The Last Bet

44m
It was open secret that Brett Parker and his father were operating an illegal sports betting organization. When Parker’s wife and his friend were both shot to death at his home, he claimed it was self-defense. Did this bookie gamble away everything, including his wife's life? “48 Hours" Correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 7/19/2014. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.

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Transcript

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Football Saturdays are big in the South and particularly big here in Columbia.

Basketball team has done well.

The baseball team has won two national championships.

And sports does play a big role here in the Midlands.

Brett Parker was a big sports guy.

Driving back, come on.

Baseball, football, basketball.

He played all three sports in high school.

He was a super baseball player.

Brett Parker worked for a medical sales company.

And we learned that he was a sports bookie.

Brett's father's a bookie as well.

If I wanted to place a bet in Columbia, South Carolina, would it be hard for me to find a bookie to take the bet?

Probably not.

Tammy Joe Parker was the breadwinner of the family.

She was an excellent employee through a pharmaceutical company.

We're going to do just a couple songs for you while you're finishing up eating.

She was also a musician.

I remember the first time I ever heard her sing, and I was amazed that she was so talented.

She doted on her children.

Two lovely children, a marriage that had lasted 16 years.

On April the 13th, 2012, Brett Parker called 911

saying that his wife had been shot by an acquaintance, somebody that he identified as Brian Kappenhurst.

finger.

What happened?

Who shot your life?

A friend of mine, Brian.

Brian actually worked for him, and that he had been forced to attempt to open his safe by Brian Kappenhurst in his home in an apparent robbery attempt.

Is he still there?

I shot him.

I think I killed him.

I think he killed my fingers.

I couldn't protect my wife.

She's both dead.

We have a law in place.

You have a right to use deadly force if you think your life is in danger.

We took Brett Parker's story at face value and we began to investigate.

Investigators are still trying to put together the pieces to this puzzle.

I actually speak for the dead.

I'm their last doctor that they see.

I find out whether or not that story that I was told fits my autopsy findings.

And did that story that you were told fit your autopsy findings?

It did not.

It just didn't make any sense to me.

I've never seen a case with this type of cold-hearted premeditation.

You had lots of money, high-stakes bookies, and gambling.

You had sex, and you had murder.

This was the O.J.

Simpson case of Columbia.

Let's go, Gamecocks!

Let's go, Gamecocks!

On any Saturday or Sunday during the season, you can wager almost all eyes here are on football.

And without too much trouble, you can wager on any game you want because there is a barely secret, thriving world of illegal sports betting here.

Jack Parker and his son were particularly successful at it.

You are a bookie.

Yeah, yeah, I've been doing it a good while, yes, sir.

How long have you been doing it?

30 years.

I guess it is illegal.

It's illegal in the state, yes, sir.

So do you feel at all like a criminal?

No, sir.

Parker taught his son Brett the business, and the two were known as honest bookies who always paid up.

Business was good, and the police largely left the town's bookies alone.

That's not a serious crime where we dedicate a team of people to go out and investigate it.

But the gentlemanly world of the local bookies suddenly had all of Sheriff Sheriff Leon Lott's attention on April 13th, 2012,

when Brett Parker's wife and his assistant were shot dead in Parker's quiet, suburban house.

Everybody watched this case from day one.

Deputy Sella says possibly multiple weapons involved.

People were drawn to it.

Folks in that community are very concerned.

We don't really know if there is a gunman or a gun person out there right now.

Brett and Tammy seemed closer to high society than the criminal underworld.

They didn't really need the money from his bookie business.

Brett sold medical supplies when he wasn't taking bets, and Tammy made a six-figure salary selling pharmaceuticals.

Angela Reichard knew Tammy was ambitious as far back as high school, where Tammy was homecoming queen.

She was very determined to succeed, and she did.

She did exactly what she was driven to do and she was no dumb blonde by no bounce.

And when Tammy married Brett, Brett's mother Linda thought it was a great match.

She and Brett got along real well.

They seemed very happy together.

She was very athletic.

They liked the same things as far as sporting events and doing things together.

So I think they were very compatible.

