News & Observer | newsobserver.com | Murder trial begins in love triangle case

Crime & Safety

Published: Aug 20, 2007 12:00 AM
Modified: Aug 20, 2007 09:24 AM

Murder trial begins in love triangle case

 

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RALEIGH - A Clayton man's capital murder trial is expected to begin today.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys will begin selecting a jury for the case against Andrew Deshawn Canty, the first of three people charged with gunning down Navy reservist Paul Berkley, 46, in a North Raleigh park in what police think was a failed plot to cash in on his life insurance policy.

Wake prosecutors have said they plan on seeking the death penalty against Canty and Monique Berkley, who was married to Paul Berkley but having an affair with Canty, authorities say.

Police think Monique Berkley, Canty, 20, and his friend Latwon Johnson, 20, who dated Paul Berkley's teenage daughter, plotted the Dec. 18, 2005, attack.

Paul Berkley, who had recently returned from a tour of duty in the Middle East, was shot and killed.

Executions are on hold in North Carolina because of a legal challenges to the way the state carries out the punishment.

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