A shot in the dark

In late June a devastating wildfire raged through south Lake Tahoe, while just 60 miles away in Reno, Chaz Higgs' defense team was preparing to put out another fire.

Prosecutors had already presented their case against Higgs, saying he had deliberately killed his wife by injecting her with a drug called succinylcholine.

Now it was the defense's turn. They would argue Chaz Higgs had no reason to kill his wife and that the prosecution hadn't presented any credible evidence that proved otherwise.

David Houston (defense attorney): Chaz was not a calculating murderer. He was not a murderer of any sort.

The defense began by picking apart the prosecution's scientific testimony, beginning with that mark on Kathy's left hip.

They called their own pathologist to the stand who said the wound looked too fresh to have happened before Kathy was rushed to the hospital.

(In court)
Defense: And in your opinion how many hours old … that call it a puncture wound was?
Pathologist: Up to 48 hours.

Kathy was in the hospital for nearly four days... So if the mark was only 48 hours old, the defense argued, it could not be the cause of Kathy Augustine's mysterious collapse.

Defense: That could not have been received by that person on July 8?
Pathologist: Highly unlikely that it could have been.

The defense also poked holes in the FBI's urine tests, portraying them as too sloppy to truly indicate whether succinylcholine was in Kathy's system when she died.

Houston: The FBI never created a proper control sample to test against Kathy Augustine's urine.

But the most persuasive bit of testimony may have come when, cross-examining the prosecution's anesthesiologist, defense attorney Houston demonstrated how long it would take to inject a syringe filled with succinylcholine into the body of an unwilling victim.

Houston: Doctor, if I'm doing that to a live conscious patient, what will they be doing while I'm doing that?
Anesthesiologist: I imagine the patient would be moving around.

Defense: Would it be fair to say it's going to burn or sting?
Anesthesiologist: Yeah

Houston: So the entire concept was to demonstrate to the jury how ridiculous it would be to believe that Kathy Augustine would lay there while her husband injects her with succinylcholine and it burns her as it goes in.

So then what did kill Kathy Augustine?

The defense revealed that Kathy suffered from a condition called "mitral valve prolapse," or a leaky heart valve. Though the prosecution had argued the condition could not lead to heart attack, on cross-examination the prosecution's cardiologist could not say it was impossible.

Thompson: Doctor, can you rule out sudden cardiac death as cause of death in this case?
Doctor: No.

Now that the defense had taken on the science of the case, it was time to take a crack at those allegations that Chaz Higgs was little more than a scheming playboy and a man who hated his wife so much that he planned and carried out her murder. It was time for Chaz Higgs to tell his side of the story.

All eyes were on him as he took the stand.

Chaz began by telling the court about the early, happy days of his relationship with Kathy.

Chaz Higgs: I guess the best way to describe it is when you meet somebody you just feel chemistry and that's what we had.

But, he said that over time, the stress of political life -- and especially that impeachment scandal -- took a toll on the marriage.

Chaz Higgs: After that started it was like she just closed off, she became very defensive for obvious reasons, very angry.

He said he tried to leave Kathy several times, but that over and over she begged him to stay.

Chaz Higgs: Just stay, just stay, just stay, I'll make it better. And what kept me there was I kept remembering what we had in the beginning.

And when it came to those flirtatious and occasionally angry emails Chaz wrote to a co-worker before Kathy died? He said they show not malice but sadness about the breakdown of his marriage.

Higgs: I was so frustrated. I had all these feelings for Kathy. And she had closed me off. It wasn't the right thing to do to reach out to someone else. But I did.
Houston: You said some pretty mad things in some of those emails about Kathy, right?
Higgs: I did. I was hurt. I was mad. I was venting.

Chaz said he encouraged Kathy to get out of politics and that he was convinced it was the only way their marriage could be saved.

Higgs: I loved her. I loved what we had. And that's what I wanted back.

But when she threw her hat into the ring for the state treasurer's race, he'd had enough.

