Accomplice to Murder S02E08 The Root of Evil
After dentist Norman Larzelere is shot by a masked man, dying in his wife Virginia’s arms, police suspect a robbery gone wrong. That changes when a friend of Virginia’s son reveals a twisted plot orchestrated by the grieving widow herself.
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00:00Police say the gunman was probably a hit man, someone who wanted to see the doctor dead.
00:14As far as insurance, he's worth a heck of a lot more alive than he is dead.
00:26She said, just wait here until my mom calls and tells me that Norm is dead.
00:31This grieving widow is now suddenly the suspect in his murder.
00:36When she looked on Dr. Larzalier's face that day before his murder, she looked in the anticipation
00:42of his violent death.
00:45Virginia was confident that she would be found not guilty.
01:02The Larzaliers seem to have it all.
01:04Four kids, a thriving business, a beautiful estate with a swimming pool and tennis courts.
01:11But then greed planted the seeds of a brutal murder that would tear this family apart.
01:18And now what's behind me is all that's left of a place they once called home.
01:25Virginia Norman Larzalier lived in an upscale suburb outside of Edgewater, Florida.
01:31Edgewater is over on the east coast.
01:33It's a little suburb of Daytona Beach, very small, kind of sleepy town.
01:40Virginia was a single mother with two kids when she met Norman at the dental practice
01:45he owned.
01:46Norman Larzalier was a successful dentist.
01:48He had a practice in Edgewater.
01:50He was married himself.
01:53One day, this striking woman enters his dental practice for a dentist appointment and he
02:00talks to her and they start flirting.
02:03And from that point on, he was smitten with this striking woman.
02:08And not long after that, he left his wife to be with Virginia Larzalier.
02:14And they were married, I believe, less than a year after they met.
02:19They also had four children between them.
02:22Virginia brought two of those children from a previous marriage and they had two together.
02:28Virginia's oldest son from her previous marriage, Jason, was adopted by Norman, her husband.
02:36I think there were indications really from the start with Virginia's oldest son that
02:41he was troubled and he needed a father figure.
02:44Norman stepped up and tried to do the best he could do under difficult circumstances.
02:51Behind me is the building where Dr. Norman Larzalier ran his successful dental practice.
02:56It's also where he was brutally murdered by a masked gunman armed with a shotgun.
03:047 p.m. on March 8, 1991 was like any normal day for the Larzaliers.
03:10Virginia was at her desk in the front office while Norman was in the back at a table taking
03:16a lunch break.
03:18At approximately 1.03 p.m., Norman heard something that caught his attention.
03:24It aroused his curiosity.
03:27So he got up from behind the table, looked down the hall, and he was horrified at the
03:33sight of someone wearing a ski mask and holding a shotgun.
03:41Norman turned and ran back down the hallway towards a closed door leading into the patient
03:46waiting room with the gunman in pursuit.
03:49He burst through the door, shuts it behind him, and a second or so after that, a shot
03:58was fired.
04:00The gunman on the other side of the closed door, to the horror of a dental assistant
04:04standing just a few feet away, fired a shotgun blast that penetrated the door and struck
04:11Norman in the back.
04:13Virginia, who could see what was happening through a window into the waiting room, and
04:17a woman sitting in the room, saw Norman hit the floor, mortally wounded.
04:23Virginia called 911.
04:26She can sense the terror and the fear in her call to the 911 operator.
04:50Police arrives to this horrific scene, and she is trying to revive him with CPR.
04:56She's clearly distraught.
04:58She is unable at that point to give them any kind of coherent statement, as one would expect
05:03really in that situation.
05:06Initially, police had little to go on.
05:10Police have very little on the crime scene other than the typical crime scene evidence
05:15of fingerprints and some shotgun pellets that were remnants from the blast.
05:20Virginia led them to a safe that was open.
05:24And apparently there was money, coins, and maybe some prescription drugs that were missing.
05:29Initially, police really seemed to go down the road of investigating Virginia's theory.
05:35They investigated this as a robbery gone wrong, because really, it made no sense as anything
05:41else.
05:42This dentist didn't seem to have any enemies.
05:44It was broad daylight.
05:45It was one o'clock in the afternoon.
05:48While being interviewed by police, Virginia does suggest one potential scenario.
05:54She said, I believe it was a motorcycle gang, because I heard a motorcycle speed out of
06:00the area at the time.
06:02Edgewater is pretty close to Daytona Beach, and Daytona Beach is a haven for bikers.
