Deliberations continue in Anderson trial

Monday, July 16, 2007

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

GASTIONIA --Jurors in the Jerry Anderson murder trial broke for today, after 12 hours of deliberation, without a verdict.

Anderson, 48, faces first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of his wife, Emily, and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecution and defense attorneys presented nearly 500 exhibits, and more than 50 witnesses testified since the trial began on June 8.

Judge David Cayer has told jurors that they can only find Anderson guilty or not guilty of first-degree murder, not a lesser charge.

Emily Anderson disappeared from her husband's Caldwell County dairy farm on Dec. 29, 2005.

Ten days later, her Chevrolet Silverado pickup was found in an S.C. restaurant parking lot, about 100 miles from the farm. She had been shot twice and her body crammed into the truck bed's large toolbox.

Prosecutors have argued that, on Dec. 29, Jerry Anderson shot and killed his wife in a pasture behind the farm, put her body into the toolbox of her truck and, using his own pickup, hauled it to South Carolina.

The motive for the slaying, prosecutors have argued, was the more than $4 million insurance on Emily Anderson's life.

Attorneys for Anderson have argued that Emily Anderson had been dead two to four days when her body was found, about a week less than the prosecution said. His attorneys also argued that investigators decided prematurely that Anderson killed his wife and ignored evidence showing otherwise.


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