Was man's killing murder or justifiable homicide?
By Bill Rankin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
11:19 a.m. Tuesday, September 14, 2010
A Dunwoody woman who gunned down her husband two years ago is guilty of murder and lying to save herself from prison, a DeKalb County prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.
But a lawyer for the woman, 47-year-old Lona Scott, said his client was defending herself when she fired six shots into her husband's body in the pre-dawn hours of March 4, 2008.
"Lona didn't want to die," defense attorney Brian Steel told jurors during opening statements of the murder trial.
"She was going to die at the hands of Ralph Clifton Scott," he said. "He charged at her. He told her he was going to kill her."
Prosecutors say Scott murdered her husband, 42-year-old Cliff Scott, because he was hiding the assets of his $5 million estate during their divorce case. She unloaded six shots into him as both stood naked in the master bedroom of their three-story home in Dunwoody.
Assistant District Attorney John Melvin told jurors not to believe Lona Scott's contention that she feared for her life because her husband was charging at her.
"When you shoot a naked man to death and he's unarmed, it's called a crime," Melvin told the jury. "It's murder."
The trial is expected to wrap up by the end of the week.
IT IS CALLED MURDER OF A HUMAN... 8 SHOTS... TWO IN THE ELBOWS WHILE HIDING HIS FACE and TWO IN THE BACK.. AND THAT IS CALLED MURDER.. I DO BELIEVE I WOULD HAD CALLED 911 IT I THOUGHT MY LIFE WAS IN DANGER.. SHE IS A LIAR.... CLIFF WAS A GREAT MAN AND NOW HE WILL HAUNT HER FROM HEAVEN... WE LOVE YOU AND WE MISS YOU CLIFF.. I FEEL SAD FOR HIS DAUGHTERS....
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