06:07And biker gangs are known to dwell there.
06:12Virginia's narrative of a robbery gone wrong was picked up by the local news.
06:17Lozalier's wife says the gunman in the office that day was a robber, possibly a patient
06:21her husband had treated earlier in the day.
06:24Police are not saying whether they think robbery was a motive in the shooting, but neighbors
06:27say Lozalier's office has been robbed twice in the last year or so.
06:31After this horrific murder of her husband, Virginia said she was left in fear.
06:36She felt she was being stalked.
06:38She called police quite often, actually, once reporting a break-in at her house.
06:43But as the weeks pass, and no evidence surfaces of any biker gang activity in the area, police
06:50take another look at Virginia's story.
06:53And a few things just don't add up.
06:56She also told them that she had fought the shooter, that she had fought him off.
07:00And she had, in that fight, broken a fingernail.
07:05But other eyewitnesses to the shooting said Virginia never left her desk, staying unnaturally
07:11calm, until police arrived.
07:13Only then, they said, did she become hysterical.
07:18Reports start to surface in the media about a large life insurance policy worth millions
07:22of dollars that Virginia had taken out on her husband, sparking a wave of media interest.
07:29Two big newspapers covered it day to day.
07:33Either the Orlando Sentinel or the Daytona Beach News Journal, or both, wrote a story
07:40mostly every day about this case.
07:43The local TV news media were all over it.
07:46Police say the gunman was probably a hitman, someone who wanted to see the doctor dead.
07:52Virginia Larzalier was out front.
07:54She wanted to make statements.
07:56She was willing to speak to the media.
07:59As far as insurance, he's worth a heck of a lot more alive than he is dead.
08:04We had too good of a business with a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old.
08:12I'd rather have my husband than all the money.
08:15Now six weeks pass from the time of Norman Larzalier's murder, and that's when there's
08:21a huge break in the case.
08:23A man named Steve Heidel calls police and says he has some information about the murder
08:28that he really needs to report.
08:31Stephen Heidel was a ne'er-do-well type of guy, and he needed money.
08:38He clearly was drawn to them and the possibility of making money off this rich family, and
08:43he struck up a friendship with Jason.
08:46Steve calls the police and says, you know, I can't live with this any longer.
08:50I have to come clean.
08:52When police visited Stephen at his residence to conduct an interview, he told them that
08:56Jason Larzalier earlier told him that he killed his father, calling him a wimp for running
09:02away from him.
09:03Stephen also told investigators where the gun could be found.
09:08He led them to Palliser Creek off I-95, where divers recovered a weapon that had been encased
09:15in concrete.
09:17Stephen had a good incentive to talk.
09:20Admitting to helping dispose of the murder weapon made him an accomplice to that murder.
09:26The state knew that in order to obtain incriminating evidence against Virginia Larzalier, they
09:32would have to give Stephen Heidel full immunity for cooperating with law enforcement and
09:38providing testimony against Virginia Larzalier.
09:43Armed with that immunity, Stephen also told police there was another accomplice, Kristen
09:48Palmieri.
09:50Kristen Palmieri was there.
09:52Kristen Palmieri supposedly helped Stephen Heidel put the guns in the cement.
09:59She too worked at Norman's dental practice.
10:03Interviewed by police the day of the murder, she told them that she helped Virginia at
10:07the office when not attending school and that she lived with the doctor and Virginia part-time
10:12when at school.
10:14She just happened to be away from the office when the shooting occurred, returning when
10:18the fire and rescue was already at the office.
10:30After interviewing Stephen, police called Kristen in for an interview.
10:35Kristen almost immediately implicated Jason in the murder of Norman Larzalier.
10:40Jason came out and said to me once or twice.
10:44What exactly did he say?
10:45He said that if he had known that all this was going to happen, that his life wasn't
10:49going to go back to normal, that he wouldn't have bumped off Norman from Virginia.
10:54Did you believe him when he told you this?
10:56Did you believe that he killed the doctor?
10:59Like I said, I didn't see it.
11:01I still don't want to believe it, but...
11:07Now Kristen Palmieri takes Steve's account one step further.
11:11Not only was Jason involved, but she says Jason told her that Virginia was to mastermind.
11:18She had said to me that Jason screwed it up, that he was supposed to be there between 12
11:23and 12.30 and because he was late, she had to fake a robbery or something.
11:29Kristen also told police something shocking about Virginia's actions the day of the murder.
