Fla. millionaire Bob Ward murder trial begins second week
(CBS/WKMG/AP) ORLANDO, Fla. - The third day of testimony is underway in the second-degree murder trial of Bob Ward, the millionaire developer who is charged with fatally shooting his wife.
Ward, 63, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Diane Ward, who was shot and killed inside their Isleworth mansion in 2009. He has pleaded not guilty.
Ward initially said he shot his wife, but later said it was an accident and that she was trying to kill herself.
Last week, jurors heard from a CSI technician, Ward's daughter, Diane Ward's high school friend and a variety of others as the prosecution presented their case against the developer.
The crime scene investigator showed photographs of the crime scene, as the state tried to show signs that an altercation took place in the home. The CSI tech identified two stains, saying they were presumably wine and blood, reports CBS affiliate WKMG.
The state also called Diane Ward's high school friend Georgia Spearman. The friends grew apart until Spearman contacted Diane Ward just hours before her death.
Spearman described her friend as happy and ready to reconnect. She said Diane Ward told her she hoped to have grandchildren one day.
Fighting the defense's theory that Diane Ward was looking to kill herself.
On Thursday, the state also called the Wards' 23-year-old daughter, Mallory Ward, to contest the theory that Diane Ward was suicidal. She recalled a conversation she had with her mother hours before her death.
"She talked about her and my father going out to lunch that day," Mallory Ward said.
Mallory Ward also said her mother did not mention anything unusual.
Ward told a 911 dispatcher five times that he had shot his wife in a call placed September 2009, but later he said he tried to take a gun away from his wife when it went off accidentally.
Prosecutors have said the gunshot testing shows that Diane Ward was shot 18 inches away, making it difficult for the wounds to be self-inflicted.
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