View this video here
[GRAPHIC: News Live Fox]
NEWS ANCHOR: As you just heard, astronaut Lisa Nowak has arrived back in Houston. Her alleged actions against her supposed romantic rival bewildering many. And it seems that nothing in her past gave even the slightest hint that she could be capable of something like this. So will that squeaky clean history and her family life help her in the long run?
[GRAPHIC: News]
NEWS ANCHOR: Joining us now defense attorney and former prosecutor Ann Fitz. Thanks for being with us.
ANN FITZ: Thank you for having me.
NEWS ANCHOR: Well, let, let's talk about this case. And people, you know, know the basics already. A woman, upstanding member of our society, well educated, mother, three kids at home, long marriage, everything seems stable and normal. And she goes off and allegedly does something completely crazy.
When it goes into a court, if, you know, some plea bargain isn't made, what does the family life, what does her job, what does that, that stability in her history do to impact the case?
ANN FITZ: Well all of that stability that she has in her past is going to aid an insanity defense in this case. You know, obviously, something happened that made this woman snap.
NEWS ANCHOR: And so do, you know, because a crime is a crime. You're supposed to look at the facts.
ANN FITZ: Right.
NEWS ANCHOR: But how much do jurors or prosecutors or even judges take a look at this is a, a mom who has held a stable job, has a good education, has, I believe, as far as we know, a squeaky clean record and three young children at home. How much does that influence them?
ANN FITZ: That, that's going to have a major impact. If I were her defense attorney what I would be looking at is what caused the actual separation with her husband. Did her husband cheat on her? Did she all of the sudden go into this affair and then have a feeling of rejection when this man was having an affair with another woman? Those are things that I would look at. I would want to call an expert to testify, you know, what exactly it is that, that made Miss Nowak snap in this situation.
NEWS ANCHOR: So try to come up with some reason to, to try to explain what allegedly happened. Let's take a look at a statement from her family right now, and they released this.
[GRAPHIC: Statement from Lisa Nowak's Family]
NEWS ANCHOR: Lisa is an extremely caring and dedicated mother to her three children. She has been married for 19 years, although she and her husband had separated a few weeks ago. Considering both her personal and professional life, these alleged events are completely out of character and have come as a tremendous shock to our family.
[GRAPHIC: Lisa Nowak and others]
NEWS ANCHOR: So when you bring that in--now say they go for, you know whether it's an insanity defense or something else, how much does that then impact it? The family is there and, you know, it's hard to say, hey, you mess up this one time, especially if you're--you know you've got this woman down in Orlando thinking I could be dead right now if the allegations are correct. But does that have an, an unwritten impact?
ANN FITZ: Well yeah, I mean anytime that you can distinguish this criminal behavior and provide an explanation to the jury, that's going to help her in this case.
NEWS ANCHOR: And what about in sentencing as well? If she is found guilty of what she--you know, the crime that's alleged, does that then have an impact in the sentencing?
ANN FITZ: Definitely. Definitely. And especially the fact, if she doesn't have a prior criminal history she's looking at some sort of first offender sentence possibly where, you know, she instead of getting prison time, she is going to be eligible for probation.
NEWS ANCHOR: Okay, Ann Fitz, former prosecutor and a defense attorney. Thank you very much.
ANN FITZ: Thank you.
