Apr 03, 2007 - 10:23:15 CDT
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Jealousy drove the first female defendant in a capital punishment case in South Dakota to abduct another deaf woman, dismember her body with a chain saw, burn it and discard it in a Dumpster and a Minnesota ditch, a prosecutor said Monday during opening trial statements.If Daphne Wright, 43, is convicted of kidnapping or murdering Darlene VanderGiesen, 42, jurors will be asked to sentence Wright to death by injection.
The jury, which includes three alternates, is comprised of 13 women and two men. None are deaf and all are white.
"The reason for this murder? Jealousy," Minnehaha County State's Attorney Dave Nelson told jurors.
Wright was jealous of VanderGiesen because of her platonic friendship with Wright's girlfriend, Sallie Collins, he said.
"In her words, she felt Darlene was trying to destroy her relationship with Sallie," Nelson said. "There was no romantic relationship between Darlene and Sallie. They were friends."
One of Wright's lawyers, Traci Smith, said during her opening statements that evidence in the case does not support the prosecution's allegation that Wright kidnapped, killed and dismembered VanderGiesen.
E-mails do suggest Wright called VanderGiesen derogatory names because of her weight but that does not constitute a motive for murder, she said.
"These childish words have been spun into the death threat which gave rise to the state's theory of their case," Smith said.
It took most of four weeks to seat a jury for a trial that's expected to take several more weeks.
Sign language interpreters communicate the courtroom dialogue to Wright. A large screen shows the court reporter's transcription to audience members, many of whom are deaf.
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