11:34And then she also told me that to cover up his mouth, but because he kept talking, she
11:39made it, she wanted, I guess, to make it look like she was kissing him or something, but
11:42she said she had to smother his mouth to try and make him stop, stop breathing.
11:47With her hand?
11:48No, with her mouth.
11:50Oh, she put her mouth over his mouth so that nobody else could hear him saying that?
11:55Yeah.
11:56She said he was saying to her, why did Jason do that?
11:59She said he was saying his name.
12:02For police, this is a complete turnaround in their investigation.
12:06These two witnesses have just cracked the case wide open as far as they're concerned.
12:11This grieving widow who was cradling her dying husband in that office, trying to revive him
12:18with CPR, is now suddenly the suspect in his murder.
12:23Based in large part on the testimony of the two accomplices, Jason and Virginia Larzalier
12:28are both arrested and charged with murder in the first degree of Norman Larzalier.
12:35When we return, Virginia Larzalier goes on trial as the mastermind behind the brutal
12:41shotgun execution of her husband, Norman.
12:45When she looked on Dr. Larzalier's face that day before his murder, she looked in the anticipation
12:52of his violent death, and she looked with the anticipation of money and all the possibilities
12:57that that money would bring her.
13:04Virginia Larzalier went on trial in the courthouse behind me as the alleged mastermind behind
13:09the brutal murder of her husband.
13:11Her son Jason was facing life in prison for being the alleged gunman.
13:16But for Virginia, prosecutors wanted death.
13:21If you're prosecuting the person who didn't pull the trigger and seeking the death penalty
13:25against this person, and if that person is a woman, that's unusual.
13:30We had the conversations that we're obligated to have.
13:34John Howes and Jack Wilkins represented Virginia Larzalier.
13:38We were told by Virginia, no deals.
13:40Virginia was confident that she would be found not guilty.
13:45The governor took the extraordinary step of appointing a special prosecutor in this case,
13:50and that was Dorothy Sedgwick.
13:52There was a lot of evidence that showed this to be a very aggravated, cold murder for money.
13:59She was undefeated.
14:00I mean, she was the Vincent Bugliosi of Central Florida at the time.
14:04She had never lost a murder case.
14:07Eventually, Virginia Larzalier's lack of love for her husband and her very real invigorating
14:14lust for money motivated her to use her son, Jason Larzalier, as the gunman.
14:21With her life on the line, Virginia's trial got underway on February 4th, 1992, and while
14:28Sedgwick may have been a formidable prosecutor, she had a challenging case to prove.
14:34This was a circumstantial case.
14:36That's the bottom line.
14:37There wasn't an evidentiary trail linking Virginia and Jason to this crime.
14:44What the prosecution did have, however, was a clear motive for murder.
14:50Virginia had a lot to gain monetarily from her husband's death.
14:53There were seven life insurance policies taken out on his life.
14:58Allstate insurance agent James Armstrong was able to give prosecutors a number showing
15:03how much more Norman was worth to Virginia dead than he was alive.
15:09Upon the doctor being murdered, how much did the life insurance policy be worth?
15:16Well, it'd be $1.1 million.
15:20Was this policy in effect at the time of the doctor's death, just six or seven months later,
15:26March 8th of 1991?
15:29Yes, it was.
15:32Prosecutors allege that Virginia next went shopping for hit men so she could get her
15:37hands on that money.
15:39Ronnie Lee Hayden was an entertainer who met Virginia through his friend Norm.
15:44Do you remember a time when Norm Carr came into the Dixie Bell one night and introduced
15:48you to his rich girlfriend from Florida?
15:51Yes.
15:52Okay.
15:53Do you remember her name?
15:54First name, Virginia.
15:57Did the subject of a brand new Harley-Davidson come up when you were talking with Norm and
16:03Virginia?
16:04Yes.
16:05How did it come up?
16:08They asked me if there was anything that I wanted, if there was anything I could have,
16:13what would it be?
16:14And I said a new Harley-Davidson.
16:16When you said that a Harley-Davidson would be nice, did you say or ask them anything
16:24next?
16:25I said why.
16:26Why what?
16:27Why did they ask me if there was anything I wanted?
16:31What was said next?
16:32Somebody had come up about murdering her husband.
16:39Okay.
16:40And what was said?
16:42I think Norm asked me if she wanted somebody to murder her husband.
16:49What did you say?
16:50I don't know.
16:51I guess we just talked about it.
16:57Okay.
16:58Did the subject of money come up?
17:00Yes.