Their two children, five-year-old Zach and 13-year-old Brooke, also also seemed happy, according to Tammy's friend, Angela Leon.

She was always thinking about the kids.

Brooke was very active and cheerleading.

Zachary was a typical four- or five-year-old boy, full of energy.

So I think overall, I think she was very happy with the way they were growing up.

The family went on frequent vacations together.

Just one week before the killings,

Brett narrated home movies of a cruise he and Tammy went on with the kids.

There's Tammy digging through her purse.

First day of the cruise.

Brett's mother, Linda, went along too.

It was a wonderful experience.

We had a great time.

And I even mentioned to Jack when I got back, I said, you know, Brett and Tammy were just as happy as I've ever seen them.

And they enjoyed themselves.

44-year-old Tammy Parker and 46-year-old Brian Kacknerhurst were found dead inside of the house.

This case got even tougher to figure out when police learned learned the second person found dead in this house was a close family friend.

Brian Kappnerhurst was also friends with Tammy's mother, Libby.

I cut his hair for 20 years at my beauty salon.

He was a very nice guy.

He really was.

He talked about what a good mother Tammy was

and how Brett had it made.

Brett and Tammy's daughter, Brooke, told us she saw Kafnerhurst in the Parker's house all the time, time taking bets over the phone.

What about Brian Kaehurst?

What was he like?

Well I thought he was sweet.

He never seemed like mean or anything and he was always nice to us.

At first glance there was no apparent reason for Brian to kill Tammy.

Everybody seemed to like each other.

Yet Parker, the last man standing, was telling investigator Stan Smith he heard Brian Kappnerhurst shoot his wife.

And he heard shots from upstairs, a number of shots.

And he ran upstairs and said that Kappnerhurst had a gun fixed on him and demanded that he go open the safe.

Parker told police he had to kill his friend Kappnerhurst or be killed.

And the chaotic crime scene seemed to support Parker's story.

And the first body that you'd come across was that of Tammy Parker.

And she was in an office area and she looked like she'd tried to run.

Kappnerhurst's body lay nearby in the attic.

He'd been shot four times.

Police immediately noticed what was in Kappnerhurst's hand.

Our deputies reported that he had been clutching a weapon.

When they got there, our two responding officers who checked the bodies actually took the weapon out of Brian Kafner's hand.

It was a nine-millimeter pistol, the same gun that killed Tammy Parker.

But even with all the evidence that Kappnerhurst killed Tammy, police police had to ask Brett Parker the obvious questions.

We asked about affairs or debt, and he indicated he was in a happy marriage,

that there had been no infidelity.

Police also discovered why Brian had come to the house that day.

Parker owed him a lot of money.

We learned that Brian had been very concerned about this meeting.

He'd been trying to set it up for some time.

He had been eager to get his money.

He'd not been paid in months.

How much money was owed to him?

About 21,30.

Was that $23?

$21,300.

Right.

Brett answered all the questions, and police released him that same evening.

We took his story down at face value.

He gave us a written statement to that effect.

Well, there's no reason to doubt him.

But there's a reason to check the veracity of his story.

Brett Parker now had to tell his kids their mother was dead.

He did it with the help of his parents.

I remember when he told Brooke, and Zach was just

five at the time.

I had him on my lap, and he got up off my lap, and he went out and started kicking rocks.

And

somewhere along the line, he was back in my lap.

I remember talking to him, and he said,

Mommy's at the doctor's.

I didn't tell him any different.

I couldn't.

After Brett told his kids, a police officer talked to Brooke about what happened.

And he said to Brooke, had he not shot Brian, Brian probably would have shot him.

Now, that's the exact words he told Brooke.

They said self-defense and to protect the family so he didn't die.

What did you think of that?

It scared me.

It looked like this case would be closed soon with compelling evidence showing it was Brian Kappnerhurst who shot Tammy and was then shot by Parker in self-defense.

But within about 24 hours, police had a new theory.

And this one was much more sinister.

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Calm down for me.

I need to know what happened, okay?

Who shot your life?

A friend of my brother.

I've said from the very beginning it was a robbery gone bad.

