brad cooper deserves a retrial. that's the ruling of an appeals court that agrees with the defense's argument that cooper's attorneys were denied the right to present testimony from two, key witnesses. >> if anyone knows anything, i just want them to contact the police. >> reporter: 34-year-old nancy cooper disappeared on july 12th, 2008. her husband claims she went for an early morning jog and never returned home. two days later, her body was found. >> nancy was murdered. and our investigation is now a homicide. >> this is the single most tragedy that's ever befallen our family. >> reporter: prosecutors alleged cooper killed her. upset over his wife's plans to divorce him and move to canada with their two daughters. the only direct evidence linking him to the murder, a google search on his laptop, showing the exact spot where her body was later discovered. cooper says he's innocent, alleging anyone who had access to his computer during the investigation, could have planted that evidence. >> find bradley cooper to b

a map that far same area was later found on brad cooper's computer. it was the only piece of physical evidence used against him in trial. his defense team wanted to argue that someone could have tampered with his computer but the judge refused to let two witnesses testify about that. now an appeals court says that testimony could have changed the outcome of the trial. let's talk about it with our legal panel. joining us is a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor. tom, so he's going to get a new trial. that is not the same thing as an acquittal obviously. >> it's not, jon. that's what a lot of people don't understand about the appellate process. the assumption is that, well, you know, the defendant walked free into the sunset. what is really means is that he's entitled to a new trial. in this particular case when the appellate court rested its decision, it means the defendant was denied his sixth amendment right for a defense. if you're accused in the criminal case, the united states supreme court said part of the rights is to present your