chatting with Linda’s co-workers.
“Boy, that was once very revealing,” McCarthy mentioned. “They constantly mentioned how … she was once so captivating. However then as time went on, they began learning that she was once this compulsive liar.”
And Julie Prendergast had a couple of tales to inform about her one-time buddy’s document when it got here to telling the reality.
“All of us have one gallbladder. Linda had hers got rid of thrice,” Prendergast mentioned. “Linda simply all the time wanted — perceived to wish to have consideration.”
It was once sufficient for McCarthy. “I changed into completely satisfied that we wish to prosecute her,” he mentioned.
In spite of everything in Might 2012, 5 years after Patrick Duffey’s loss of life, Lt. McCarthy flew to Mississippi the place Linda and her new husband had been dwelling in a relaxed house and she or he had gotten a role on the college.
“You knock at the door,” Schlesinger mentioned to McCarthy. “What is her response?”
“Her response was once … ‘I assumed the investigation was once in all places,'” he responded.
The investigation wasn’t over. McCarthy arrested Linda Duffey Gwozdz for homicide. And everybody was once in for some surprises.
LINDA DUFFEY GWOZDZ GOES ON TRIAL
Six years after Linda Duffey shot her husband to loss of life, she concept she was once occurring together with her existence with a brand new husband, a brand new area, a brand new glance, and a brand new the city. However now, she was once occurring trial for homicide.
“Sadly, in this specific day, she was once going to play with the gun once more like she’d finished such a lot of instances earlier than and she or he fast fired it into the highest of his head. It was once a whole coincidence,” mentioned her lawyer, Joseph Low.
Low argued that, based totally in part at the phrases of Elmer Fudd — “Not more buwwets” — Linda concept the .38 revolver was once empty.
“Did you ever imagine the likelihood that this — what we’re going to name a Insects Bunny protection, for lack of a higher time period, might be true?” Schlesinger requested Prosecutor Lawyer Robert Villa.
“0 % probability it is true,” he responded.
Robert Villa mentioned in 27 years at the task, he is by no means noticed a protection depend even in part on a caricature.
Observing a prosecutor parrot a bunny was once a primary for “48 Hours” too, however an professional transcript of the caricature needed to be made.
“Insects is having a dialog with Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd,” Villa defined earlier than studying the transcript. “‘What are you aware, not more buwwets.’ After which Insects Bunny says ‘Not more buwwets?’
“As they are having this dialog, simply as she was once about to fan fireplace the gun, he laid down and put his personal head proper in entrance of the gun,” Villa mentioned of Linda’s account. “It is so ridiculous.”
“You realize and I do know, ordinary issues do occur,” Schlesinger famous.
“Bizarre issues occur. This wasn’t considered one of them,” Villa responded. “He was once asleep. She shot him within the head two times.”
“It was once that straightforward, open and close?” Schlesinger requested.
“For me, it was once,” mentioned Villa.
However it wasn’t so easy for the jury. Over two weeks they heard 3 recordings of Linda’s statements to government about caricature rabbits and cowboy fan firing. Additionally they heard days of testimony from dueling forensics professionals about whether or not Linda’s clarification made any sense in any respect. It was once so much for the jury to imagine.
“It was once tough,” juror Brandie Jones mentioned. “For each knowledgeable there may be any other one that can let you know a special tale.”
The protection puzzled whether or not prosecution knowledgeable witness Paul Delhauer was once actually knowledgeable in any respect. The jurors deliberated for an afternoon, however may just no longer achieve a verdict.
“Only a few people concept the intent was once there,” Jones mentioned. “So how do you convict someone when it will have came about precisely the best way she defined it?”
With a deadlocked jury, the pass judgement on had no selection and needed to claim a mistrial.
“It sends a transparent message that the jury wasn’t keen to convict on homicide,” mentioned protection lawyer Joseph Low.
“Have been you disenchanted?” Schlesinger requested Prosecutor Villa.
“I am all the time disenchanted when there is no verdict, as a result of that suggests I’ve to do it once more,” he responded.
And kind of 12 months later, with Linda having remained in prison, Villa was once doing it once more. This time his case could be very other – streamlined and easy.
“He laid down at the sofa,” Villa addressed the courtroom 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 cause. …A while went by means of. She pulled the cause once more.”
He mentioned the Duffey’s marriage was once strained and Linda concept she may must deal with her sick husband.
“She’s like, ‘I am not gonna wait in this man for the remainder of his existence,'” Villa advised Schlesinger.
“This was once a premeditated and planned homicide,” he advised the courtroom.
For his opening arguments, protection lawyer Joseph Low introduced his personal settee to the court docket to provide this as a easy case.
