VIRGINIA STATE BAR DISCLAIMER: THE OUTCOME EVERY CASE WILL DEPEND ON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE AND CASE RESULTS DEPICTED HERE DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE.
A wealthy entrepreneur was killed at his home by two bullets fired at close range. His seventy-year old mother-in-law "confessed," but claimed self-defense. The mother-in-law was sentenced to 12 months in jail (with work-release) and the deceased's very young wife stood to inherit a multi-million dollar estate. Denton thought it sounded a little suspicious. Picking up the investigation where the police let off, that is with the mother-in-law's so-called confession, Jeremiah Denton proved in a subsequent wrongful death suit that the deceased had actually been killed by the grieving young widow, with the likely assistance of her able bodied, stable-hand boyfriend. The jury awarded $3 million (and there went the poor widow's inheritance).
