(keypad beeping)
(line ringing)
(female dispatcher speaking)
(stanley jensen speaking)
(female dispatcher speaking)
(stanley speaking)
(female dispatcher speaking)
(stanley speaking)
My life is wrecked and everything that I know could be ruined.
If I don't win my case, I could go to prison for the rest of my life.
I hope and pray that the jury will see the truth.
My name is jack maro. I am representing stanley jensen.
Stanley is charged with second-degree murder,
Which is the taking of a human life
Without premeditation.
Stanley is accused of shooting his tenant, marc bruss.
Stanley believed that marc was selling drugs,
And they had gotten into an argument over non-payment of rent.
So, stanley took it upon himself to enter the mobile home
And remove marc's personal property.
This made marc extremely angry and upset
And he actually called the police.
(female deputy speaking)
About an hour later, stanley heard commotion coming from the rental property.
He was extremely concerned about the well-being of the co-tenant,
So he went back over there to check on him.
As soon as he walked in,
He was attacked by marc, who came at him with a machete.
Stanley had no choice but to shoot him in self-defense.
(sirens wailing)
(male police officer speaking)
Maro: The prosecution is going to claim
That stanley shot marc in cold blood.
But we're going to argue that he fired in self-defense.
For stanley, this is extremely serious.
Life in florida is a life sentence.
You die in prison and you come home in a box.
I have lived here since 2016.
Since moving here, I've found out
That it's rampant with the drugs and the alcohol.
Never would I have dreamt that moving here
Would have landed me in with this drug abuse and the craziness at night.
(dog barking)
Good girl. Shh. Stop.
Stanley: I started renting the property out and it was going okay.
Everything changed when marc moved in.
When he entered my life, it was awful.
I found out he was heavily into meth
And it's been nothing but trouble.
Being accused of murder has been gut-wrenching.
Knowing that I had to kill somebody in self-defense,
I'm not happy with it.
I've been a christian all my life,
And it weighs heavily on me, personally.
It's something that I have to deal with on a daily basis.
Stanley, have a seat.
All right, stanley.
We're going to go over some things today.
Tell me a little bit about the property.
Stanley: It's a two-bedroom, one bath trailer
Less than 100 feet from my property.
And how many renters did you have?
Two. Marc bruss and a co-tenant.
Tell me a little bit of what problems that you were having with marc.
There was a lot of people coming,
Foot traffic and cars late at night
Till the early morning.
And he started behaving badly towards jimmy.
Maro: Jimmy's the co-tenant?
Yes. And then marc said he was refusing to pay rent,
And it was gonna cost me months to get him out.
So, I took marc's clothes and put them out on the carport.
Marc calls for the police,
And the officer told me to go home and not to come back.
About an hour later, I could hear yelling,
And so I go next door to see if jimmy's okay.
I step in and I'm knocking on the first door
On my right-hand side, which is jimmy's bedroom.
Jimmy wasn't there.
So you didn't see the co-tenant?
No, I turned and I see marc yelling at me.
He was carrying a machete.
He says, "I'm going to f-ing kill you."
I took out my gun that I had in my back pocket, and I shot him.
So, you were afraid for your life?
Well, I believed him when he said he was going to kill me.
Then I immediately dialed 911.
And as I'm talking to dispatch,
I see two people next to marc's body.
You were not aware of the fact that they were in the house prior?
No. I'm telling them that they can't be here,
And they run out the back door.
Let's kind of summarize what we're at.
The prosecution is going to try to show that you were a trespasser
And that marc actually had a right to defend himself from you.
I was on my property.
But a police officer told you not to go back in,
-And you went back in. -Oh, well then, I...
So, we need to be able to show the jury
That marc attacked you with a deadly weapon
And that gave you the right to utilize self-defense.
And that's basically an outline of what we need do.
Right.
Thanks for coming in.
Maro: I have some concerns
About how stanley comes across a little nonchalant at times.
I mean, you have someone that's lost their life
And stanley is accused, obviously, of taking that life.
