Trial for accused killer Asbury Perkins begins in the 2015 shooting death of Cynthia Betts

VERO BEACH —  When Asbury Lee Perkins on Tuesday first addressed jurors seated in his first-degree murder trial, he never denied killing his former wife, Cynthia Betts in November 2015.

Acting as his own attorney, Perkins, 64, told a panel of 13 jurors seated Monday at the Indian River County Courthouse that he didn’t remember what happened before or after he was arrested and charged with Betts’ murder.

He’s been held at the Indian River County Jail since his arrest on Nov. 3, 2015 after sheriff's deputies found Betts, 63, shot to death inside her home in the 2100 block of Seagrape Drive just off State Road A1A in south Indian River County.

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During the trial’s opening statements, Perkins said jurors would hear from a mental health expert who found “I had succumbed to an acute psychotic episode, which is very similar to an out-of-body experience.”

When deputies arrived, he was disoriented and didn’t know if it was daytime or nighttime, Perkins said.

“When they arrested me,” he said, “I thought it was morning, but it was not.”

Betts’ murder was discovered after her now-deceased father, William Betts, called the Indian River County Sheriff's Office from New Jersey asking for a deputy to check on her.

She had been shot three times.

Assistant State Attorney William Long told jurors Perkins fired four shots at Betts, striking her three times, including in the chest.

“That's why you're here today. You’re here today because Ms. Betts’ last moments on this earth were in her home having been shot repeatedly by that man,” Long said pointing to Perkins, seated at the defense table, dressed in a tan shirt and khaki slacks. “She dies on the floor in her house.”

Long told the jury that if the defense presented a defense of insanity, the state would be calling up a mental health expert who evaluated Perkins and found he was sane at the time of Betts’ murder.

When the deputies at Betts’ home encountered Perkins, he was found inebriated wearing only his boxer shorts, Long said.

During his testimony, Robert Scribner, an Indian River County Sheriff’s detective, recalled being told by Perkins that Betts had gone to New Jersey. But jurors had already heard from her sister-in-law, Tammy Betts, who testified that she was on the phone with deputies at Betts’ home confirming that wasn’t true.

When Scribner and other deputies were ordered to enter the home, they gained entry by breaking in the front door, he said.

One deputy stood with Perkins as Scribner and another deputy searched the house. Scribner moved through the kitchen and encountered a door that opened to a laundry room that led to the garage.

“As I opened the door, I saw a body on the ground, covered in rugs and garbage bags,” he said.  “I immediately announced to everyone in the house that there was a body on the ground.”

He could immediately tell, he said, that Betts was deceased, and he observed what appeared to be a bullet wound to her back.

“We took Mr. Perkins into custody at that time,” Scribner said.

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In a bedroom, deputies found blood on a bed and a .38-caliber pistol on a dresser. Deputies reported the body appeared to have been there for a day.

Betts and Perkins, who married in 1992 and divorced in 2009, according to court filings, had a long history of domestic violence, which included at least one restraining order against Perkins.

Perkins told jurors he and Betts were married for 18 years and experienced lean times and financially good times before they divorced and partially reconciled.

“We went from very big highs to lows and back to highs. I mean, this wasn't like you’d be killing someone that, you know, you got into an argument with at a bar … and would walk away from it,” he said. “Like, I got into an argument, you know, I don't care I shot somebody or something like that. It was much, much deeper than that.”

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In court, Perkins sat next to attorney Valerie Masters, his court-appointed stand-by counsel, but she did not speak during opening statements, and he cross examined the state's witnesses.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Perkins faces an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The trial is expected to last into next week.

Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers, and is writer and co-host of Uncertain Terms, a true crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Asbury Perkins trial 2015 Vero Beach murder former wife Cynthia Betts