Dave Fedor has been called a legend in Columbia, South Carolina.

He's been a lawyer here for more than 50 years.

And 10 days after the killings, he got a call from the Parkers asking for advice as police continued to investigate.

He began looking into Brian Kappnerhurst.

So let's talk about Mr.

Kappnerhurst.

What was his financial situation?

Bad.

He owed about $25,000.

He was just working,

not making much money.

Kaehurst worked three jobs, but never seemed to make ends meet.

It was a constant scramble to pay the bills.

It was not good.

He owed his father-in-law money.

He was looking for a pig payday.

He was hoping payday would be that day, day, Friday the 13th, when he went to the Parkers hoping to get $21,000 he said Brett owed him from the bookie business.

And before he went, he called Brett's father, Jack.

He just said he was going, meeting Brett, I forgot what time, 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock, something like that.

Did he seem mad at Brett?

Not really.

He was more, I think he was more mad at his wife than he was at anybody.

For what?

And he said his wife had run up the credit bill so bad that he couldn't borrow $10.

He said he couldn't couldn't get anything.

His credit card was maxed out.

Fedora thinks Kappnerhurst believed the answer to all his problems lay inside Brett Parker's safe in the attic.

The police investigation revealed that Kaptnhurst and his wife had been talking the previous few days about $80,000 to $100,000 being in the safe.

And how much money was actually in that safe?

A couple hundred dollars.

Just a couple of hundred dollars, a fraction of the $21,000 thousand Kappnerhurst thought he was owed.

But he was going to put his foot down.

He was tired of the excuses.

He wanted the money that he was owed.

People do snap, especially if they're in debt or if they're owed a lot of money.

Brett told Brian to come over at 12.30 that Friday, and home security cameras show he was right on time.

He was carrying a duffel bag that Brett told him to bring to carry the money.

Watch how he flings that bag over his shoulder.

It will become critically important.

Brett told Fedor what happened next.

Kappenhurst came in the side door and Brett in the bathroom told him to go on upstairs.

He'd seen him up in the office.

A minute or two later, Brett hears gunshots.

He comes out of the bathroom, goes upstairs.

Kappenhurst is standing on the stairwell.

with a pistol.

He orders Brett Parker upstairs, back to the area where the safe is.

Brett sees his wife lying on the floor, and the guy orders him to open the safe.

Brett has on top of the safe, under a blanket, a pistol.

Grabs the pistol, spins around, and shoots many times at Captain Hearst.

Kills Captain Hearst.

He runs out past him, checks his wife, and naturally is hysterical.

I completely understand that you are very upset.

South Carolina is one of 33 states with a form of what's called a stand-your-ground law.

The kind of law that was widely discussed in Florida's George Zimmerman Trayvon Martin case.

Is this a case in your mind where Brett Parker was standing his ground?

Absolutely.

If someone has a pistol painted at your head, orders you up the stairs, and you have to go to a safe, I think your life is a little bit endangered.

It wouldn't have taken me five seconds to pull a pistol and shoot him.

Investigators did find lots of gunpowder residue at the crime scene, much of it on Brian Kappnerhurst.

Gunpowder residue comes from the firing of a firearm, and it comes out in a cloud fashion.

And was he covered with the residue?

It was all over his hand, yes.

The gunpowder residue showed that Kapnerhurst could have fired the nine-millimeter pistol that killed Tammy.

And Parker told investigators he gave that gun to Kaapnerhurst for his protection just one month before the shootings.

He told us when he gave him the gun, he gave him the box of shells and the empty magazine.

I gave him the gun about you.

But this case was not going to be that simple.

The day after the killings, Dr.

Bradley Marcus performed his autopsy on Brian Kappnerhurst.

And what he found, he says, shows the killings could not have happened the way Brett Parker said.

We opened the body bag.

He had a significant injury to his left arm.

The bone was broken.

There was just a gaping hole in his arm.

So a significant number of those muscles were damaged.

That was the most important wound that Mr.

Captain Hurst received.

Why?

He would not have been able to have a gun in his hand at that, with that type of injury there.

Marcus believes Captain Hurst would have dropped the gun as soon as he was shot in the arm.

