Briton's wife 'committed suicide'
Monday, 23 Jun 2008 19:53
Defence rests in Neil Entwistle trial
Neil Entwistle, the British man accused of murdering his US wife and baby, claimed his wife committed suicide after killing their child.
Elliot Weinstein told the court Mr Entwistle returned home from a shopping trip to discover the bodies of his 27-year-old wife Rachel and their nine-month-old baby Lillian Rose at his home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, on January 20, 2006.
Mr Weinstein said his client took the gun from the bed where he found the bodies and returned it to his father-in-law's house to cover up the suicide, in order to save her reputation.
"Do not misunderstand us. No one is blaming Rachel," Mr Weinstein said in Middlesex Superior Court. "Neil found Rachel and Lillian dead."
The defence rested without calling a single witness following 12 days of evidence and testimony presented by prosecutors.
The jury was told that a post-mortem examination found Mrs Entwistle was shot in the forehead at close range and Lillian was killed with a bullet which passed through her abdomen and lodged above her mother's left breast as she cradled her on the bed.
Mr Entwistle's lawyers tried to explain his actions after the killings as those of a "distraught and devastated" husband.
Mr Entwistle bought a one-way ticket to England a day after the deaths and did not call the emergency services.
The court had also previously heard how Mr Entwistle had trawled the internet looking for sites on bankruptcy and killing.
Mr Entwistle, 29, denies two counts of first degree murder.