Fatal Visions

Now this was a great trial to those that did stand fast in the faith...

Book of Mormon, Alma 1:25

Juan Martinez: Douglas Grant called Hilary Dewitt and he told her, Wait for me… that everything is going to work out.  Because, well, Faylene Grant was gonna die.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Juan Martinez methodically portrayed Doug Grant as a lying adulterer...

Juan Martinez: A married man, an older married man, pursuing a younger woman that's not his!

Faylene's writings, her premonitions of death... Martinez argued what they really showed was not that Faylene wanted to die, but that Doug wanted her dead.

Juan Martinez: I must have faith in Doug's vision.

And he said Doug's plans all came to fruition when he told hospital personnel to take Faylene off life support.

Juan Martinez: When he sees that these efforts are underway to save his wife's life, he says let her die!  Just let her die.  Later that evening, he met with Hilary. When he sees that these efforts are underway to save his wife's life, he says let her die!  Just let her die. Later that evening, he met with Hilary.

Defense attorney Mel McDonald argued not only was Doug innocent of killing Faylene. There was no proof she'd been killed at all.

Mel McDonald: No crime of murder was ever committed.

He made sure the jury heard Faylene's writings anticipating her death... And urging Doug and Hilary to get married.

Mel McDonald: This desire for you to be married immediately...has been so strong.

And he hammered away at what McDonald called an incompetent and dishonest investigation.

Mel McDonald: At the end of this case, you will find overhwelming evidence...this is not a murder case.

The trial was scheduled to last four months. Faylene's sisters vowed to attend every day.

Cherlene: We wanted to be there.  We needed to be there.  Nothing could've kept me--

Jody: No.

Cherlene: --away.

Josh Mankiewicz: Was that the hardest thing you've ever done?

Cherlene: No.  Watching my sister die was the hardest thing I've ever done. 

The first prosecution witness: Jenna Stradling, Faylene's daughter from her first marriage. Just 11 years old when her mom died, now she was a college student, convinced of her stepfather's guilt.  Jenna testified that the morning Faylene drowned-- she tried to get into the master bedroom.

Jenna Stradling: So I grabbed the door handle, jiggled it and it was locked.

Juan Martinez: Did you knock on the door at all?

Jenna Stradling: No sir. So I grabbed the door handle, jiggled it and it was locked.

Jenna said that was at 7:40. The prosecutor claimed at that moment Doug was drowning Faylene. Jenna recounted her mother's death, with devastating impact.

Jenna Stradling: They tried to rush me out of the room and I just kept looking back and her heartbeat just kept getting lower and lower and lower and so then I realized it wasn't a good thing.

Juan Martinez: Is that when your mom died?

Jenna Stradling: Well, I walked back in the room and she was dead. They tried to rush me out of the room and I just kept looking back and her heartbeat just kept getting lower and lower and lower and so then I realized it wasn't a good thing.

Juan Martinez: Is that when your mom died?

Jenna Stradling: Well, I walked back in the room and she was dead.

Her testimony closed with a zinger:

Juan Martinez: And how old are you?

Jenna Stradling: I'm gonna to be 19 in a few days.

Juan Martinez: At that time they were dating did you know how old Hilary was?

Jenna Stradling: Yes, sir.

Juan Martinez: How old?

Jenna Stradling: 19.

Chad White, the physician’s assistant so central to the case, offered several damning details. First, he testified that Doug filled the Ambien prescription-- against his orders.

Chad White: Patient is to inform me of filling prescription.

Juan Martinez: Did you ever get a call that day?

Chad White: No, sir.

And yet pharmacy records show Doug filled the prescription in less than 25 minutes. The next day, the evidence seemed to show, Chad White had to call 911 - because Doug didn't.

911:

I told him to call 911...He said I'm afraid to, I'm afraid to.

Juan Martinez: What is he afraid of?

Chad White: No.  I-I've thought of that.  I've thought of it often.

White said he arrived at the house and started CPR on Faylene.

Juan Martinez: What happened when you initiated the rescue breath?

Chad White: Water, uh, came out of her mouth.

Juan Martinez: Where did it go?

Chad White: Down the side of the bed.

You can see the water in the police photo, suggesting that Doug had not done CPR before Chad White arrived. Other witnesses contradicted key parts of Doug's story about the day Faylene died. For example-- a toxicologist refuted Doug's claim that Faylene got in the bathtub by herself.

Juan  Martinez: Can a 123-pound woman given 50 milligrams of Ambien draw her own bath?

Toxicologist: Absolutely not.

A 911 operator insisted Doug did not call that day.

911 Operator: There was no call.

Paramedics testified that he seemed unusually calm.

Paramedic: I mean there-there was a dead lady on the bed for all intents and purposes, and- and nobody seemed to be...excited about it.

There was also something that seemed odd for a woman who'd supposedly been submerged water just a few minutes earlier:

Juan Martinez: Were you able to touch her skin...to see whether or not her body was wet?

Paramedic: I don't recall her body being wet, sir.

The same theme that what Doug said didn't match the facts also came up during testimony about Faylene's mysterious mishap in Utah three days before her death.

Juan Martinez: Those injuries that you saw, um, are they consistent with a 50 to 60-foot fall?

Emergency Room Doctor: Ah, not in my opinion, No.

And there was testimony about one scrape on Faylene's chest that seemed fresher than the others. The message: Doug was lying about the fall, and about his role in Faylene's death. The prosecution's boldest move was calling Hilary Grant, Doug's one-time girlfriend, now his wife.

Was she a woman in love?  Or was she a motive for murder?  Or even an accomplice? Or, once again, all of that?

Juan Martinez: It's clear that this is something that's very emotional to you, right?

Hilary Grant: Yes.

Juan Martinez: And it's because you care, right?

Hilary Grant: Yes.

Juan Martinez: You would have done anything for Douglas Grant, wouldn't have you?

Hilary Grant: Nope.

But that was the prosecutor's contention: that Hilary was so in love with Doug, she went along with his plot. Becoming pen pals with Faylene...

Juan Martinez: You never tell her that you are talking to her husband behind her back, do you, in those letters?

Hilary Grant: Written down.  No.

Juan Martinez: Ma'am, do you ever tell her in those letters?

Hilary Grant: No, I do not.

Juan Martinez: You never tell her that you are talking to her husband behind her back, do you, in those letters?

Hilary Grant Written down.  No.

Yet she was speaking with Doug, and apparently believing what he told her-- that Faylene was about to die.

Juan Martinez: And isn't it true that you kept checking your voicemail?

Video   Witness stand: Hilary Grant A tearful Hilary testifies about her relationship with Faylene. Dateline NBC

Hilary Grant: I did.  That's correct...I thought Faylene was going to pass away.

And Hilary admitted as soon as Faylene was dead, she and Doug did meet, at night, in a park. But she denied the key detail. That was supplied by a former friend, who testified Hilary told her...

Kari Handley: That he reached over and grabbed her hips, and pulled them against him and said, "Mmm, I miss these."

It was a case full of juicy moments, but a lot of basics were missing.  Like... Where was the proof Doug gave Faylene the Ambien? Or the proof that he put her in the bathtub? Or the proof that this was not suicide, or an accident? The testimony to come would tilt the balance dramatically.

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