So suspicion started to turn towards Brett.

The only person to walk out of that house alive.

And now Jack Parker needed to be sure his son was not a killer.

I took him in my bedroom with my wife and I drilled him like a drill sergeant.

I got in his face.

I pounded him on his chest.

I said, God damn it, if you did this, you fess up to it.

Don't put us through a trial.

Don't put me, your mother, your kids through a trial.

And he said, Dad, I promise you, his tears coming out.

He said, I did not do this.

Was there any scintilla of doubt in your mind when he looked you in the eye and said, Dad, I did not do this, that he was telling you the truth?

No, sir.

But to police, Brian Kaepnerhurst was starting to look more like a victim than a killer.

And this was now a different kind of case entirely.

By that time, some red flags had begun to arise, and I had some serious doubts about Brett Parker's story.

But I remember making a commitment to Tammy Joe Parker then that I would do her justice and get to the bottom of this and determine what the truth was.

Stan Smith and the rest of the Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff's Department weren't buying Brett Parker's story about how his wife was killed by his friend Brian Kappnerhurst.

Evidence pointed to Brett as the killer.

But investigators needed more to make an arrest.

They had spent hours watching the video from Parker's home security cameras.

And then, 43 days after the killings, detectives saw something in a flash.

My lieutenant began to continue to study the camera from what we would think would be an irrelevant angle.

He discovered the blinds being moved.

Look closely at the blinds on the door.

Did you see it?

A split-second flash, and it might be the key to solving this case.

This is the door the surveillance camera was trained on at the Parker's house.

But the police needed to know what was going on on the other side of the door, inside the house.

They believe that flash was caused by somebody opening these blinds, like this, to peer through them for two seconds.

And they were in luck because the surveillance camera had a time stamp, so they knew these blinds opened at 24 minutes past 12.

That's seven minutes before Brian Kappnerhurst was seen arriving.

Then the question was, who was standing here?

It had to be either Tammy or Brett Parker.

We then immediately got a search warrant, went back, tested the blinds.

The police tested for gunpowder residue.

And lo and behold, the results came back that there was small round lint particles on the blinds, which is consistent with gunpowder residue.

What did that mean to you?

That meant somebody had fired a gun and looked at those blinds.

There was no evidence that Tammy had fired a gun so police concluded it was Brett looking outside and by now they thought they knew why.

We had theorized at that point that he had killed Tammy Parker.

He was anxiously awaiting Brian Kappner's arrival.

This guy's got to show up because if this guy doesn't show up he's got a problem.

They believe Brett had lied from day one.

They think Brett killed Tammy, then shot Brian Kappnerhurst and placed that gun in his hand to make it look like Brian murdered Tammy and threatened to kill Brett.

And as he had picked out the driveway, he opened those blinds before that, and he had gunpowder on his hands.

How important was that evidence?

It was important physical evidence.

It pushed the ball well over the goal line.

It was pretty significant.

But weeks had elapsed since the killings, and Dave Fedor, Parker's attorney, did not consider the gunpowder residue significant.

43 days later and after 80 to 100 police officers were in there tromping all around, it could have gotten there anyway.

How much value is that evidence, do you believe?

Worthless.

But police say the case against Brett Parker was coming together.

And they say they found evidence in the strangest place.

the bathroom Parker said he was using when Kappnerhurst arrived.

Suffice it to say, given what Parker said he was doing, they thought the toilet seat was in the wrong position.

How unusual would it be for the toilet seat to be up?

I just don't believe that's normal protocol for a male to raise the toilet seat after he

uses the toilet seat.

Yes, in the way that he needed to use the toilet seat.

There were more clues from Parker's home surveillance system.

Remember how Kaehurst flung his bag over his shoulder?

Stan Smith thought it was odd that a box of bullets used in the shooting was found so easily inside the bag.

The way we found the magazine and the bullets, they were right on top.

And we immediately realized if you throw that over your shoulder, that's going to be mixed up down in the corner of the bottom of the bag.

They were on top as if they'd been placed there.

You examined that box of ammunition.

We did.

And what did you find?