17:01Now, did Virginia herself ever say anything about wanting her husband dead?
17:06Yes.
17:08What did she say?
17:09She said she wanted to ask me if I knew of anybody that could do it.
17:13Okay.
17:14And what did you tell her?
17:15I said yeah, probably.
17:16Okay.
17:17Did you used to live in Florida?
17:18Yes.
17:19Did you say anything about people in Florida?
17:20Yes.
17:21What did you tell her?
17:22I said around the Miami area.
17:23I knew some people that used to do it for $300.
17:24Okay.
17:25And was that true?
17:26Yes.
17:27After Ronnie Lee Hayden politely declined to take Virginia up on her offer, prosecutors
17:28say she next looked closer to home for a partner in crime.
17:29Now, in the early summer of 1990, around June, July, there was a client who came to me and
17:30said, hey, I've got a client.
17:31I've got a client.
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18:06I've got a client.
18:07I've got a client.
18:08Did she have a conversation with you concerning the murdering of her husband?
18:13Yes, she did.
18:15When and where and under what circumstance did that conversation occur?
18:20She had called me at my house and said they had a big fight, an argument.
18:26She was raging and raging, cursing.
18:29She had to get rid of Norm and I told her, you know, don't look at me.
18:35I'm not even capable of anything like that and then she said, well, do you know anybody?
18:43And she said she would pay $50,000 and I told her, you know, that she was just mad and that
18:49it wasn't something that she really wanted to do.
18:53You know, she just needed to cool off and think about what she was saying.
18:56Was she more specific in her words about wanting to get rid of Norm?
19:01Well, she said she had to have him killed.
19:05But so far, all that the prosecution had proven was that Virginia had tried but failed
19:11to find someone to kill her husband.
19:14Next, they allege she looked even closer to home.
19:18The state's case was tied down to we believe Virginia Larzalier hired a hitman.
19:25And when she couldn't find a hitman, she decided to use her son, Jason.
19:30In fact, the state's case that Jason was the shooter and Virginia the mastermind
19:35was built on two exceedingly shaky foundations.
19:40She had the words of somewhat sketchy witnesses who had changed their stories multiple times.
19:48At the end of the day, the shooter wore a mask.
19:51He was not identifiable by facial features, hair color, anything like that.
19:58The prosecution first called an eyewitness who could most credibly argue that the shooter was indeed Jason.
20:07Emma Lombardo is a dental assistant.
20:09She works with Dr. Larzalier in his office.
20:12And she was unfortunately there the day of the shooting.
20:17What did you see happen?
20:19Can you tell us what you saw happen after you first saw the masked, gloved person?
20:27After I saw this man, then all of a sudden I heard, and all of a sudden he fired a shot to the door.
20:35Were you later to tell the police that you recognized the physique of the gunman as looking like someone you knew?
20:44Yes.
20:46And who did you tell the police the physique of the gunman looked like?
20:50It looks like Jason.
20:52She recognized the height and the gait and the mannerisms of Jason Larzalier.
20:57There was no question to her that that's who the gunman was.
21:01When we return, the state's star witness speaks and describes how Virginia was the puppet master,
21:08pulling all the strings behind every step of her husband's murder.
21:13To the best of your recollection, say the exact words that you recall her saying to Jason or in your presence about that.
21:21Virginia's words to Jason's were, you f***ed up.
21:26His action was just to pull out the revolver, and it went off.
21:31Two people accidentally shot.
21:33Alec Baldwin was the actor on set.
21:35Alec Baldwin?
21:36Yes, sir.
21:37Hurry, hurry, hurry was the motto on the set.
21:39Right away, right away, let's reload.
21:41Alec Baldwin claimed he didn't pull the trigger.
21:42Well, the FBI disagrees.
21:44It's not going to fire until you pull the trigger.
21:47They really do have to show that he couldn't care less.
21:50The case against Alec Baldwin premieres tonight, 9, 8 central, on Court TV.
21:58Virginia Larzalier was on trial here for orchestrating the murder of her husband.
22:03Prosecutors allege after she failed to find a hitman to do her dirty work,
22:08she turned to her son, Jason, and they say they have a witness who can prove it.
22:17Stephen Heidel was this kind of a strange individual who was just kind of always hanging around the Larzalier home,
22:25you know, driving cars, acting kind of like as a valet.
22:29Stephen Heidel was a particularly important witness for the prosecution.
22:34So you really have the testimony of one single witness.
22:37Not a perfect witness.
22:39He's lied to law enforcement.
