LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The latest on the capital murder trial of a man charged in the death of an Arkansas real estate agent (all times local):
10:15 a.m.
The man accused of kidnapping and killing an Arkansas real estate agent says he lied to police to protect his estranged wife, whom he said was responsible for the death.
Arron Lewis is testifying in his own defense Friday. Prosecutors accuse him of kidnapping and killing 50-year-old Beverly Carter as part of a ransom plot gone wrong, while defense attorneys have suggested that Carter died accidentally during a consensual sex act.
Lewis told jurors Friday about his extensive criminal history and said he lied to investigators to protect Crystal Lowery, his estranged wife.
Lowery testified Thursday that she and Lewis planned the kidnapping so he could have money to move out of her home. Lowery pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder and kidnapping and is serving a 30-year prison sentence.
Carter disappeared in September 2014 after leaving to show a house in a rural area near Little Rock. Her body was later found in a shallow grave and an autopsy determined she had been suffocated.