And he's in a position that he needs to justify that to the jury.
Hello. Good to see you.
Stanley: Thanks.
Julia: Stanley's a good brother.
He is somebody that I go to for advice.
He's very thoughtful and he likes to help people.
He's very trustworthy.
When I first heard about the shooting,
I about fell on the floor in shock.
To call stanley a murderer
'cause somebody is chasing you with a hatchet,
He doesn't deserve this.
Stanley: Do you want something to drink? Do you want water?
Please, yeah.
Aphrodite: Stanley is the most loving son.
I need him to be here for me because I'm 90.
Stanley: My mother relies on me.
If I'm found guilty, she's gonna be destroyed.
I keep telling her we're gonna win,
But I don't think she really believes it until she sees it.
Julia: We count on stanley so much.
If he were to go to prison,
It would be a tragedy.
(female dispatcher speaking)
(stanley speaking)
(female dispatcher speaking)
Maro: This is an extremely difficult case.
The biggest challenge is the fact that
During this incident, there were no witnesses that saw it.
So, we need to match the evidence to stanley's account
To give credence to what stanley says happened.
Hey, shane.
(detective bartlett speaking)
(stanley speaking)
Maro: Stop right there.
He tells the 911 operator he's going back to talk to marc and collect rent
But now he's saying he went back over there to check on jimmy.
That's a concern.
Maro: He's telling this officer that marc and the two men...
It's like the three of them were coming at him.
But he told me he does not know
There's two other people there until after marc is shot.
Now we have a different statement.
(detective bartlett speaking)
Maro: The interview is very troubling.
There's a tremendous amount of contradictions in stanley's story,
So that's something that we've got to deal with.
Perception-wise, this does not help stanley at all.
I'd like to go over the interview
That you gave law enforcement after the incident.
What's not fitting is, you said in the 911 call you're in there to get rent.
I... I don't know why I... I guess I'm jumping ahead of myself.
Maro: That is an issue. It's gonna be an issue at trial.
Maro: You didn't even know they were there until after you went back in.
-(stammering) -well, uh, you know, understand...
My timeframe is... Is not accurate, obviously.
I'd been up since 4:00 in the morning,
So when I'm having my interview with the detective,
I was exhausted.
From a prosecution's point of view
Is you're not telling the truth about little things,
Therefore you're not telling the truth about big things.
Stanley: I don't know why I said those things that were not true.
I guess I just remembered them wrong.
The stress of going to prison
For any amount of time,
It's a terrible thing.
All I can do is hope and pray that the jury
Will pick through the statements and... And see the truth.
(sniffles)
(dog barking)
Stanley: Say hi, brooklyn. Good girl.
Come on.
What I did wasn't intentional, wasn't premeditated.
I've always tried to be a good citizen, following the law.
This has gotten to the point where my life is wrecked
And everything that I know could be ruined.
Mentally, where I'm at right now is terrified.
Knowing the worst scenario could easily happen...
It's bad.
Maro: Hey, shane, let's look at this crime scene video.
You see stanley's firearm on the left side.
Bachman: There's jimmy's bedroom.
This is when he said marc just appeared and came at him with a machete.
Whoa. Stop that for a second.
Stanley says he was attacked by marc wielding a machete,
But in the picture, it shows a machete sitting on a table
And it's not in marc's hand.
The state's gonna ask whether that machete was ever actually in his hand.
The prosecution is gonna argue that,
You know, he never had the weapon,
He wasn't acting in self-defense.
The more we view this case, the more difficult it gets.
Maro: I'm on my way to stanley's.
I want to be able to get a feel
For the positioning of where the parties were inside of the mobile home,
To get a feel for how much stanley's life was really in danger.
Hello, stanley.
-Stanley: Hello. -(dog barks)
Maro: Is this the path that you would have taken to get to the mobile home?
Stanley: Yes.
So, the first thing I did was I reached over to knock on the bedroom door,
Looking for the co-tenant.
He wasn't there.
Maro: All right. I want you to become marc
And go to where you believe he was when you first saw him.