Well, we ultimately processed processed it and got Brett Parker's thumbprint off of it.

What about Mr.

Kappnerhurst?

No.

No DNA, no fingerprints, but Brett Parker's thumbprint.

Parker stopped talking to investigators, but he started talking to their boss, one of the most powerful men in the county, Sheriff Leon Lott.

Parker's father, Jack, knew the sheriff and asked him to meet with his son.

What was on Brett's mind, in your view, when he decided to go talk to the sheriff?

sheriff?

He wanted to clear himself.

And why not go to the top?

I've never had a so-called alleged criminal go talk to the sheriff.

Now, that's a new game in my repertoire.

What does that show you?

It shows me he was stone innocent.

Sheriff Lott agreed to meet Brett.

He felt like if he could convince me, then if I believed him, then he wouldn't be charged.

I felt like, you know, after a while that he was just trying to con me.

He was trying to con you?

He was trying to con me.

How do you con the sheriff?

How do you con a politician?

The sheriff's a politician.

He's a good one.

Lot allowed Parker to walk him through the crime scene.

He wanted to do a walkthrough to show me his house and how it had happened.

And then we went back downstairs and we sat at his kitchen table.

I looked at him in the eyes and said, basically, I don't believe you.

That's your evidence does not match your story.

So the next morning, we went and got the warrants for his arrest.

And that's when I called him and told him to turn himself in.

Brett Parker is accused of killing his own wife, Tammy Parker, along with Brian Kafner-Hurst.

On July 20th, 2012, 97 days after the killings, Brett Parker surrendered to face two murder charges.

Broken Zach.

But before he did, he recorded this video on his cell phone, asking his 13-year-old old daughter and his five year old son for their support.

I did not kill Tammy.

They keep on, they're pushing me and pushing me and pushing me until I break.

What they're doing is not right.

I hope that you can stand up.

For me.

From day one, he has insisted to Brooke he is innocent.

What did he say to you?

He just told me he didn't do it and he would never lay a hand on her.

And I believed him and I still do.

Brooke has evidence she believes can help prove her father innocent.

But here's the question.

Will anyone believe her?

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I didn't see how Brian could do it.

I didn't see how Brett could do it.

With Brett Parker's murder trial fast approaching, Libby Carswell, Tammy's mother, still could not be sure who killed her daughter.

Was it Parker, her son-in-law, or his assistant, Brian Kappnerhurst?

I could not believe either one could do such a thing.

And so I was baffled.

Defense Attorney Dave Fedora thinks he can show a jury that Parker was just standing his ground, defending his home, and had no reason to kill his wife.

She was the bankrope with the family.

She was making approximately $160,000 a year, the goose that lays the golden eggs, so to speak.

Now, anybody in their right mind isn't going to kill a mate that's making all the money.

Essentially, what the defense would have to argue is a burglary.

But the prosecutors argued strongly that the stand-your-ground ground defense cannot be used in this case because, among other reasons, the killing took place where a crime, illegal sports betting, was being committed.

So the defense will now say this was a robbery that escalated to murder.

Dave Fedor has brought in Mark Whitlark as co-counsel.

This is a case.

about a man that was at the end of his rope

who had a desire for money

and a plan for violence.

But his name's not Brett Parker.

His name is Brian Kaffenhurst.

The prosecutor is Luck Campbell.

We want to talk about the evidence, the hard, cold facts that prove Brett Parker had no other alternative in his mind but to set up the murder of his wife and frame his best friend.

Campbell's key witness is Dr.

Bradley Marcus, the medical examiner.

My feeling is that when I get on the stand, it's over for the defendant.

Why do you say that?

Because I'm very confident in what I do and I know what I'm doing in that autopsy room.

You can see the break right there.

You see that the black space?

There shouldn't be any black space.

Marcus testifies that gaping wound on Kafnerhurst's arm shows there was no way he could have held on to the gun, which he says can mean only one thing.

I believe that gun was placed there by Brett Parker.

But the question is, why would Parker kill his wife and frame Brian Kapnerhurst?

The prosecution says he had the oldest motive in the book.

