by TONY BURBECK / NewsChannel 36
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 5:38 PM
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Trial under way for man accused of killing deputy
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LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. -- Jurors got their first look at crime scene pictures Thursday from a Lincoln County sheriff deputy's murder.
Some of the moments were too much for family members to handle.
Picture after picture displayed the crime scene -- a house Lincoln County Deputy Lawana Morton temporarily stayed at with friend Vicki Fox. Those pictures included Morton dead in her bedroom.
"There was an obvious wound underneath her chin," said Sgt. Erin Long with Lincoln County.
Some family members walked out. Morton's son, Joel Engle, didn't.
"It was extremely tough," he said.
So too, Engle says, was watching suspect Monty Poteat sit in the courtroom.
"It's extremely difficult, sitting there and seeing him and knowing the possibility that he was the one that did it," Engle said. "That's eating at me tremendously."
Poteat was Fox's former boyfriend. Investigators say he murdered Morton in 2007 in a fit of rage because Morton supported her friend's decision to get a protective order against Poteat. At the time of the murder, deputies say Poteat was wanted for violating that order.
Overall, seven witnessed testified for the prosecution, including State Bureau of Investigation agents and fellow deputies.
The defense focus Thursday was on Morton and Fox's roommate relationship, saying Morton wanted to move out.
"Yeah, she fussed about it some," said friend Anne Sadler.
The defense says Fox was jealous of Morton's friendships with other people.
One thing that didn't come up -- DNA, fingerprints or a weapon tying Poteat to the crime. However, the prosecution hasn't finished its case.
The defense expects to get its turn Monday. Poteat's attorneys say they're not sure if Poteat will testify in his own defense.
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