A shot in the dark

After two weeks of testimony, Chaz Higgs' future was now in the hands of 12 jurors. It was up to them to decide whether or not Chaz had murdered his wife, Nevada State Controller Kathy Augustine, with an injection of a paralytic drug called succinylcholine.

We met with eight jurors. They all found the trial difficult to sit through.

Bob: It was extremely stressful. Extremely stressful.
Melinda: Many of us had sleepless nights. The evidence was hard too take.
Becky: Chaz, I-- his, you know, life was in my hands more or less. And I had to do a good job.

From the very first vote, it was clear that reaching a verdict would not be easy.

Tim: It was five guilty, five undecided, two not guilty.

All of the jurors said they discounted the defense's arguments that stress from her political life led to her death.

Melinda: She was doing something she loved. There was no stress there.

They also didn't believe a minor heart condition was to blame.

Bob: I don't think the heart was an issue for any of us.

But they still struggled to find the answer to the question: What killed Kathy Augustine?

Bob: I sincerely believe that the biggest issue was what killed her, what was the cause of death.

If it was succinylcholine, how did it get into her body?

Judy: I think that was preying on all of our minds. How did this succynlcholine get in her?

At least one juror was influenced by the defense's demonstration with the syringe.

Kent: I don't know if you've ever had a tetanus shot, and they give it to you in your hip right here. And as soon as they do your leg tenses up and the doctor says, "You have to relax. I can't get anything in." And that played on me. You know "How could you get that in her?"

Others called the defense's demonstration merely courtroom theatrics.

Kelly: We were never told how much succinylcholine it takes to poison a person. I think if you have any succinylcholine in you, you're in bad shape.

Chaz's off-hand remark to nurse Kim Ramey played big for the jury.

Bob: If it hadn't been for Kim Ramey's testimony, they would have never tested the urine.

Tim: Why would she make up a story like this?

And all of the jurors were disturbed by Chaz's indifference toward his wife.

Linda: Chaz did not show any emotion during the whole process of his wife being found dead and the ambulance, it was the same thing. Everyone described him as being totally unemotional. He was the same way with us. He didn't look at the jury.

He didn't make much of an impression on the stand, either.

Linda: He was totally unbelievable. He lacked such emotion that I couldn't believe him as a witness.

But the defense scored points by arguing Chaz had no motive to kill Kathy.

Kent: We weren't really presented with a motive, they just tried to say, "Well maybe this," and "Maybe that."

Bob: What was the motive to kill her? Why not just leave, leave the relationship? But it goes back to the personality of Chaz Higgs. You don't have to have a smoking gun. You have to connect the dots.

After eight hours of connecting those dots, the jurors announced that they had reached a verdict. Chaz Higgs was about to learn his fate.

(Clerk reads verdict)
We the jury find the defendant Chaz Higgs guilty of first-degree murder.

Chaz will now spend his life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years.

It's a lifetime to think about the life he was convicted of taking away, Kathy Augustine, the resilient, confident, driven leader.

And when all was said and done, for Kathy's family, after a year of anguish, there is some degree of peace.

Hoda Kotb: Who did you talk to in your head right when-- right after?
Phil Alfano: Kathy.
Hoda Kotb: What did you say?
Phil Alfano: Just, "We got him. He didn't get away with this."

Lawyers for Chaz Higgs have filed an appeal in the case.