The Latest: Deliberations in trial end for day
HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on the trial of a man who claims he was insane when he fatally shot six members of his ex-wife's family in suburban Houston (all times local):
6:35 p.m.
A jury has ended deliberating for the day in the capital murder trial of a man who claims he was insane when he fatally shot six members of his ex-wife's family, including four children, in suburban Houston.
Jurors in the capital murder trial of Ronald Lee Haskell deliberated for about 3½ hours on Wednesday after getting the case following closing arguments by attorneys.
The jury, which will be sequestered, was set to resume deliberating at 9 a.m. CST Thursday.
Haskell's lawyers told jurors he committed the killings but should be found not guilty by reason of insanity because his judgment was impaired by severe mental illness.
Prosecutors say the 2014 killings were motivated not by mental illness but by rage.
If convicted of capital murder, Haskell could be sentenced to death.
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3:25 p.m.
A jury is deliberating the fate of a man who claims he was insane when he fatally shot six members of his ex-wife's family in suburban Houston.
Jurors in the capital murder trial of Ronald Lee Haskell got the case Wednesday afternoon after about three hours of closing arguments by attorneys.
Haskell's lawyers told jurors he committed the killings but should be found not guilty by reason of insanity because his judgment was impaired by severe mental illness.
Prosecutors say the 2014 killings were motivated not by mental illness but by rage.
A couple and four of their children were killed in the shooting. A fifth child was shot in the head but survived.
If convicted of capital murder, Haskell could be sentenced to death.
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1 p.m.
A prosecutor has told jurors that a man who claims he was insane when he fatally shot six members of his ex-wife's family in suburban Houston understood that he was doing wrong.
Prosecutor Samantha Knecht said Wednesday during closing arguments at Ronald Lee Haskell's capital murder trial, that Haskell planned for months the "cold-blooded execution" of the Stay family at their home in 2014.
Doug Durham, one of Haskell's attorneys, told jurors that Haskell committed a terrible crime, but that he didn't know what he was doing was wrong because of mental illness.
A couple and four of their children were killed in the shooting. A fifth child, teenager Cassidy Stay, was shot in the head but survived. Stay, who is now 20, testified at the trial.
