bloodrayne
03-03-2004, 12:29 PM
Husband's character put on trial in stabbing
Susan Wright's accused of stabbing her husband 193 times and burying him in their back yard.
Attorneys for Susan Wright began the defense phase of her murder trial Friday, aiming to show the mother acted in self-defense when she stabbed her husband at least 193 times and buried him under their backyard patio.
Defense attorneys tried to shift the spotlight away from 27-year-old Susan Wright and cast it instead on her husband, Jeffrey Wright -- alleging drug problems, abusive behavior and marital infidelity.
They also are trying to prove that Susan Wright did not tie her husband to the bed and stab him, as the prosecution contends. Instead, the defense said Jeffrey Wright pulled a knife on his wife, who wrestled it away and stabbed him in a fit of terror.
The defense strategy emerged earlier this week during the prosecution phase, as Wright's attorneys lingered over evidence that Jeffrey Wright, 34, was high on cocaine when he was killed in a northwest Harris County home on Jan. 13, 2003.
"Were you surprised to learn Jeffrey had used cocaine before he died?" defense attorneys Neal Davis and Todd Ward have repeatedly asked witnesses at the trial.
Jeffrey Wright cheated on his wife and sometimes drove to Austin to smoke crack cocaine and have three-way sexual encounters with two topless dancers, Paul Cullen, one of Jeffrey Wright's longtime friends, testified Friday.
Jeffrey Wright, a carpet and floor-tile salesman, was placed on probation for assaulting a topless dancer in Austin, defense attorneys have often told jurors.
Prosecutor Kelly Siegler contends Jeffrey Wright was not abusive -- a view supported by several of the Wrights' friends and neighbors who testified for the state.
Susan Wright's claim that her husband was not tied up when he died was undercut Thursday when a medical examiner said he probably was restrained, based on the location of the wounds that covered his face, neck and chest, but not his back or hands.
Defense attorneys also have focused on any accounts that suggest Jeffrey Wright physically assaulted his wife, who also had worked as a topless dancer before they were married.
"I thought she was being abused," said 29-year-old Erica Labian, a salon worker who helped color Susan Wright's hair. Labian said she recalled seeing a bruise on Susan Wright's leg.
The Wrights' marriage appeared to be one of "master-slave relationship," said the Wrights' next-door neighbor, Jackie Davies.
And defense attorneys have asked several witnesses about how Jeffrey Wright once returned from a trip to Las Vegas and gave his wife a venereal disease.
State District Judge Jim Wallace issued a gag order barring attorneys directly involved in the case from speaking to the media.
Legal observers said the defense's strategy is not uncommon for self-defense claims.
"There is always a theory we run through in cases of self defense, that some people just need killing," said Houston attorney Chip Lewis, who has been watching the weeklong trial.
Some observers wonder whether allegations about the Wrights' troubled marriage will be enough to pull the seven-man, five-woman jury's attention away from the killing itself.
"The problem they've got is all those stab wounds and him being tied to that bed," said defense attorney John LaGrappe, who has observed parts of the trial this week. "Can the jury get past that?"
Testimony will resume Monday.
Susan Wright's accused of stabbing her husband 193 times and burying him in their back yard.
Attorneys for Susan Wright began the defense phase of her murder trial Friday, aiming to show the mother acted in self-defense when she stabbed her husband at least 193 times and buried him under their backyard patio.
Defense attorneys tried to shift the spotlight away from 27-year-old Susan Wright and cast it instead on her husband, Jeffrey Wright -- alleging drug problems, abusive behavior and marital infidelity.
They also are trying to prove that Susan Wright did not tie her husband to the bed and stab him, as the prosecution contends. Instead, the defense said Jeffrey Wright pulled a knife on his wife, who wrestled it away and stabbed him in a fit of terror.
The defense strategy emerged earlier this week during the prosecution phase, as Wright's attorneys lingered over evidence that Jeffrey Wright, 34, was high on cocaine when he was killed in a northwest Harris County home on Jan. 13, 2003.
"Were you surprised to learn Jeffrey had used cocaine before he died?" defense attorneys Neal Davis and Todd Ward have repeatedly asked witnesses at the trial.
Jeffrey Wright cheated on his wife and sometimes drove to Austin to smoke crack cocaine and have three-way sexual encounters with two topless dancers, Paul Cullen, one of Jeffrey Wright's longtime friends, testified Friday.
Jeffrey Wright, a carpet and floor-tile salesman, was placed on probation for assaulting a topless dancer in Austin, defense attorneys have often told jurors.
Prosecutor Kelly Siegler contends Jeffrey Wright was not abusive -- a view supported by several of the Wrights' friends and neighbors who testified for the state.
Susan Wright's claim that her husband was not tied up when he died was undercut Thursday when a medical examiner said he probably was restrained, based on the location of the wounds that covered his face, neck and chest, but not his back or hands.
Defense attorneys also have focused on any accounts that suggest Jeffrey Wright physically assaulted his wife, who also had worked as a topless dancer before they were married.
"I thought she was being abused," said 29-year-old Erica Labian, a salon worker who helped color Susan Wright's hair. Labian said she recalled seeing a bruise on Susan Wright's leg.
The Wrights' marriage appeared to be one of "master-slave relationship," said the Wrights' next-door neighbor, Jackie Davies.
And defense attorneys have asked several witnesses about how Jeffrey Wright once returned from a trip to Las Vegas and gave his wife a venereal disease.
State District Judge Jim Wallace issued a gag order barring attorneys directly involved in the case from speaking to the media.
Legal observers said the defense's strategy is not uncommon for self-defense claims.
"There is always a theory we run through in cases of self defense, that some people just need killing," said Houston attorney Chip Lewis, who has been watching the weeklong trial.
Some observers wonder whether allegations about the Wrights' troubled marriage will be enough to pull the seven-man, five-woman jury's attention away from the killing itself.
"The problem they've got is all those stab wounds and him being tied to that bed," said defense attorney John LaGrappe, who has observed parts of the trial this week. "Can the jury get past that?"
Testimony will resume Monday.