22:41He's a little shady to begin with.
22:43But he's able to connect all the dots for that jury.
22:47And that's strong.
22:49That's strong testimony.
22:51The prosecution was particularly interested in Heidel's interaction with Virginia and Jason just after the murder.
22:59According to the prosecution, Stephen Heidel was at the Larzalier home when Jason returned around 4.30 p.m., the day of the murder.
23:08What did he say and what was his demeanor as you observed it?
23:12He was very overjoyed and excited.
23:15And I was very upset because he was supposed to meet me so much earlier.
23:19And I asked him if everything was OK with my mother's car.
23:22And he said, yeah, everything's fine.
23:25And I told him I wasn't happy about it.
23:26I asked him where he had been.
23:28And he said, don't worry about it.
23:31And when I questioned him further about it, I told him, you know, I wasn't too happy about it.
23:35And I was going to leave and go to dinner with Scott.
23:38He said, just wait here until my mom calls and tells me that Norm is dead.
23:43What did you do after he made that statement?
23:46I asked him if he was kidding.
23:49And he said he wasn't.
23:51After I talked to him probably for another 10 minutes, I left the house.
23:55After a few days had passed, he began getting increasingly frequent calls from Virginia and Jason.
24:02I guess they were getting nervous at the time that I had either gone to the police or intended to go to the police at that time.
24:09And that was just, as I said, two to three days after the fact that they were continually calling me on my car phone, on the beeper, at my house, anywhere I was,
24:20and wanting me at the DeLand house continually in their presence 24 hours a day.
24:26Steve says that from the day after the murder, Virginia ordered him, Chris Palmieri and Jason,
24:33to live at her house in an effort to control the narrative, to have them all there.
24:39She wanted to be able to control their stories, control what happened next.
24:43And what happened next, says Heidel, was a marathon cover-up of the murder.
24:47From the time I returned to the Largelier's house in DeLand Saturday until probably either Monday morning or late Monday night, I did not sleep at all.
24:59And the times are very vague from being up that long, just sitting at that table going through documents.
25:06And she asked everybody to produce either their wallet or purse.
25:10And she went through and had a steel charger plate on the dining room table and burnt anything that she thought should not be in her wallet.
25:19How many days did you stay continuously at the Largelier house?
25:23Probably three consecutive days.
25:26So here's Virginia at her home after the murder with these three people who are in her control.
25:32To the best of your recollection, what is it in the words that you recall as specifically as you can, what is it that Virginia Largelier said to you or anyone else?
25:42Along the lines of, I don't want anything connecting us with any misdoings or wrongdoings or anything like that.
25:51At the top of her list is to get rid of the murder weapon.
25:54She tasks Steve and Chris, tells them to wipe down the gun, get rid of fingerprints.
26:00Didn't you and Kristen Palmieri take the gun, do something with a gun and handgun at Virginia's request?
26:07Yes, we did.
26:08What did you do?
26:10In the master bathroom of the land house, Virginia Largelier, we encased it in concrete, both the shotgun and the handgun.
26:21Virginia then directed Steven and Kristen to dispose of the weapons in a nearby creek.
26:27Heidel also overheard a conversation directly implicating Virginia as the brains and Jason as the brawn in her plot to murder her husband.
26:36Virginia was complaining that one of the policies for $750,000 she might not be paid on because it had a maturity or a period that had to be in effect for at least 18 months before it was redeemable.
26:53She said it had been less than 18 months, but she'd find a way around it.
26:57At that time, Jason was complaining about money and wanting to leave the house because he was not allowed to drive or leave the house at that time.
27:05At that time, Virginia told him to shut up, stop complaining about money that he would get his $200,000 for taking care of business when everything worked itself out.
27:15When Jason continued to complain, Heidel says Virginia took drastic measures to control her son.
27:22According to Steven Heidel and Kristen Palmieri, Virginia had Jason drugged up.
27:28Jason was out of it for a couple of weeks after this.
27:33Why is it that you say she was making all the decisions?
27:37What did you see or hear?
27:39When Jason would often request to leave the house to be able to do something to be able to drive his car, she said, you're not leaving this house, you're going to stay drugged up and you're going to stay in that room.
27:50So you might as well get used to it.
27:52Through it all, Heidel said that there was only one goal that drove all of Virginia's actions.
27:58Following the funeral, was there a time that you and Virginia Larzalere went to a Red Lobster?
28:05Yes, there was.