It was here or maybe here,
Because he was moving forward.
Maro: Do you remember if he was holding a machete
-When you first came in? -Yes.
He was holding it in his right hand.
He said, "I'm going to (bleep) kill you" as he's coming towards me.
How close do you think marc was when you discharged your weapon?
Stanley: Less than four feet.
He must have had his hand on me by then
Because I... I've been... My shirt's been ripped.
As I reach for my weapon, I shoot him and he falls back.
And then, I'm talking to dispatch,
They instruct to come back in
And check to see if he's got a pulse.
That's when I saw the two young men in here.
Maro: My concern is this machete being on the table.
There's no indication there is any blood on the machete,
So the prosecution is going to argue that
Marc never had the weapon
And that you weren't acting in self-defense.
I moved it in fear of him grabbing it for any reason.
I don't know if he's alive or dead
And I wanted to get it out of... Out of the way.
Maro: Okay.
The walk-through with stanley went well.
It gave me an understanding of how claustrophobic it is, how tight it is.
And that adds a lot to the understanding of why
Someone could not retreat when someone is coming upon you with a weapon.
I would prefer the machete being in marc's hands,
But stanley says he moved it 'cause he didn't know if marc was dead.
So that was important.
All right. What have we got?
We've got the hofacker interview with one of the detectives.
(line ringing)
(hofacker speaking)
(detective bartlett speaking)
(hofacker speaking)
(detective bartlett speaking)
(hofacker speaking)
(detective bartlett speaking)
(hofacker speaking)
That's not good.
According to mr. Hofacker,
Stanley went down there and shot marc in cold blood.
This basically could be a linchpin for their case.
Hey, donna, do you have the hofacker file?
-Donna: Here it is. -Thank you.
Maro: We're going to try to undermine hofacker
Because I do think he has a drug history.
It gives a whole different spin on to why he was there.
Let's show the jury this boy's got some dirty shorts.
Stanley indicates that he was grabbed by marc
At the time that he discharged the firearm.
We're looking to see if there is any physical evidence
To give credence to what stanley says happened.
Hey, come take a look at this.
Maro: That's a picture of stanley while he was being detained.
Look at his shirt.
Maro: Look, there's a button missing.
You can see where it's actually torn.
All right, let's take a look at the responding deputy's bodycam.
Maro: She showed up there before the shooting.
Look at his shirt, for the button.
Maro: Stop it right there.
Well, the button is intact, and the shirt is intact.
So that shirt got ripped and the button torn off after the police officer left.
That supports that there was a scuffle.
Marc got close to him. Marc grabbed him.
Maro: This is a game-changer.
'cause it's physical evidence
That gives credence to what stanley says happened.
Oh, this strengthens the case tremendously.
Maro: Hey, donna, can I have the autopsy report on mr. Jensen's case?
The autopsy revealed there were six gunshot wounds.
Two in the front,
And the other wounds appeared also to be in the back.
Hey, mike. How are you?
Very good. How are you, jack?
Maro: Come on in.
Mike, the prosecution's theory is gonna be that
Because there are four shots in the back
That he may have been, uh... The decedent may have been retreating.
Well, you can see in these photographs with the button
That mr. Jensen is grabbed.
That actually tears the whole button off.
So, if I grabbed at your shirt,
And I could easily have a machete in my hand here,
And you were to fire, then I'd get the gunshot wound in my left side.
The wound path of it being downward
Is not only consistent with my left side being presented,
But me leaning out more.
And then I began to turn away
Because now I realize I'm being shot at,
And then the shots in the back occur
And then we have him falling to the ground
In this area where he came to rest.
So, this substantiates our position regarding self-defense.
-It's really very helpful. -I think that's right.
There's nothing here that would point to his statement
As being in some way false or untrue based upon that physical evidence.
Maro: Having mike on board is a big win.
It takes away any type of theory that marc was running away
And stanley just decided to shoot him in cold blood.
(stanley sighs)
Stanley: It's the night before the trial.
I'm petrified.
