GREELEY, Colo.—Defense attorneys say a man shot his girlfriend's ex-husband 29 times with an assault rifle in self-defense, not as part of a murder plot to collect a $100,000 life insurance policy as prosecutors allege.
Twenty-eight-year-old Cecil "Joe" Erb is on trial in Greeley on first-degree charges in the Feb. 19, 2009, slaying of Jeffery Watson Sr. During opening statements Thursday, defense attorney Steve Doolittle told jurors that Erb shot Watson during a confrontation.
Prosecutors say police found evidence of a plot, including a checklist in Erb's car when they arrested him in Iowa showing plans for an escape route.
Watson's ex-wife, 45-year-old Georgia Watson, faces a Sept. 20 trial on a conspiracy to commit murder charge. |