28:06Could you tell us concerning the conversation that Virginia Larzalere had with you at the Red Lobster?
28:12Her topic of discussion was still the insurance money and when she'd be getting it.
28:18She said, no one is going to be getting in the way of me collecting that insurance money.
28:23Not you, not Chris, and not even Jason, although wind up just like Norm.
28:28Coming up, the defense takes aim at the prosecution's star witness, Steven Heidel.
28:35Well, the state says you forget about the four perjury statements he gave them.
28:40Forget about the fact he lied four times under oath, the fifth time he told the truth,
28:44because he told the police what they wanted to hear, Virginia Larzalere didn't.
28:55With Virginia Larzalere facing the death penalty for murdering her husband,
28:59the defense strikes back at the heart of the prosecution's case.
29:04The credibility and motive of its star witness, Steven Heidel.
29:09Steven Heidel, on at least four to five separate occasions, he gave perjured statements to the police.
29:15Perjured because he told them that Virginia Larzalere and Jason had nothing to do with it.
29:20That he didn't know anything about it.
29:22The difference in demeanor between the prosecution and the defense could not have been more stark.
29:28Jack Wilkins had curly hair and glasses and wore loud suits and he was very flamboyant.
29:36Jack Wilkins' right hand was a man by the name of John Howes.
29:41He was a very skilled veteran defense attorney who had murder trial experience.
29:49Jack called me. I was living in Fort Lauderdale at the time.
29:53He was living in Central Florida in Bartow and asked me if I wanted to get involved in a murder case.
30:00Howes said they built their defense strategy based on long conversations with Virginia.
30:06Virginia was confident that she would be found not guilty.
30:10There was no doubt in her mind and we studiously and repeatedly went to talk to her and said,
30:20Listen, there's a contract here for $2.1 million. How do we deal with that issue?
30:26Virginia's position was Norm was a loving husband and wanted to make sure that his family was taken care of in case something happened to him.
30:34They began their defense by attacking what prosecutors alleged was Virginia's motive for murder.
30:40Now the defense tells the jury that the motive here, the money, the $2 million, that makes no sense at all.
30:47Why would Virginia, who already enjoys this lavish lifestyle of fancy cars and salon appointments,
30:56why would she go after this life insurance money in this way?
31:00Dr. Lars Allier was a dentist. He made a tremendous amount of money.
31:06Even the state witnesses are going to tell you that Virginia could come into the bank anytime she want and take up out to $10,000.
31:13Just withdraw it. Go spend it.
31:15She had all the money she wanted. She had all the cars she wanted.
31:19The defense also tried to cast doubt on Emma Lombardo's testimony, identifying Jason as the gunman.
31:25You were afraid that he was going to come back and get you, weren't you?
31:30Yes.
31:31So you were really scared?
31:33Yes.
31:34Things happened real fast?
31:36It happened so quick.
31:37So quick. Do you even know if it was a man or a woman?
31:45My good guess is he is a man.
31:48Your guess is he's a man?
31:49Yes.
31:50But you don't know for sure, do you?
31:52Well, no.
31:55The shooter was masked. For one thing, she didn't see facial characteristics.
32:00She didn't see whether it was a man or a woman.
32:03And eyewitness testimony is some of the most unreliable evidence you can bring into a courtroom.
32:12To give the jury an alternative option to consider, the defense invites a familiar face into the courtroom.
32:20Our position always was that Stephen Heidel was capable of and able to have done this murder.
32:28We actually insisted that when Heidel was on the witness stand, that Jason be brought into the courtroom
32:35so the jury could see them standing facing the jury, same height, same basic body build.
32:43The defense alleged Heidel saw his free ride with the Larzaleres coming to an end.
32:48Virginia had a plan to bring Jason in to live with her and Norm again,
32:53and Steve wanted to sort of put a stop to things and keep his hold on Jason.
32:59And so defense attorneys claim he took matters into his own hands and that he's no accomplice.
33:06He is the killer.
33:12Did you know what Chris was putting in the trunk of her car?
33:16Like I said, I had an idea, but it was wrapped in a towel, so...
33:20Well, when you saw it in the attic, was it wrapped in a towel?
33:23No.
33:24How did he get from the attic to the car?
33:27I went up in the attic and got it.
33:29He had the murder weapon. He left with the murder weapon.
33:33You know, he's the one that had it. It was in his house.
33:37He had to go into his mother's attic to get it out, to bring it to Virginia.
33:44You also told him she had nothing to hide, didn't you?
33:47Yes, I did.
33:48And that was a lie, wasn't it?
33:50Yes, it was.
33:51You told him you had not done anything, didn't you?
33:53Yes.
33:54And that was a lie.
33:55Yes, it was.
33:56There is much to attack when it comes to him as a witness.
34:01So you went, what, 42 days between the time that you talked to the police and told them all the lies we'd just gone through
34:11and the time that you sat down and told them you wanted to talk to them, right?
34:15Correct.
34:17After nine days of testimony, both sides made their final pitch to the jury.
34:23Stephen Heidel was not the shooter.
34:25That the shooter was Jason Larzalier.
34:28That Virginia Larzalier, as she was present in that office on that day, was acting as a principal.
34:35And under the law of Florida, she is just as guilty as the shooter.
34:42If you were walking down a dirt road and you came to a fork at the end of that road
34:48and a voice came out of the heavens and says to you,
34:51choose the right fork, one will give you eternal happiness and the other one will give you eternal damnation.
34:57And you see a guy and a girl standing right there and you say, are you guys local?
35:01And they say, sure.
35:02And they say, which one do we choose?
35:03Which fork do I choose?
35:05And they say, take the right fork, Jack.
35:07And I said, okay, by the way, what's your name?
35:09And he says, my name is Steve Heidel.
35:11And she says, my name is Chris Palmer.
35:13Would you take the right fork?
35:15Beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.
35:18Thank you.
35:20The jury had retired to deliberate after hearing nearly two weeks of testimony.
35:24But it would only take a fraction of that time for them to return with a verdict.
35:30We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the indictment.
35:35So say we all, Daytona Beach, Florida, dated this 24th day of February 1992.
35:41After only an hour of deliberations, the jury came back with a guilty verdict.
35:47We didn't want Virginia to ever be in a position where she could hurt anybody ever again.
35:52And I feel much more hopeful now that she won't ever be able to.
35:57How do you feel at this point? You've been working on this case for a really long time.
36:00I'm extremely disappointed, honestly.
36:02I felt that it was going to be the other verdict.
36:04I was both disappointed and surprised because she didn't do it.
36:10She did not do, she did not kill her husband.
36:15Up next, the jury decides whether Virginia Larzalere will live or she will die.
36:23His action was just to pull out the revolver.
36:25And it went off.
36:27And people accidentally shot.
36:29Alec Baldwin was the actor on set.
36:31Alec Baldwin?
36:32Yes, sir.
36:33Hurry, hurry, hurry was the motto on the set.
36:35Right away, right away, let's reload.
36:37Alec Baldwin claimed he didn't pull the trigger. Well the FBI disagrees.
36:40It's not going to fire until you pull the trigger.
36:43They really do have to show that he couldn't care less.
36:46The case against Alec Baldwin premieres tonight, 9, 8 central, on Court TV.
36:54Virginia Larzalere had been found guilty of murdering her husband to cash in on a $2 million life insurance policy.
37:02For her actions, prosecutors wanted her put to death.
37:07For the prosecution, the reason why Virginia's life should be forfeit was simple.
37:13Virginia Larzalere was so cold that she was willing to use her own son to carry out the murder.
37:22There is absolutely no reason for the weight to not support a sentence of death for this cold, calculated, execution-style murder of Dr. Norman Larzalere.
37:36As of this evening, this case is in your hand as far as your recommendation is concerned.
37:41I do hope that you find that even though you found the evidence sufficient to return a verdict of guilt,
37:48that the evidence itself does not establish a need for imposing the ultimate sanction in this particular case.
37:56And I urge you to return a recommendation for life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
38:04Thank you for your attention.
38:05For their part, the defense chose not to put on any witnesses to argue to the jury that Virginia's life should be spared.
38:13Virginia was adamant and steadfast in her claim of innocence.
38:22At the time of the jury recommendation, she expected to win.
38:28The jury returned to the courtroom just two and a half hours later.
38:32In Florida at the time, jurors' faces could be shown on television,
38:37and it would take only a majority of its 12 members to determine if Virginia should be executed for hiring her son to murder her husband.
38:48Thank you, sir.
38:55Yes, foreman, I'll address you.
38:57Has your jury arrived at an advisory verdict as a felony?
39:01Yes.
39:02All right, then you can hand the advisory verdict form to the bailiff.
39:10Fair play.
39:18The verdict appears to be in proper form.
39:23Will the defense please rise and hearken to the verdicts?