We found a series of text messages between he and a female indicative of an affair.

It is damaging and racy evidence that Parker was having an affair with this woman, Lindsay Mullins, his bank teller.

She was caught on camera leaving a motel where rooms rent by the hour and one of those rooms was rented by Brett Parker.

What did you do once you got to the motel?

He told me there was a room and I went there.

And once inside, did y'all have a sexual encounter?

Yes.

Even his lawyers say there is now no doubt Parker was an adulterer, but that does not mean he is a murderer.

Who in the world is going to kill his wife just because he's having an affair?

He wasn't going to run off with the young lady, as she testified on the stand.

You didn't have any plans to run off with anything with Brett Parker, did you?

Not at all.

It was just one of those fly-by-night things, and it happens.

But the prosecutors argued Parker could have killed his wife for lust or money.

Good granny!

Because Parker owed over $170,000.

As it turns out, Brett the Bookie was betting his own money, lots of it, and badly.

Brett has a problem, and I think he realizes he has a problem.

But it was not a reason for murder.

I promise you that.

Except the prosecutors say Parker's real problem was paying off all those debts.

And Tammy had investments and life insurance worth more than $1 million.

She had $868,000 of life life insurance.

And who was the beneficiary of this villain?

Brett.

Ben Staples was the family accountant.

Do you believe that he killed his wife and Brian Kappnerhurst to get the insurance money?

To get all the money, not just the insurance.

But yeah, there's no doubt in my mind.

But this man says Parker might not have needed all that money.

Lanny Gunter, who is serving time on federal charges for being a bookie, was Parker's bookie.

And he says Parker's big debts were actually no big deal.

The debt that Brent had under his account was $100,000, $101,000.

Okay.

And you weren't worried about that, were you?

I've never been worried about Brett.

As a matter of fact, if he had called you and said, look, I'm having a problem, you would have wiped the whole thing clean for it, would you?

We would have worked something out, yes, sir.

In this case, it is not enough to argue Parker didn't do it.

The defense wants to convince the jury that Kappnerhurst did.

Remember, the gun that killed Tammy was found in his hand.

It was Parker's gun, but he has a witness who will swear she knows Parker gave it to Kapnerhurst a few weeks before the killing.

The witness is Brooke, Parker's teenage daughter.

So I told my grandpa that I remembered I was in the room and they were having a conversation about it.

She said, Daddy.

gave Brian a gun.

I said, how do you know?

She said, I was there and told him, I said, you may have just saved your daddy's life.

So 14-year-old Brooke Parker takes the stand.

When I was in the office, Brian and my dad were discussing a gun that my dad had.

And

they were just talking about how they thought it was good for him to have safety at his house.

and to protect Brian's family.

But when the prosecutor cross-examines Brooke, it does not go well.

What were you feeling when you were being cross-examined by the prosecutor?

I was scared.

I'll get that back.

The prosecutor asks Brooke to read a transcript of a recorded phone conversation she had with her father in jail.

The prosecutor claims Parker was coaching his daughter about what to say to help him.

I'm not doing it just to help him.

I was in the room and I witnessed them talking about how he was giving a gun to Brian.

I'm not lying about that.

I was there and I remember.

It is hard to watch.

Everybody in the courtroom knows what Brooke has been through.

To see her up there on the stand.

Bless her heart, she was trying to save her dad.

That's all she had to hold on to.

Nobody knows if the jury believes Brooke's testimony.

and now the defense decides the only person who can save Brett Parker might well be Brett Parker himself.

Today, Brett Parker the bookie is making the biggest bet of his life, gambling a jury will believe him when he testifies in his own murder trial.

Do you plan on testifying today, son?

Yes, ma'am.

All right, and is that your decision?

Yes, ma'am.

All right, thank you.

You may take the same course.

It is a big risk for Parker, but his lawyer, Dave Fedor, says Parker really has no choice.

In South Carolina, if you're accused of shooting somebody, they want the defendant to get on the stand and say, I ain't done it.

Is it?

We walked by the office, I could see,

I could see Tammy's feet sticking out of the bathroom.

And

then I knew something was wrong, bad.