I've been in limbo for two and a half years.
It's cost me a lot, my reputation.
I'm worried that if I do lose,
My mother, she's only got a certain amount of time left.
She's worried sick about this.
This time next week,
I want to be here, nowhere but here.
I want to win and prove what happened is what really happened.
(elevator dings)
Maro: The key to this trial is gonna be perception.
We hope that the jury will see this case,
The facts and the perceptions, from stanley's point of view.
Stanley: It's a big day.
I'm pretty nervous.
Just gotta wait and see what happens.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
This is the case of the state of florida vs. Stanley jensen.
"really? You're gonna shoot me?"
Those were the last words that the victim, marc bruss, said
Before he was shot six times as he stood in his own living room.
The man who shot him was his landlord, stanley jensen.
The defendant decided he was going to evict the victim, marc bruss,
For failure to pay his rent.
Less than an hour later,
The defendant was calling 911,
Saying he had shot and killed the victim.
I'm going to ask that you find the defendant guilty of second-degree murder.
"I'm going to bash your head in with a hammer."
That was something that was said by the alleged victim in this case.
He's a drug user.
His weapon of choice became a three-foot machete.
I ask you to find mr. Jensen not guilty,
Predicated upon his righteous use of self-defense.
In this case, deadly force to protect himself.
Miss kidney, are you ready to get going?
Prosecutor: Detective bartlett, how would you describe
The defendant's statement to you about what happened?
Um, it was kind of evolving as we discussed things.
There were things being either added or altered.
Prosecutor: Were there differences between that 911 call
And the interview you conducted with him?
Yes. Why he was going over to the residence was different.
Prosecutor: Did he also mention that there were other people in the home?
Yes, he told me that the other two people that were inside of the house
Were near the victim when he was coming after him.
Prosecutor: Did he later change where they were standing during the incident?
I think he described that they were coming out of a room.
Cross examination.
Maro: Detective, on the 911 call,
Mr. Jensen does make some statements
Which appear to be inconsistent,
But is it not uncommon for people
To make misstatements during a 911 call and later correct them?
Sure, it could happen.
Prosecutor: Jordan holzer.
Do you recognize these photographs?
Yes. These are the photos that I took on scene.
Prosecutor: Did you also take photos of the defendant?
Yes.
Prosecutor: Did you look over this shirt
And observe that it was missing a button?
Holzer: Yes.
Prosecutor: When you were processing the residence, did you find any buttons?
A button was not collected.
Judge: Call your next witness.
Christopher hofacker.
Prosecutor: On October of 2019,
Did you ever go to the house that marc was living in at that time?
Yes, I went to the house.
Prosecutor: What did you do when you were inside?
I went to the restroom.
Prosecutor: Did you hear a knock on the door?
Yes, I did.
Prosecutor: What did you hear?
Prosecutor: After that statement, what did you hear?
Gunshots.
-(chattering indistinctly) -prosecutor: Thank you, no further questions.
Maro: Mr. Hofacker, "really, you're going to shoot me?"
-Is that what you hear? -Yes.
Maro: Okay. And you heard this while you were in a bathroom,
Urinating behind a closed door?
It's a very small trailer.
Maro: Isn't it true that after the incident, you don't call the police,
You don't do anything immediately?
I guess not.
Maro: Is the reason that you didn't call the police
'cause when they did their investigation,
They would possibly tie you into a drug transaction?
No.
Maro: Nothing further, judge.
Stanley: Tonight could be my last night of freedom.
Could be over tomorrow... One way or the other.
Maro: The rule of thumb in a criminal case
Is you do not want a defendant on the witness stand.
You worry about what they're going to say or not say,
But in some cases you have no choice.
You hope it pays off.
We're determined to win.
I mean, this is this man's life.
At the end of the day, we're hoping for a "not guilty."
Maro: Mr. Geans, were you present when mr. Jensen
And the law enforcement officer was there?
-(geans speaking) -frame it.
And what did you hear mr. Bruss specifically say to mr. Jensen?
(geans speaking)
Thank you, sir.
