The Dateline episode “A Crack In Everything”* investigates the 2006 murder of Lisa Jennings. The 39-year-old woman and her husband Brad Jennings lived on a farm in the small town of Buffalo, Missouri, with their three children. On Christmas Eve 2006, the couple got into an argument. On Christmas Day, their daughter Amanda woke up and heard her father calling 911. Her mother had been shot in the head. Her death was initially ruled a suicide. Three years later, in 2009, Brad Jennings was found guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
In February 2018, Brad Jennings was released from prison. Judge John Beger set aside the conviction because key evidence was not disclosed to the defense attorney at trial (a negative result from the gunshot residue test was allegedly suppressed). Beger did not rule that Jennings is not guilty but the judge did say Jennings is entitled to a new trial. Jennings’ sister Marsha Iler posted her brother’s $250,000 bail (the required 10 percent of it, $25,000) and according to the Springfield News-Leader she has spent approximately $200,000 so far to exonerate her brother. State prosecutors have 120 days to try Brad Jennings again, if they decided to do so. Dateline airs Fridays at 10pm on ABC.
*The title “A Crack In Everything” is a lyric from the late, great Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem.”
