The prosecution told a Gage County District Court jury today that 43-year-old Richard Griswold acted with intent, when he shot and killed 49-year-old Connie Eacret last November 17th. The defense claimed the shooting was the result of a struggle in which Griswold was trying to take his own life.
The jury went into deliberations at 12:06 pm, today (thurs), after hearing District Judge Paul Korslund give instructions. Griswold is charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit murder in the shooting that happened in Eacret’s Beatrice home at 13-22 Ella Street.
Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Doug Warner told the jury today that Griswold loaded a 22-caliber handgun with multiple bullets and pulled the trigger multiple times.firing once into a bedroom ceiling, once into the kitchen ceiling, and then the fatal shot. Warner said Griswold attempted to use memory lapses in later interviews with police when asked what happened. He discounted a defense theory that Eacret was trying to prevent Griswold from killing himself.