Robert Luch listened quietly as lawyers in his first-degree murder trial gave their closing arguments to the jury, which received the case Wednesday. His three daughters sat behind him, at times sipping coffee or tugging on their hair as attorneys talked about Luch killing his wife of more than 20 years.
Neither side disputes that Luch shot Jocelyn Luch two times on a cool evening on Sept. 28,2010 -- the issue Wednesday was whether Luch planned to kill her. The evidence has shown that Robert bought a gun 11 days before the shooting. The prosecution said that’s also the same day Jocelyn opened her own checking account.
For several weeks, both sides say, Jocelyn Luch had been seeing someone else. According to the defense, Robert Luch was enraged over it -- but not angry enough to kill his wife on purpose.
Speaking as if he was Robert Luch, defense attorney Andrew Lambert told the jury his client didn’t plan Jocelyn Luch’s death.
“I shot her, I shot her twice,” Lambert said, “I’m not telling you today I am not responsible for the death of my wife. I’m completely responsible for the death of my wife, but it’s not a murder that was committed. I did not intend to kill her.”
Lambert said instead the gun went off when Robert brought it into the bathroom, where he confronted Jocelyn Luch about where she had been that night.
Prosecutor Christina Sherman told the jury that Luch was a controlling man, who became enraged when he saw his hold on his wife slipping.
“Robert Luch is a controlling and manipulative man,” Sherman said. “And when he could no longer manipulate his wife into doing what he wanted her to do he took control: he took ultimate control and ended her life.”
Throughout the case the defense has repeatedly talked about Luch’s anger about Jocelyn’s affair.
“Nothing Jocelyn Luch did on September 28th, 2010, or any day before that, entitled the defendant to kill her, to end her life,” Sherman said. “ This is first-degree murder.”
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