That he had

probably shot her.

Parker has to confront the sordid details of his life that are now public, his adultery, and his gambling addiction.

He says he told Tammy about his compulsive betting.

I mean, I had a gambling problem.

But as Tammy is,

she comforted me and

she took me.

Tammy was like that.

She was the best.

But you would never do anything to hurt her.

Never hurt her.

I would never hurt Tammy.

Never had.

And this is all playing out in front of Parker's teenage daughter, Brooke.

She was in court almost every day.

Are you glad you were there?

Can I ask why?

To let my dad know I was supporting him.

And Parker can use all the support he can get.

Prosecutor Luck Campbell is pushing him, and he's pushing back.

You just testified to this jury twice in your examination.

You saw your wife get murdered.

I did not say that.

I said I saw my wife dead.

See, there you go, twisting stuff again.

That's what happened.

She was murdered.

I didn't see the actual event take place, but I know what happened.

That's what I'm talking about.

You twist.

That's what you do.

You twist more stuff than I've ever seen.

But despite all the pushing, Parker sticks to his story.

Did you think it was important to tell the police the truth?

I did tell them the truth.

I've told them what's happened in that house, and that is the truth.

And I believe, as I see it, the evidence proves it, that Brian pulled the trigger and killed Tammy.

That's the whole thing in this case.

It's not that I was a gambler.

That has nothing to do with it.

What is the fact is the fact that Brian pulled the trigger and killed my wife.

That is the fact.

All this other stuff that y'all are trying to to paint a picture of painting me out to be this bad guy is not true.

To use his lawyer's words, Parker has told the jury repeatedly that he ain't done it.

And now the jurors will decide if they believe him.

What was the waiting like?

Oh, my heart's just pounding.

I don't know what the verdict's gonna be.

Because he was very convincing on the stand.

If I didn't know the whole case, what he's saying on the stand, I'd believed him.

After almost three weeks of trial, the jury has its verdict in just over two and a half hours.

As to the charge of the murder of Tammy Parker, we, the jury, unanimously find the defendant guilty.

Brett Parker is found guilty of killing both his wife, Tammy, and his friend, Brian Kappnerhurst.

His daughter, Brooke, was there watching when her father was legally branded,

her mother's murderer.

What did you feel and what did you do when you heard the verdict?

Started crying.

Because what did you think?

I mean, I knew he didn't do it.

So.

Parker may be innocent in his daughter's eyes.

You'll be sentenced to the State Department of Corrections for a determinate sentence of life.

But the judge sentences him to two consecutive life sentences.

No parole.

I looked at him with sadness.

How could you kill the mother of your children?

If you loved my daughter, you wouldn't have killed her.

You could have walked away.

What happened to you that day?

Yes, me.

Thank y'all.

Brooke and her younger brother Zach

have lost their mother to murder and their father to prison.

For now, they are living with Parker's parents, Linda and Jack.

What is it now that makes you weep still?

Kids, it's tough.

Valentine's Day, this past year, Zach came home.

He brought me a Valentine's card, and he brought one to his mother.

And on his mother's card, he said,

I lost a tooth.

And he wanted us to send that card up

with balloons to his mother.

That's tough.

That's hard.

They didn't deserve this.

Four months after Brett Parker's murder conviction, he and his father, Jack, were found guilty of operating an illegal gambling ring.

Jack Parker's conviction was overturned on appeal.

In 2016, Jack Parker was convicted again on gambling charges and received probation.

Tulsa is my home now.

Academy Award nominee Sylvester Stallone stars in the Paramount Plus original series, Tulsa King.

His distillery is a very interesting business.

And we gotta go the enemy.

From Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of Landman.

What are you saying?

I'm alright.

If you think you're gonna take me out,

it's gonna be really

difficult.

Toza King, new season, no streaming, exclusively on Paramount Plus.

Now streaming.

Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery.

We don't know what we're looking for.

Their bodies are the scene of the crime.

No symptoms and history are clues.

You saved her life.

We're doctors and we're detectives.

I kind of love it if I'm being honest.

Solve the puzzle, save the patient.

Watson, all episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus.