Trial by Fire

Juror Salvador Rocafort says he respected Cavanagh a great deal ("If I was a movie director, I would cast him!" he says). But he adds, "When the prosecution finished, my reaction was, 'This just doesn't cut it. '"

In a post-9/11 world, Pourghafari didn't take the stand in his own defense. "I came to the realization that his greatest problem was communication," Dutko explains, "and I was concerned that if he came across as uncertain or ambiguous, it could have undermined everything."

But jurors said they were aware of his Middle Eastern background.

"When you see someone of that nationality, 'terrorist' does come to mind," Bowers concedes. "But the evidence was overwhelming. He wasn't at the scene. The information and the eyewitnesses and the time frame just didn't match up."

Bowers, who attributes the death to "sheer accident," remains convinced the right decision was made. "This man couldn't possibly have pulled off this crime," he says. "I think they had him pegged as guilty right from the very beginning without even checking the facts."

Barnes found the prosecution's case extremely weak. "Without a doubt," she maintains, "he did not do what they said he did."

The jurors were dismissed as Pourghafari and Dutko remained inside, but when the doors opened and the pair entered the hallway, all 12 surrounded them. Some hugged the man they'd just found not guilty. "Each woman, and most of the men," Dutko remembers. "Many were quite emotional. They all stood in the hallway and asked about taking him to lunch."

"He bought dinner for everyone," Bowers recalls. "He was so apologetic and thankful and really grateful. A real nice fellow to talk to."

Dutko opted out. "The exhilaration of the victory was exceeded only by exhaustion and a sense of relief," he says. "I wasn't really anxious to go to a restaurant with loud talking — I just wanted to come back here and shut the door and process it all."

A couple of hours later, defense investigator Ron Cacciatore called. "You're not going to believe what I just saw — the jury is toasting Kaz, and they want to come over and talk to you!"

Pourghafari and ten of the 12 jurors filed into Dutko's office, and a bottle of champagne was opened. "They were entertaining and regaling each other with memories of the case," he says. "And mocking me and Brian Cavanagh." He laughs and shakes his head. "It was like they didn't want the case to end! An experience like I've never known before. That case was my Super Bowl."

Cavanagh is still miffed at the outcome and the celebratory conclusion. "They probably would've taken O.J. Simpson out for dinner too!" Cavanagh says now. He didn't object to Pourghafari's being out on bond, but he takes issue with the way he was "able to wander like Peter Pan in the halls." Such contact can be a factor in a trial, he suggested.

"Your typical murder defendant isn't intermingling with jurors in the hallway," says Cavanagh (who has no plans to continue the search for Amanda's murderer). But Rocafort says they were forbidden from as much as making eye contact with Pourghafari during the trial.

The celebration raised a lot of eyebrows around the courthouse.

"They treated him like a celebrity," Cavanagh says. "I found it disgusting."

"It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing that happened," Rocafort says, adding that at the trial's conclusion, the judge gave the jury permission to speak to anyone they chose.

"It seemed I had gained wings," Pourghafari says today. Living in fear for months "was like walking around with a piano strapped to your back."

A few weeks ago, Kaz and Linda Pourghafari celebrated their 27th anniversary. On the way to the restaurant that night, she called Dutko to thank him for making it all possible. "She didn't like what he had done," Dutko opines, "but, by God, she knew he wasn't a murderer."

"Our marriage is getting stronger and stronger," Kaz says. "As we got older, we learned to talk. We never had before. And our finances are slowly coming back."

The ultimate irony of the case may be the fact that a year and a half ago, Dutko himself became a suspect in connection with a suspicious fire.

In October of 2005, Hurricane Wilma left Dutko's Fort Lauderdale home and office without power. He and his wife decamped, by car, to their second place in North Carolina, telling his staff he'd soon be enjoying a cold drink and a hot shower.

After tinkering with a golf cart that had trouble starting, he went into town for lunch. A neighbor called him with the news that his garage was on fire, started by fumes from the golf cart.

The Fire Department put out the blaze, but in the early morning, a hot spot left unextinguished caused the fire to rekindle. "The entire house burned to the ground," Dutko says. He phoned Lentini when it looked like local officials were starting to finger him for arson.

"He called me all upset, telling me his dogs had almost died," Lentini recalls. "He said, 'They're pointin' at me.' They thought Dutko set the second fire because he didn't want to deal with a partial loss. Good theory, huh?"