In a surprise move, the defense put Allen Blackthorne on the stand.

     His manner, to me, seemed different compared to my interview with him about the investigation in July 1999. Then he was a more confident, commanding personality eager to share his opinions. Monday, he seemed frail. He struggled to understand questions from his attorney and spoke slowly as he looked into the eyes of the jurors to give his answers.

     If he is a millionaire, then he is one with slightly tussled hair, deep, dark bags under his eyes and a five o'clock shadow. Confinement inside a federal detention facility for the last six months has definitely aged the 45-year-old man.

     His testimony was somewhat basic at first. He testified he met the then-Sheila Walsh in the fall of 1992 and married her in 1993. He says "the marriage started off good, then went bad." He claims he changed his name from Van Houte to Blackthorne during the marriage, not in order to avoid creditors from Hawaii, but mostly because he disliked his father.

     As for the two daughters he shared with Bellush, Stevie and Daryl, he told jurors "I miss em', I love em'." Blackthorne saw both for the first time in three years at his trial. He gave up his parental rights a few months before their mother's murder and outside of one stolen visit, hasn't seen them since.

     Those in the courtroom hung on his every word. Again the gallery was packed, forcing the overflow crowd into a courtroom across the hall. In the neighboring courtroom spectators openly reacted to his professions of innocence and his sudden inability to remember under cross examination by the prosecution.

     The day someone slit Sheila's throat and shot her twice in the face, the day Stevie discovered her mother's body ... Blackthorne says he heard a rumor about the murder but went to dinner with his current wife anyway to celebrate the anniversary of their engagment. He told jurors later that night he confirmed the story and his reaction then was "numb, in shock. It was disbelief." It was the same disbelief he felt when he turned on the news and discovered police were looking for him, "boom just like that ... the ex-husband did it."

     His first action: hiring an attorney. He never called his daughters. Now he claims he hopes for a reunion one day but says he stays away from Stevie and Daryl on the advice of his attorneys.

     After extensive testimony, Lubin finally asked, "Are you innocent of this crime?"

     Blackthorne answered, "I am."

     So how did Blackthorne do with the jury? It's anybody's guess. The blonde, fifth-year college student in the front row seemed to lose interest. After lunch, a woman on the end of the first row fought off sleep.

     But a few men in the back never took their eyes off him, listening closely. This was the most crucial part of the case and it came and went quickly in eight hours. Eight hours that may define where Blackthorne spends the rest of his life - in his nearly 9,000-square-foot home or roughly a 5-foot cell.