39:28In the circuit court, the Seventh Judicial Circuit in and for Volusia County, Florida,
39:34case number 912561, State of Florida v. Virginia Gail Larzalere,
39:40sentencing recommendation.
39:42Sentencing recommendation.
39:44We, the jury, find as follows.
39:47As to the defendant, Virginia Gail Larzalere, in this case,
39:50a majority of the jury, by a vote of 7 to 5, advise and recommend to the court
39:56that it impose the death penalty upon Virginia Gail Larzalere.
40:02For a woman to get the death penalty in a case like this,
40:05where she was not the culprit herself,
40:08she didn't pull the trigger in the murder, is pretty unusual.
40:14In the end, jurors were convinced she was a cold-blooded killer,
40:19and the mitigators just weren't enough.
40:22Were you surprised by the jury's recommendation?
40:25I've been surprised about everything about this case.
40:28I'm surprised that there was a guilty verdict.
40:30I'm surprised with the jury's recommendation of death.
40:32I'm surprised.
40:36As Virginia Larzalere headed to death row,
40:39the trial of her son Jason, who prosecutors allege was the trigger man
40:43in the murder of Norman Larzalere, was about to begin.
40:48You have to remember, in Jason's mother's case,
40:50the jury took only one hour to convict her,
40:53and two and a half hours to send her to death row.
40:56The expectation in Jason's case was certainly a conviction.
41:02The defense put up a fight,
41:03casting doubt on why Jason would want his stepfather dead.
41:07He was able to establish that Jason loved and was devoted to Norman Larzalere.
41:12The defense's most compelling argument, however,
41:15was that there was no way the jury could be entirely certain
41:19the masked gunman was Jason.
41:22The defense attorney challenged the conclusion from the eyewitness
41:26who said that was Jason.
41:28He asked her, well, how do you know it's Jason?
41:30Because he was covered from head to toe.
41:32But still, when the jury returned with a verdict,
41:36their judgment caught everyone off guard.
41:39When that not guilty verdict was read in the courtroom, there was silence.
41:43This came as a real shock, both to the families and the community.
41:47People couldn't believe it.
41:49People were really blindsided by that.
41:51It didn't get noisy until after the courtroom was emptied,
41:55and Jason got into a squad car and yelled out the window,
41:59saying, I'm free.
42:01That was something that people noticed,
42:03and that was another memory that people will take away from that
42:07that they'll never forget.
42:09When we return, the only remaining woman on Florida's death row
42:13gets one last shot at life.
42:16I had never seen the type of misconduct on the part of a defense attorney
42:23and representing a capital defendant ever.
42:26It doesn't get any worse than the allegations
42:29and the evidence against Jack Wilkins.
42:35Virginia Larzalere spent more than 15 years on death row
42:39for being the mastermind behind her husband's death.
42:43Virginia appealed her sentence up to the U.S. Supreme Court,
42:47but was denied.
42:49Then, in 2003, the State Circuit Court ruled that there was enough evidence
42:54that her lawyer, Jack Wilkins, had given her ineffective counsel
42:58and overturned her death sentence.
43:00Dave Hendry represented Virginia during resentencing.
43:04I had never seen the type of misconduct on the part of a defense attorney
43:11and representing a capital defendant ever.
43:14An investigation into her defense lawyer's behavior during trial
43:18turned up multiple allegations of alcohol and drug abuse.
43:23It doesn't get any worse than the allegations
43:27and the evidence against Jack Wilkins that we obtained in post-conviction.
43:33He's not preparing for his closing argument.
43:35He's answering a bar complaint on his financial misdealings.
43:38He's destroying financial records when subpoenaed by the government.
43:42He's running out of his office with this giant bottle of vodka mid-afternoon,
43:46and he's snorting cocaine off of a strip club toilet seat pre-trial.
43:51That ultimately resulted in her being removed from death row,
43:54and now she's serving a life sentence.
43:57As for Virginia's son, Jason, after being found not guilty,
44:01he struggled to recover from the impact of his trial for murder.
44:06Now, after his acquittal, Jason's biological father took him in.
44:09It seemed like they rekindled their relationship.
44:12Jason joined the Navy for a while,
44:15but it seemed like trouble continued to follow him around.
44:18He had run-ins with law enforcement.
44:20He seemed to have continued mental health problems,
44:23potentially because of this case.
44:27Virginia remains incarcerated at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, Florida.
44:33She's now serving a life sentence,
44:35and she is eligible for parole when she turns 81.
44:48U.S. Money Reserve