Jury suspends deliberation in Lynlee Renick trial
Watch closing arguments live in the player below.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The jury deliberated without reaching a verdict and will continue deliberating on Thursday.
The prosecution and defense gave closing arguments Wednesday, in the case of woman accused of killing her snake-breeder husband for money in Montgomery County.
The defense called Lynlee Renick to the stand as the third day of her trial at the Boone County Courthouse began. The trial is being heard here on a change of venue with a jury brought in from Clay County, Missouri.
Renick is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the deadly shooting of her husband, Ben Renick, at his snake-breeding facility in 2017. Prosecutors allege Lynlee Renick enlisted two friends in her plot to kill her husband after her spa had financial troubles. They accuse Lynlee Renick of pulling the trigger.
The jury has already heard from Lynlee Renick's two alleged co-conspirators -- Ashley Shaw and Michael Humphrey -- and other witnesses including investigators who worked on the case and first responders who were at the scene the day of Ben Renick's death.
Watch Lynlee Renick's morning and afternoon testimony below
Lynlee Renick described Wednesday the issues that affected her marriage before her husband's death. She said Ben Renick was planning to shut down her spa business because of the financial drain it caused and denied what prosecutors said was an earlier attempt on her husband's life by poisoning him with painkillers.
She also accused her late husband of abuse and said she had decided before his death that she wanted a divorce. Lynlee Renick admitted to going to the snake breeding facility with Humphrey the day of Ben Renick's death, but says Humphrey pulled the trigger.
Lynlee Renick told jurors she didn't want to believe that her husband had been killed and that she regretted lying to police about being at the facility when Ben Renick was shot to death.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
