The Latest: Closing Arguments Set In Trial Over Cliff Death
DENVER (AP) — The latest in the trial of a Colorado man charged with pushing his wife from a cliff:
5:40 p.m.
Jurors considering the fate of a man accused of pushing his wife to her death off a cliff in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park have adjourned for the day without reaching a verdict.
The eight women and four men got the case Friday and deliberated for about five hours before going home. Deliberations will resume Monday.
Attorneys for 59-year-old Harold Henthorn rested their case Thursday without calling any witnesses during the trial in Denver federal court.
Henthorn is charged with murder in the death of his second wife, Toni Henthorn. She fell about 130 feet while on a 2012 hike with her husband to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Harold Henthorn told investigators she paused to take a photo and tumbled over a ledge in a tragic accident.
Prosecutors contend he stood to benefit from his wife's life insurance policies, which totaled nearly $5 million.
1 p.m.
The case against a man accused of pushing his wife to her death off a cliff in Rocky Mountain National Park has gone to the jury.
Harold Henthorn is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his second wife, Toni Henthorn, on a hike they took to celebrate their wedding anniversary in 2012.
Prosecutors argued Friday that Henthorn made the death look like an accident so he could collect $4.7 million in life insurance.
VIDEO: Watch the CBS4 special "Inside The Investigation: Harold Henthorn
The defense insisted Toni Henthorn fell accidentally.
Prosecutors maintained during the trial that Harold Henthorn killed his first wife in what appeared to be a freak accident nearly 20 years earlier. Henthorn wasn't charged in that case, but police have reopened their investigation.
11:20 a.m.
An attorney for a man accused of pushing his wife to her death off a cliff in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park says prosecutors have failed to prove he killed her.
During closing arguments Friday, Craig Truman said prosecutors have assassinated Harold Henthorn's character by also accusing him of killing his first wife nearly 20 years earlier.
Henthorn is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his second wife, Toni Henthorn, on a hike they took to celebrate their wedding anniversary in 2012.
Truman says prosecutors proved Harold Henthorn carefully planned the surprise trip, but Truman says the evidence shows Toni Henthorn's death was a tragic accident.
He also says Harold Henthorn was prone to speaking whatever came into his mind without a filter, which accounts for inconsistencies in his accounts of the deadly hike.
10:30 a.m.
Prosecutors say a man accused of pushing his wife to her death during a hike to celebrate their wedding anniversary in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park tried to kill her once before.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Suneeta Hazra told jurors during closing arguments Friday that Harold Henthorn dropped a beam on his second wife, Toni Henthorn, while they were working on their cabin together more than a year before she died.
The beam fractured her vertebrae. Hazra, revisiting evidence presented during the trial, said Harold Henthorn's account of the 2011 beam incident changed and didn't make sense.
Hazra says Harold Henthorn scouted a remote, rocky area nine times before taking his wife there to kill her the following year. She says he chose the spot because he knew there would be no witnesses and no chance for her survival.
The defense says the death was an accident.
8:50 a.m.
Closing arguments are scheduled Friday in the trial of a man accused of pushing his wife to her death in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park during a hike to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Defense attorneys for 59-year-old Harold Henthorn rested their case Thursday without calling any witnesses during the trial in federal court in Denver.
Henthorn is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his second wife, Mississippi native Toni Henthorn, who fell about 130 feet in a remote area in 2012.
Harold Henthorn told investigators she had paused to take a photo and tumbled over a ledge.
Prosecutors say Henthorn stood to benefit from his wife's life insurance policies totaling $4.7 million, which she didn't know existed.
Defense attorney Craig Truman says the death was an accident.
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