Judge, we call mr. Michael knox.
Mr. Knox, in your review of the medical examiner's report
And of the crime scene photographs,
Can you render an opinion of the proximity
Of mr. Bruss to the firearm at the time of its discharge?
Knox: Well, with the stippling you're looking at
Probably somewhere around six inches to 24
From the muzzle of the gun to the gunshot wound.
Stippling is where gunpowder particles
Have struck the skin and caused tiny abrasions.
That typically occurs when the muzzle is fairly close to the gunshot wound.
After that, the wounds are more in the back,
Indicates that he suffers those two gunshot wounds
Kind of in an orientation like this
And turning and falling to the right,
And the additional wounds are occurring subsequent to that.
Thank you, sir.
Prosecutor: This is gunshot wound number 10. Is that correct?
Knox: That is correct, yes.
Prosecutor: And this is the only entry wound on the victim's back
-That has stippling. Is that correct? -That's right.
Prosecutor: So does that mean the firearm was closer to mr. Bruss
When he was shot in the back at this location?
It's closer to the wound than the other ones on the back, yes.
Prosecutor: So, it's possible he fired a shot at mr. Bruss as he was already on the ground.
Well, I don't think you could eliminate that from the physical evidence.
How are you feeling?
Hmm. Nervous.
Maro: The biggest challenge is gonna be with stanley on the witness stand.
How stanley holds up under cross examination.
I have to tell the truth. I'm gonna get the jury to believe me.
Maro: Mr. Jensen, let's talk about the day in question.
From my back door, I could hear marc yelling
And I went over to see if jimmy was okay.
Marc had a machete in his hand
And he says, "I'm going to (bleep) kill you."
Maro: What did you do?
I pulled out my weapon and I pivoted and I shot him.
The force that you used,
Did you believe it was necessary?
Yes.
What transpired next?
I walk back in and I see two men standing with marc's body.
Maro: The machete on the table. Did you come into contact with that machete at all?
Yes.
While on the phone with dispatch,
They asked me to check on his breathing.
I was hesitant about approaching him.
I moved the machete.
I checked his vitals and I said, "I don't think he's breathing"
Or something to that effect.
Thank you, sir.
Cross examination.
Prosecutor: Mr. Jensen, in the 911 call,
You say that you walked in on a drug deal.
-Yes. -And you didn't see those two other guys
Until you said today that you went outside and came back in.
You didn't see them until then.
Right. I didn't know they were in there.
So, anything that you said about a drug deal,
It's not actually something you saw. You're just assuming that.
Well, there again, I said it out of timeline.
You said it out of timeline?
I said to the detective something that was wrong.
Prosecutor: You had your gun in your back pocket,
And you shot marc in the living room?
-Yes. -And you knew marc was dead when he was on the ground.
Yes.
So, your testimony earlier about needing to move the machete
Because you didn't know if he was still alive,
You were worried about it, is not correct.
Uh, the stress of that
-Short period of time... -Sir, just answer my question.
I'm not asking for an explanation.
You knew marc was dead and you moved the machete.
Okay.
Is it fair to say you've made a lot of incorrect statements here?
Yes, absolutely.
No further questions.
Judge: Step down.
Maro: I'm truly concerned.
Stanley didn't do as well as I hoped he would do.
I think it went bad.
We don't know how long it's gonna take.
-Oh. -It could be an hour.
I don't care. I'm going to stay.
Stanley: Definitely scared.
Shockingly scared.
I just want to stand by you for a minute.
-Stanley: Do we need to come in? -Yes.
(jury forewoman speaking)
Judge: Stanley jensen, the jury having found you guilty
Of the crime of murder in the second degree.
You are hereby adjudicated guilty of that offense.
You will be remanded in custody.
Court will be in recess.
Maro: On a personal level, of course, I'm upset for stanley.
You always want the best for a client.
Unfortunately, bad things can come to good people,
And he made that bad mistake.
He went somewhere where he shouldn't have gone under the circumstances.
That just didn't turn out right for him.