Higgs: I was going to divorce her.

He said he broke the news to her on the evening of July 7 and that hours later he found her alone in her room and not breathing.

Houston: Did you wait any time to administer help or did you try to administer help immediately?
Higgs: I did it immediately.

He said he did all he could to save her, and that contrary to what the prosecution alleged, there was nothing suspicious about his failure to place her on the floor before performing CPR.

Defense: Why didn't you think to throw her on the floor?
Higgs: I didn't think about it. And I started doing it.

Chaz attributed the calm demeanor that the prosecution found so suspicious to his years of military and medical training.

Higgs: I was trained to focus. Because you're ineffective. You can't function if you have all this chaos going on.

Houston: Why should they believe you did not kill your wife?
Higgs: Because I didn't do it. I wouldn't do that.

Chaz said that if he bore any responsibility for his wife's death it was because his request for divorce was simply too much for the already stressed-out politician to take.

Higgs: That's why I tried to kill myself. I blamed myself.
Houston: Why?
Higgs: Because she had enough stress in her life. And what do I do but add the stress of wanting to divorce her.

As for the prosecution's star witness -- the nurse who said that Chaz told her succinylcholine was the perfect way to commit murder…

Houston: She claims you said something to the effect of he did it all wrong, should have just hit her with sux, do you remember saying that?
Higgs: No.

The fifth day of trial came to a close. Prosecutors Tom Barb and Christopher Hicks prepared to cross-examine the defendant the following morning.

Tom Barb: Chris and I almost had a fist fight over it … over who was going to get to do it.

But in the middle of the night there was an unexpected emergency.

(911 call)
Caller: 911?
911: Yes, what's your emergency?
Caller: I have an emergency.
911: What's going on?
Caller: Uh, someone's attempted to kill himself.

Chaz Higgs had slit his wrists.

Why try and kill himself? His attorney says the reason was simple.

David Houston: He told his story. And he wanted to die.

The prosecutor, however, had a different theory.

Tom Barb: It was his last shot at controlling the whole process … and I like to think he didn't want to talk to me.

Two days later, Chaz was back in court. His wrist bandages were on display and the prosecutor didn't waste any time trying to depict those very injuries as further evidence of Chaz's guilt.

Tom Barb (prosecutor): Could you understand that some people might think this was just a ploy for sympathy?
Higgs: Yes, sir, I completely understand that.
Tom Barb: Could you understand why people might think it was your consciousness of guilt?
Higgs: Yes I can understand that.

The prosecutor also attacked Chaz's claim that he didn't remember talking to nurse Kim Ramey about succinylcholine.

Tom Barb: You don't remember saying hit him with a little sux cause it cant be detected post mortem?
Higgs: No sir.
Tom Barb: All right then, tell me how Ms. Ramey could pick succinylcholine and then it happens to be found in your wife's urine. How'd she do that?
Higgs: I don't know, sir.

The prosecutor also picked apart Chaz's so-called love for his wife.

Prosecutor: She kept saying, please stay, please stay. Is that right?
Higgs: Yes.
Prosecutor: Why'd she have to beg you if you loved her?
Higgs: Sir, in my mind I had left.
Prosecutor: That's where the love for Kathy is too, isn't it? In your mind?

Now, as the trial came to an end, Chaz's attorney made one final attempt to knock down the prosecution's case. He insisted his client was no murderer and that he could not be convicted based upon merely circumstantial evidence.

Defense: They're going to ask you to make that significant leap, based upon speculation, based upon conjecture, based upon inadequate testing, based upon opinion that is not backed by either scientific or medical certainty.

As Chaz prepared for the case to go to the jury, he could be confident about one thing: the tests performed on Kathy's deceased husband Charles Augustine had already come in. There was no succinylcholine in his system. Chaz Higgs would not be charged in that death.

But now, Chaz's future rested in the hands of 12 jurors. When it came to the death of Kathy Augustine, would they find him guilty of murder?