DATELINE Cara Ryan verdict controversy & full press conference video

Dateline‘s latest examines the controversial verdict in the case of Cara Ryan, a Florida woman and career teacher accused of second-degree murder in the death of her ex-husband John Joseph (“JJ”) Rush. Neither the defense nor the prosecution argued that Ryan was responsible for pulling the trigger of the gun that shot and killed JJ. What was under examination was the story of self-defense that Ryan’s attorneys told–and whether the possible omission of her Miranda rights after her arrest introduced sufficient reasonable doubt for a jury.

The basic facts of the case are these. Cara Ryan and JJ Rush were married in 1997 and divorced in 2006. They never remarried, but reconciled in 2007, began seeing each other again, and referred to each other as husband and wife. According to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, there was “significant control by Cara Ryan over JJ” at the time of his murder on 2015 murder. And part of that control appeared to be physical: JJ, a former sergeant with the St. Petersburg Police Department, had stepped back from patrol duty following injuries; he became an investigator with the county Medical Examiner instead.

On February 15th, 2017, JJ broke up with Ryan. On the night of March 7th, 2015, Ryan sent JJ a text message–”which was sexual in nature”–inviting him to come over. He did, and the twi became “engaged in some type of activity.” During that, Ryan received a text–also “sexual in nature”–from a deputy with the Sheriff’s office. Rush “became aware” of the text. But what happened next wasn’t proven conclusively, because Ryan gave several different versions of the story.

In the first version, Ryan was so upset by the text Ryan received that he began “a very violent rape” of his ex-wife. In the second, JJ left Ryan’s apartment and drove off; a short time later, an “unknown intruder came into her apartment” and Ryan shot the intruder with her .38 caliber pistol. And, in the third version, JJ returned to the apartment, still very upset, and Ryan shot him–knowing that it was him–because, she said, “he didn’t have a chance.”

Here’s the Cara Ryan press conference following the murder, featuring Sheriff Gualtieri:

So, when Cara Ryan’s trial on a second-degree murder charge began earlier this year, it became the prosecution’s job to establish a malicious intent behind Ryan’s shot, and defense’s job to establish clear self-defense. Roger Futerman, Ryan’s attorney, described JJ as “an intimidating, unpredictable addict,” and said that on the night he was murdered Ryan “had never seen him this out of control.” And Assistant State Attorney Liz Jack said that Ryan was “distraught” and “blindsided” by JJ’s decision to break up with her in February–to end what had been a 20-year relationship.

Jack pointed to inconsistencies in Ryan’s story, calling as a witness a detective who said that Ryan “gave three versions of the rape” before adding that she thought her rapist was also an intruder. Futerman countered by noting “inconsistencies” in the testimony of the detective who “kept an eye on Ryan until detectives arrived”–going so far as to wonder whether the deputy had read Ryan her Miranda rights. In order to do so more effectively, he contacted Lucinda Hebbeler, a lip reader who referred to her skill as “eye-dropping” and who examined footage of Ryan’s interrogation to try and determine whether those rights had been explained:

Ultimately, a jury was unconvinced by the state’s case. It took less than two hours to return a verdict of not guilty in Cara Ryan’s case. Futerman provided a stark reminder of what Ryan had said JJ told her after seeing the text message she received: “I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill him. I’m going to bust you open so no man can want you again.”

And, as the Tampa Bay Times pointed out, Ryan’s attorney believed he convinced the jury in part because “prosecutors didn’t present any evidence rebutting their argument that she fired in self-defense.”

“A Shot in the Dark,” Dateline‘s look at the Cara Ryan verdict, airs tonight at 9 on NBC.

(Photo credits: Dateline Cara Ryan verdict via NBC)