Norman Eugene Clark, accused of killing his girlfriend, Brittany Eldridge, and their unborn son, returns to the courtroom after a recess in Knox County Criminal Court before Judge Steven Sword Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Prosecutors faced with a retrial in a case built on circumstantial evidence that 11 of 12 jurors rejected as insufficient are setting their sights on a national television news magazine's interview with double-slaying suspect Norman Eugene Clark.

Deputy Assistant District Attorney General Kyle Hixson is asking Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword to start the legally complicated process of forcing employees of the television show "Dateline NBC" to both testify and produce "the entire, unedited, video-recorded interview" Clark gave last year.

Clark was tried in August in the December 2011 killings of girlfriend Brittany Eldridge, 25, and their unborn son, Ezekiel. There was no forensic evidence tying Clark to the killings. He maintained his innocence and produced a partial alibi. Jurors deadlocked 11-1 to acquit. Sword declared a mistrial. District Attorney General Charme Allen opted to retry him. The second trial is set in September.

"Dateline NBC" correspondent Andrea Canning and producer Tim Beacham interviewed Clark soon after the mistrial. The episode on the case has not yet aired.

In a motion filed late last week, Hixson is asking Sword to issue a certificate recommending the New York Supreme Court issue subpoenas for Canning, Beacham and whomever is designated by NBCUniversal News Group, which owns "Dateline NBC," to authenticate the video of the interview. NBC is based in New York.

Tennessee's courts cannot command the issuance of subpoenas by other state's courts in most cases. If Sword issues the certificate, prosecutors would still have to convince the New York court to issue subpoenas. Media organizations routinely resist subpoenas commanding their journalists to testify. Since "Dateline NBC" has not yet aired its episode, the organization likely will put up a fight over the video. Some states, including Tennessee and New York, have shield laws that protect journalists from disclosing newsgathering materials and information.

Clark's defense attorney, Kit Rodgers, has not yet responded to the state's request. A status conference is set in the case Friday.

Hixson argues in his motion that both what Clark said in the interview and his demeanor during the interview could be crucial for the state, particularly given the dearth of evidence against Clark.

"Aside from any factual admissions made by (Clark), his video-recorded demeanor while discussing the brutal murder of his girlfriend and unborn son and the resulting trial will shed light to the trier of fact on (Clark's) attitude toward the victims and help the jury determine whether it is more probable or less probable that (Clark) had the motive to kill or the willingness to act to satisfy this motive," Hixson wrote.

Eldridge was 8-1/2 months pregnant when she was found beaten, stabbed and strangled inside her Cross Creek apartment on Western Avenue. The case went unsolved for nearly three years, although Clark was the sole suspect. Prosecutor Leslie Nassios relied on motive as a key component of her case, arguing Clark was the only person who had reason to kill Eldridge. She presented a string of current and former lovers of Clark, most of whom Clark had kept in the dark about Eldridge and her pregnancy, in a bid to show the pending birth would cause major trouble in his life.