Jury To Continue Deliberations in Wyant Case Friday Morning
By: Vanessa Herring
Updated: December 7, 2012
Deliberations ended shortly after 8 o'clock Thursday night. Jurors weren't sequestered, but did ask a lot of questions before they were dismissed.
They asked to hear the 911 call again, for the definition of intent, to see pictures from inside and outside the house, and to have the testimony of Christopher "CJ" Schoen's former roommate, Steve Hartman, re-read.
Drugs, suicide, and a brewing feud between roommates were all brought up during closing arguments in two different perspectives on what led 24 year old Maxwell Wyant to shoot his ex-roommate.
The defense argued Schoen was high on bath salts, suicidal, and looking for a fight when he showed up at his old home in Brighton unannounced. They say the drug can create paranoid and aggressive behavior, "the medical examiner confirmed that by stating that the fact that she found it in the urine shows that it had Bern more than just a few moments before his death that he had taken the bath salts," said defense attorney James Nobles.
They day Wyant had to defend himself and that's why he shot Schoen, "I think it's a good case, that it's a classic case of self defense," explained Nobles.
Prosecutors argued Wyant always hated Schoen, "a lot of it really went to intent because that's going to be one of the elements, motive is not an element of the crime," explained Assistant District Attorney Michael Harrigan.
They say Wyant told friends he was going to kill Schoen and knew what he was doing when he shot Schoen twice from behind at close range, "I believe intent is in an instant and I also believe he had intent before he did this," said Harrigan.
The jury will start deliberating again at 9:30 Friday morning. If Wyant is convicted he faces 25 years to life in prison.
They asked to hear the 911 call again, for the definition of intent, to see pictures from inside and outside the house, and to have the testimony of Christopher "CJ" Schoen's former roommate, Steve Hartman, re-read.
Drugs, suicide, and a brewing feud between roommates were all brought up during closing arguments in two different perspectives on what led 24 year old Maxwell Wyant to shoot his ex-roommate.
The defense argued Schoen was high on bath salts, suicidal, and looking for a fight when he showed up at his old home in Brighton unannounced. They say the drug can create paranoid and aggressive behavior, "the medical examiner confirmed that by stating that the fact that she found it in the urine shows that it had Bern more than just a few moments before his death that he had taken the bath salts," said defense attorney James Nobles.
They day Wyant had to defend himself and that's why he shot Schoen, "I think it's a good case, that it's a classic case of self defense," explained Nobles.
Prosecutors argued Wyant always hated Schoen, "a lot of it really went to intent because that's going to be one of the elements, motive is not an element of the crime," explained Assistant District Attorney Michael Harrigan.
They say Wyant told friends he was going to kill Schoen and knew what he was doing when he shot Schoen twice from behind at close range, "I believe intent is in an instant and I also believe he had intent before he did this," said Harrigan.
The jury will start deliberating again at 9:30 Friday morning. If Wyant is convicted he faces 25 years to life in prison.
