Rutherford County, TN: Trial in Vance murder begins; Husband accused in wife's slaying

BY MARK BELL • MBELL@DNJ.COM • February 23, 2011
A man accused of killing his 31-year-old wife in 2008 appeared in court Tuesday for the first day of his first-degree murder trial.

Jury members selected to hear the facts in the Suzanne Vance murder case listened to opening arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys for Michael Vance, who is accused of shooting and killing his wife at their 1737 Cozumel Court home Feb. 28, 2008.

Prosecutors introduced testimony from a Rutherford County Sheriff's dispatcher, who received a phone call from Michael Vance on the day of his wife's murder. Vance claimed she had fallen and hit her head and was "bleeding badly."

The state contends that Michael Vance killed his wife as she was seeking to finalize a divorce from him. Court records have previously shown that Suzanne Vance applied for and received a restraining order against her husband Jan. 31, 2007, and the application for that order detailed her fears that he would retaliate against her violently for attempting to leave their relationship.
"He has told me that if I left, he would kill me," she wrote in requesting the restraining order.
The Vances' daughter, whose name is not being released to protect her identity because of her juvenile status, testified Tuesday that her mother and father argued a lot and "played games" with one another around the time of the murder. She tried not to take sides, she testified.
She also recounted how her school, Blackman High, was placed on lockdown on the morning of her mother's death, adding she didn't know at the time why it happened. It wasn't until after the lockdown order at the school was lifted that she learned her mother was dead and that the reason for the lockdown was because her father had threatened to go to two area schools to pick up her and another child.

"I was in shock," she testified.

Defense attorneys did not cross-examine her or the RCSO dispatcher during court Tuesday.
Testimony in the case was halted around 5 p.m. and is expected to resume at 9 a.m. today at the Rutherford County Judicial Building.