“No reason, no intent, no crime,” he advised the courtroom. “Pat was once her absolute best buddy, and she or he was once his. … Some of the issues they liked to do is to observe cartoons in combination… They had been kinda goofy.”
However there are lots of sides to this trial which are, if you’re going to, offbeat.
Pass judgement on John Torribio has a name for lightening the ambience for the jury.
“Considered one of you requested the clerk about how the cameras paintings. Neatly, they are best on me,” Pass judgement on Torribio joked to the jurors, who laughed in reaction. “I am the famous person, so do not be concerned.”
However issues temporarily were given critical when the district lawyer took jurors again to the instant proper after Linda Duffey shot her husband:
Linda Duffey to 911: My husband was once going to head taking pictures and he was once appearing me find out how to use a gun and I shot him. … He mentioned there have been no bullets within the gun! …I assumed that is what he advised me.
“It is laborious to make out one of the vital phrases ‘motive she can not even communicate,” Low advised jurors about Lind;a 911 name to police.
“She sounds terrified and frantic to me. What does she sound love to you?” Schlesinger requested Villa.
“She seems like any individual who’s performing,” he responded.
The usage of the firearm to show, Tracy Peck advised the jury Linda needed to pull the cause at the gun two times to get two bullets to fireplace.
“If I don’t free up the cause, the cylinder won’t advance,” she testified.
The large marvel on this trial is what prosecutor Robert Villa leaves out.
“I ask that individuals’s shows 1 via 35 be admitted into proof, and with that I leisure,” he advised the courtroom.
“I rested my case after principally two-and-a-half days,” he advised Schlesinger.
Not like the primary trial, there was once little or no dense forensic testimony about blood stains and, maximum crucially, he didn’t introduce Linda’s taped interviews with police, the place she first mentioned Insects Bunny.
“There was once no use for Insects Bunny,” Schlesinger famous to Villa.
“Little need, until she took the stand,” he mentioned.
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 listen Linda’s aspect of the tale is that if she takes the stand and exposes herself to pass exam.
“Have been you hoping she would take the stand?” Schlesinger requested.
“Completely,” Villa responded.
“Have been you able?”
“Completely.”
Low started his protection with a excellent offense. His first witness was once the detective who to start with didn’t assume Linda was once a murderess:
Joseph Low: When you find yourself finished asking her questions, you allowed Mrs. Duffey to head house.
Lt. Shaun McCarthy: Right kind.
“Chatting with her … was once very convincing to me,” McCarthy advised Schlesinger. “She was once eccentric and, how may just she hurt any one?”
Joseph Low: You wouldn’t let someone who you concept had simply dedicated a homicide return out in the street … Is not that right kind, sir?
Robert Villa: Objection, relevance.
Pass judgement on Torribio: Sustained.
“That evening I appreciated her. Because the investigation went on, I appreciated her so much much less,” mentioned McCarthy.
Low attempted to color a sympathetic image of Linda by means of calling her sons to the stand.
“She’s an overly emotional, being concerned individual,” Thomas Duffey testified.
“We had been all the time actually glad,” Sean Duffey advised the courtroom. “They appreciated cartoons so much. They had been all the time making humorous jokes to one another … all the time poked a laugh at each and every different and stuff.”
The protection has an overly large resolution to make: will Linda take the stand herself?
“And if she took the stand, we had been gonna listen all about Insects Bunny,” mentioned Villa.
Linda made up our minds to not take the stand. Nervous that the jury will listen not anything about fan firing, her attorney comes up with an concept.
“I might love to refer the courtroom and recommend to web page 5 of the 911 transcript,” Low addressed the courtroom.
He discovered a connection with it within the 911 tape prosecutors have already presented.
“A very long time in the past he confirmed me find out how to pull the article again at the most sensible of the gun and pull the cause it rapid,” the Pass judgement on Torribio learn aloud.
So Low is authorized to name firearms knowledgeable Lance Martini, who mentioned fan firing a double-action gun like Linda claims she did is not so far-fetched in spite of everything.
Lance Martini: This may also be finished. It is not overly not unusual, however it indisputably may also be finished.
Joseph Low: Is it humanly conceivable to shoot multiple spherical in not up to a moment? Double-action mode?
Lance Marini: Sure it’s.
“There is not any means, completely no means that it came about that means,” Villa advised Schlesinger.
In his last, Villa advised jurors, “This was once an execution.”
The jurors in Linda’s moment trial by no means were given to look any cartoons, however they did see an animation produced by means of the prosecutor. It’s no guffawing topic; it makes an attempt to respond to a dangerous critical query: what came about to Patrick Duffey?
