Erbie Bowser Found Guilty Of Capital Murder
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DALLAS (CBS11) - Former Dallas Mavericks ManiAAC dancer Erbie Lee Bowser has been found guilty of capital murder.
Bowser was found guilty of killing four people, including his estranged wife, in attacks that happened nearly four years ago in Dallas and DeSoto.
Bowser was once part of the Dallas Mavericks ManiAACs dance troupe, entertaining fans at basketball games.
Family members and survivors of a deadly attack and that left four women dead and four children wounded are still preparing for more pain.
Bowser's attorneys did not deny that Bowser attacked his live-in girlfriend, Toya Smith, killing her and her teenage daughter, before wounding Smith's younger son and a family friend.
The terror continued at the home of his estranged wife, Zina Williams Bowser. Bowser was shot and killed along with her adult daughter, Neima Williams.
Earlier in the trial, jurors heard Neima's terrified 911 call where she is heard calling Bowser by name and begging repeatedly for her life.
She was shot and killed just steps from where her toddler son had been hidden under some coats. Bowser can also be heard on a 911 call, asking the whereabouts of Zina's then 10 and 13-year-old sons. Both boys were wounded during the attack.
Bowser's attorneys argued unsuccessfully that he was insane at the time of the attack and didn't know right from wrong. Now, the same jury that decided he was guilty must now decide if he should die for his crimes.
After days of emotional testimony, and often graphic, gruesome evidence, the punishment phase of the trial brought another test for the victims' families.
In what must feel like acid on a still aching wound, prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin presented evidence that Bowser hid cameras in Smith's home to secretly record her teenage daughter in the shower and in her bedroom.
Although the family had been warned, a relative left the courtroom sobbing before the videos were presented.
Defense attorney Brad Lollar fought to keep jurors from seeing the videos—calling them "unduly prejudicial."
But, Judge Tracy Holmes ruled that jurors should see them—and it is those images that jurors will take with them into the weekend.
Prosecutors have called all of their planned witnesses as they seek to prove that Bowser was a predator before he turned into a killer.
The defense begins its effort to spare Bowser's life on Monday afternoon.
