Two of the attorneys in the McCafferty trial agree on one thing: no one will ever know the whole story of the Fort Thomas couple -- Bob and Cheryl McCafferty.
"A trial is a snapshot of a person's life-you don't see the whole movie. The trial will never capture it all," said defense attorney Frank Mungo, who was part of Cheryl McCafferty's defense team with Keith Gambrel and Deanna Dennison.
Cheryl, the 44-year-old Fort Thomas mother of two who was charged with the shooting death of her husband June 25, 2007, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 18 years in prison. After her conviction earlier this week, many still have questions that may never be answered fully said Commonwealth's Attorney Michelle Snodgrass, prosecutor in the case.
"Really, I don't think with his death, we'll ever get the full story," she said.
In fact, she said prosecutors told the jury ahead of time that they would not get all of their questions answered. However, she said it was her job to explain the elements of the event.
Bob, who was 44 years old when he was shot and killed in the couple's master bedroom, was "everybody's friend," said the prosecuting attorney. Snodgrass admitted that when she works on trials she gets close to the victim's family and it makes it more personal for her.
After working with his family and friends, gathering information throughout the trial, Snodgrass said that she felt like she knew Bob -- a man, who was funny, kind and generous.
"He gave a lot," she said of Bob's generosity with his time and his money. He was a coach for his son's sports team and a financial donor to his church and children's school. Snodgrass said that according to his family, Bob made everyone feel like they were important to him.
"He made people feel good," she said, continuing that she would've probably been friends with him herself had she known the victim during his lifetime.
Many friends and family members told her that knowing him changed their lives. She now numbers herself as one of those changed just by knowing of him.
"He's made me learn to appreciate my family and my friends."
Mungo describes the victim as a "good man, with a good soul," having excellent qualities. However, he said no one will ever know the entire McCafferty relationship and all that went on behind the scenes. At this point only Cheryl's words can be heard.
"She's a complicated lady," Mungo said of his client, who he also described as intelligent, kind and considerate.
Cheryl, he said, is the most unlikely person to be in this situation. In a million years, she couldn't have imagined that she'd be here today, he said. That's why he thinks that so many people are interested in this case.
With her background and upbringing, he said it's unimaginable to be brought up on a murder charge.
Mungo said, however, that Cheryl handled herself very well throughout the entire process.
"I admired her strength during the whole trial. I can't imagine what it's like for 12 people to decide if I'll ever see the light of day again."
It took a lot of courage, Mungo said, for Cheryl to want to be judged instead of pleading guilty for a deal.
"It's a tragedy, [a] devastation that affected both sides of this family," he said of the death of Bob.
No amount of closure that will give back the son that the McCaffertys have lost, nor the daughter that the Gosleys have lost. And the couple's children, Molly, 17, and Patrick, 14, have lost both.
"People don't understand the amount of devastation behind the scenes," said Mungo.
Mungo said he had nothing but total faith in the jury and stressed that Cheryl wanted to go to trial, rather than negotiate a plea. Still he said he would have liked to have seen Cheryl walk out the door a free woman.
"She got her day in court. She told her story. [We] beat the murder [charge], so we were satisfied."
The small-town South Carolina native Mungo, who was brought onto the case in March 2008 by Dennison for his scientific expertise, said that the defense team tried to "establish that something indeed happened."
As for Cheryl's future, according to Mungo, after she had her probation/parole interview after sentencing, she was told that after a review she might be eligible for parole as early as January 2010 for "good time credit." While he said that nothing is for sure as of yet, he thinks that worst case, she will be eligible by July 2010.
Looking back at the trial, Mungo addressed some the questions that circulated the hallways of the courtroom after the defense abruptly stopped calling witnesses from their list in week two of the trial. Several witnesses had not been called and that prompted many to wonder why. Mungo said their testimony wasn't needed for their case.
He said that for the most part the defense team put on the best case it could and with that said that the one thing that the prosecution never questioned was Bob's alleged abuse toward Cheryl. Since the prosecution did not question it, the defense team did not need to back up her testimony about the abuse, he said.
In fact, Mungo said that it would have been "bolstering" Cheryl's testimony, supplying more testimony of something that wasn't challenged, which is not allowed.
Snodgrass, who jumped into the case in November 2008 after Jack Porter retired from the position he currently holds, said that it was very important for the McCafferty family to hear the word 'guilty.'
The case consumed Snodgrass, who has been a prosecutor for the commonwealth for nine years, and her colleague, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Vanita Fleckinger, of whom, she said worked well with her on three different trial cases in the past.
"From the beginning we looked at this case and said 'We need to fight for murder and manslaughter first.' We couldn't see it as anything else, or self-defense," she said of the case.
With those goals in mind, she said she thought that prosecutors put on the best case they could.
"[We were] satisfied, absolutely," Snodgrass said of the trial's outcome, adding that it was important for the family that the jury did not believe the defense's self-defense theory.
After spending seven days a week in her office and 12-plus-hour days preparing for the case, she said "it was draining." But, she said it was worth it.
"In the end when you hear the word 'guilty' and you see the family, you know why did all that."
Cheryl waived her right to an appeal, which Mungo said is just a "redo." He said that waiving that right was not a bad thing for his client because another jury might convict her of murder. Now she has a finality and certainty of the time she must serve.
If Snodgrass could have one more piece of closure, she said she would like to sit down, one-on-one with Cheryl and ask her a single question.
The question: "Why didn't you just leave?"