The video animation of a lady taking pictures her husband within the head two times does not go away a lot to creativeness, even supposing the protection, in last arguments, mentioned it and the remainder of the State’s case are all a fable.
“She by accident shot her husband,” Low advised the courtroom. “It ain’t proper, it is not truthful to wager someone right into a conviction, wager 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. “In charge or no longer to blame.”
“Right kind,” he responded.
A TALE OF TWO JURIES
It is been a protracted street – now just about seven years since Patrick Duffey died and 12 months 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 in finding the defendant Linda Doreen Gwozdz to blame of the crime of second-degree homicide…”
The to blame verdict floored Linda, who collapsed whilst leaving the court docket. It hit her attorney laborious, too; he waved off the digital camera. For his phase, the prosecutor is extra relieved than anything.
“I am happy that I wouldn’t have to check out it a 3rd time,” Villa mentioned.
“You noticed how she reacted,” Schlesinger commented to Villa.
“Sure,” he mentioned. “I have all the time concept she was once an actress, so, that was once her second.”
Patrick Duffey’s sister, Katherine Hunt, has waited years for at the moment.
“That is the first time I noticed her actually cry,” she mentioned following the decision. “She did not escape with murdering my brother.”
When it got here time to condemn Linda 3 months later, it was once her ultimate probability to handle the courtroom:
“I sought after to let all of you understand how grieved I believe. Maximum of all to Patrick and — my stunning sons, Sean and Thomas, since you misplaced this kind of loving glorious father,” she mentioned.
Her sons check out their absolute best to invite for leniency.
“If there may be the rest you’ll do to assist out with my circle of relatives,” Sean Duffey mentioned in courtroom, “that is all I will be able to ask.”
“I consider she’s blameless, and I will be able to till the day I die,” Thomas Duffey advised the pass judgement on.
Linda’s moment husband, Larry Gwozdz, additionally appealed to the pass judgement on.
“To claim that this was once a premeditated practical act, I am sorry. It is unacceptable to me,” he mentioned.
“Have a look at those two other people, fantastically in love,” Gwozdz persisted, shakily protecting up a photograph of himself and Linda. “Why? As a result of she’s a fantastic human being … who does not deserve this.”
However the pass judgement on does not have a lot leeway.
“On this specific example the legislation mandates 40 to existence, and my oath calls for that I impose that,” he mentioned.
“48 Hours” discovered it curious that one jury may just no longer agree on a verdict in any respect and a moment jury convicted Linda in an afternoon. It’s ironic, however in those two trials it is it appears true, that, within the case towards Linda Duffey Gwozdz, much less was once extra.
“48 Hours” sat down with jurors from each trials to look why one jury temporarily reached a verdict, whilst the opposite by no means did.
Have in mind, the jury that convicted Linda best 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 one trial.
“And we will be able to best make the verdict based totally off of the proof that we heard,” mentioned juror Danielle Wong.
The jurors from each trials — those who heard the lengthy tale and those who heard it made brief — sat round our desk and contemplated: whilst much less is also extra, is it sufficient?
“You might be placing a lady away for the remainder of her existence, so provide the whole thing,” mentioned Brandie Jones, a juror within the first trial, who voted no longer to blame.
“I believe I actually must accept as true with Brandie. Perhaps the entire proof will have to be introduced,” mentioned Wong.
“Do you know she gave an interview to police?” Schlesinger requested.
“Uh-uh,” Wong responded, shaking her head “no.”
“Would you may have appreciated to?” Schlesinger requested.
“I might have liked to listen to what she needed to say. Would that experience modified my resolution? Do not know. In all probability,” Wong responded.
“In the event you had heard the whole thing … do you assume it could have affected the deliberations?” Schlesinger requested.
“Completely,” mentioned Wong.
And although they made their resolution, one of the vital jurors who convicted Linda nonetheless have questions.
“Did it trouble you that they by no means mentioned precisely why she did it?” Schlesinger requested.
“Um, yeah, it did,” mentioned Wong.
“How’d you recover from that?”
“I am not over it. I nonetheless wanna know!” she responded.
“After I heard the to blame verdict, I mentioned, ‘Yay, justice is in spite of everything served,” mentioned Julie Prendergast.
Prendergast has indisputably the second one jury did the correct factor by means of discovering her former buddy to blame. And he or she wonders how Linda’s existence, which was once as soon as so glad, changed into so unhappy.
“I am unhappy for everybody concerned … The ones two boys misplaced their father. And now, they are shedding their mom,” she mentioned. “It is a tragic tale … in each means you’ll consider it.”
