ALL NEW: "POWER AND PASSION"---THE STEPHEN NODINE STORY!

ALABAMA POLITICIAN'S STORY A RATINGS HIT FOR "48 HOURS"

Stephen Nodine

(MOBILE, AL.)--It would appear folks along the Gulf Coast are not the only ones intrigued by the Stephen Nodine-Angel Downs story!  

48 HOURS: "POWER AND PASSION" was Saturday night's #1 program in viewers and households, according to the Nielsen ratings.  

Stephen Nodine's "torrid tale of loosing it all for love" is the CBS's News weekly series' "most watched" profile since May 2012. The producers of the award winning news magazine  spent more than 6 months investigating both sides of this continuing saga.

Steve Nodine, a former County Commission for Mobile County was at one time, considered one of the most promising, prominent politicians in Alabama.  Love him or loathe him, Nodine is credited for helping to boost Mobile's crippling economy.  He is noted for helping to lure ThyssenKrupp Industries to Mobile County.  Nodine is also credited, in part for helping The City of Mobile become a serious contender in the fight for the Air Force and its next generation of refueling tankers. Mobile eventually  lost the bid, but the biggest looser would ultimately be Stephen Nodine.  Soon after Boeing was awarded that contract,  the dark-hidden secrets of this trusted politician began to seriously unravel.

Angel Downs

Full disclosure here,  I was one of the many journalists in the City of Mobile who still has a friendship of sorts with Nodine long after the shocking arrest and murder charge of his former mistress Angel Downs.  Nodine, as many of us referred to him in the newsroom at WPMI-TV (NBC Affiliate) in Mobile was popular among many of the television news stations in the market because unlike many other politicians he was charismatic, "talked in soundbites" and quite frankly, I seriously believe could  "sell a blind man a camera." His power of persuasion was at times didn't go unnoticed.  

I remember that fateful Monday morning in May 2010.  I received a call from the producer overnight telling me that Stephen Nodine was being sought as a person of interest in the death of his girlfriend longtime girlfriend Angel Downs.  

I remember waking up immediately out of a deep sleep in total shock.  It was almost as if my feet couldn't hit the floor fast enough to run out the door and into the newsroom. "Stephen Nodine arrested,  Stephen Nodine arrested!" Those words played over and over in my head as I headed into the television building.  As I touched up my make-up to tell the rest of the world about this breaking news,  I clearly remember thinking if Stephen Nodine thought anything of the mother of his child--none of this would have happened. Angel Downs was shot and killed after spending a long day at the beach with Stephen Nodine on Mother's Day.

Angel Downs and Stephen Nodine

Nearly three years later,  this story of "sex, lies and audiotape" still lingers on.  A voicemail recording Angel Downs and Facebook posts she reportedly left behind only minutes before she was killed was apart of the mountain of evidence and testimony in this case.

Today there are still so many lingering questions in this case of the Alabama politician's fall from grace. What happened on that fateful day in May 2010? Was it murder or suicide?  Did Stephen Nodine kill his long time mistress Angel Downs?  

Nodine was tried for murder, but a jury could not reach a verdict in his case.  Baldwin County court documents show he accepted a plea bargin in which he admitted to a domestic violence charge and a perjury offense related to a form he filled out for a court-appoint attorney.

Nodine who maintains Downs shot herself continues to fight to clear his name.  ALL NEW--VISION/VOICE/VARION has learned Stephen Nodine filed an ethics complaint this week against the U.S. Attorney's office and other federal officials in an unrelated gun prosecution.  Stephen Nodine is still living and working along the Gulf Coast. Prosecutors continue to pursue other unrated charges against Nodine on a weapons charge.

Stephen Nodine Taken into Custody in Baldwin County

CLICK HERE:

48 HOURS: "POWER & PASSION"

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50144783n