cseward@newsobserver.com
Jason Young, left, confers with his attorney Mike Klinkosum during a break as his murder trial continues in a Wake County courtroom in Raleigh on Feb. 14, 2012.
RALEIGH -- Prosecutors trying Jason Young on charges that he murdered his wife are going through a transcript of his testimony in his first trial to highlight inconsistencies in his account from evidence reviewed by the lead investigator.
With Sgt. Richard Spivey on the stand today, Howard Cummings, Wake County's chief assistant district attorney, focused on statements Young made about his activities shortly before midnight at a Virginia hotel, about a shirt he wore at his daughter's third birthday party, months after his wife's death, and about his financial situation during a 2008 custody battle with his in-laws.
Young is accused of murdering his wife, Michelle Young, in the early hours of Nov. 3, 2006. She was 29 and nearly 20 weeks pregnant at the time.
Young testified in a June trial that ended with a jury deadlocked 8-4 for acquittal that he did not kill his wife or have anything to do with her death.
The medical software salesman said he was in a Virginia Hampton Inn, about 160 miles from Raleigh, preparing to make business calls north and west of there.
Prosecutors contend he made the trip from the hotel in pre-dawn hours back to his suburban Wake County home, killed his wife, then returned to Virginia for business.
Young testified in June 2011 that he checked into the Hampton Inn about an hour before midnight, went to his room on the fourth floor, watched the end of a football game and then went to the lobby in search of a newspaper to check some scores, then later to his car to smoke a cigar.
In images captured by security cameras, Spivey pointed out that Young had a newspaper in his hand while seen at the front desk.
Young testified that he propped his hotel door room open so he would not need a key, then propped outer hotel doors open, too, so he could return inside without a key.
Young said it was windy when he smoked his cigar, struggling to keep it lit.
Spivey pointed out that it was 34 degrees outside the night, but it was windy with speeds recorded at nearly 20 miles per hour and gusts of 31 miles per hour.
Spivey also read testimony from Young that he ceded custody of his daughter Cassidy in late 2008 to his sister-in-law and mother-in-law, in part, because he did not have the money to keep fighting them in court.
But Spivey said a review of several bank, retirement and 401K accounts in Young's name showed he had access to nearly $60,000 at the time.
Spivey also pointed out the differences in two shirts — one that prosecutors show him wearing on Nov. 2, 2003, after checking in to the
Hampton Inn hotel and one that his attorneys showed during his testimony from his daughter's third birthday party in March 2008.
The collars are different, Spivey said, as was the zipper and color.
Prosecutors contend investigators never found the shirt he was wearing Nov. 2, 2003, that Young disposed of it after killing his wife.
Defense attorneys contend the prosecution's theory does not make sense, that Young did not have enough time to commit the violent attack that his wife suffered, incur no injuries and track no blood into his white Ford Explorer.
