Sergeant Daniel Hayes
Appearances
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
My first impression of that case was, this is going to be a tricky trial.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
That's exactly right. What we know is that he ended up on the burn pile. We know he was at least shot twice. But the rest of that theory just leads us to Melody being the only person that could have done that.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
So that puts her right there with knowledge about what happened to his body. And it's definitely an admission that we needed the jury to hear.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
There was only one person who had the motive, means, and opportunity to commit this crime.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
I think... With Emily, the jury got to see a little bit of Gary. Emily seemed like the closest one to him, and she knew a lot of information from her relationship with her father.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
Gary entrusted her with a lot of information about the family and about his financial position with Melody.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
State calls Chris Ferris. You can please raise your right hand.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
We needed him to address his financial issues and his relationship with his father and if those issues led to any conflicts between him and his father, which it did to an extent. Would you and your dad ever get in arguments about money?
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
We had to put him on the stand. He had a significant role in the investigation. He also had a front row seat to see his parents fighting every single day. And he witnessed his mother threaten Gary as well.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
As you know, the state was made aware of some newly discovered evidence.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
And I leaned over to my co-counsel and I said, we need to take a break after this witness.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
And she heard Rusty testify about the guns that his dad owned.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
I don't know that I'll ever experience that again in my career.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
I just kept bringing the jury back to the evidence that was presented at trial, and there was just no evidence that Scott had anything to do with this crime. This case is about Gary Wayne Ferris. And you're here because Melody Ferris shot him, concealed his death by putting him on a burn pile on their property like he was trash.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
To the family, to the children, immediately. They had been through a lot.
Dateline NBC
A Little Patch of Perfect
I don't know that I'll ever experience that again in my career.