David Viens was an abusive, conniving husband who murdered his wife, cooked her body to dispose of it and then tried to cover his tracks with a string of lies and fake text messages.
In the defense's telling, Viens did kill his wife -- but by accident. After duct-taping her mouth, binding her hands and feet and falling asleep, he awoke to find her dead. Convinced no one would believe his wife's lifeless body was the result of a mishap, Viens tossed it in a dupmster at his Lomita restaurant.
Jurors heard the two versions of the October 2009 slaying Monday during closing arguments in Viens' murder trial; the attorneys are scheduled to wrap up their cases Tuesday. Viens, 49, is accused of killing his wife, Dawn, whose body has never been found. In February 2011, after he discovered investigators suspected he'd killed her, Defense attorney Fred McCurry never challenged the premise that Dawn Viens was dead, nor did he suggest that she was slain by someone other than her husband. But he said the prosecution's evidence didn't support a first-degree murder conviction, which requires proof of premeditation.
"Dawn Viens died as an unintentional result of David Viens' actions," McCurry said. "That's not murder."
McCurry also challenged the veracity of the prosecution's most haunting piece of evidence: an interview with sheriff's investigators in which Viens said he boiled his wife's body over four days and dispatched much of what remained in his restaurant's grease trap.
At the time, McCurry reminded jurors, Viens was hospitalized from his cliff jump, suffering from "excruciating" pain and taking a cocktail of drugs that a defense expert suggested could impair his alertness and memory. During the interview, Viens spoke of being "confused" by his dreams and, while he told investigators that he'd stashed his wife's skull in his mother's attic, authorities never found it.
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| David Vien with his wife |
In the defense's telling, Viens did kill his wife -- but by accident. After duct-taping her mouth, binding her hands and feet and falling asleep, he awoke to find her dead. Convinced no one would believe his wife's lifeless body was the result of a mishap, Viens tossed it in a dupmster at his Lomita restaurant.
Jurors heard the two versions of the October 2009 slaying Monday during closing arguments in Viens' murder trial; the attorneys are scheduled to wrap up their cases Tuesday. Viens, 49, is accused of killing his wife, Dawn, whose body has never been found. In February 2011, after he discovered investigators suspected he'd killed her, Defense attorney Fred McCurry never challenged the premise that Dawn Viens was dead, nor did he suggest that she was slain by someone other than her husband. But he said the prosecution's evidence didn't support a first-degree murder conviction, which requires proof of premeditation.
"Dawn Viens died as an unintentional result of David Viens' actions," McCurry said. "That's not murder."
McCurry also challenged the veracity of the prosecution's most haunting piece of evidence: an interview with sheriff's investigators in which Viens said he boiled his wife's body over four days and dispatched much of what remained in his restaurant's grease trap.
At the time, McCurry reminded jurors, Viens was hospitalized from his cliff jump, suffering from "excruciating" pain and taking a cocktail of drugs that a defense expert suggested could impair his alertness and memory. During the interview, Viens spoke of being "confused" by his dreams and, while he told investigators that he'd stashed his wife's skull in his mother's attic, authorities never found it.
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