Prosecutors in the murder case of Mark Herrington want jurors to hear evidence of problems Herrington had with an ex-wife when they go to trial next month in the death of Karen Carter.
Herrington’s defense attorney, though, argued at a Wednesday hearing that there’s no similarity with the relationships between his client’s ex-wife and the one with 47-year-old Carter and that the evidence shouldn’t reach a jury.
“This defendant, your honor, is your textbook jealous boyfriend,” said Assistant District Attorney David Helmick. “He’s just the extreme case of jealousy. As his second wife said, he’s off the charts.”
Herrington faces several charges including murder, concealing the death of another person, conspiracy to commit murder and two charges of criminal solicitation to commit murder.
He is accused in the slaying of his former fiancee Carter, who was found strangled and tied up in a blanket in the trunk of her car in January 2007.
“This is a circumstantial case, your honor,” Helmick said. “The defendant had a motive to do it. He had beaten her before. After she went missing, he was seen at the house with cleaning supplies.”
Two months later, Herrington was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy, based on allegations that he tried to hire people to kill his ex-wife in 2005 and 2006.
It’s aspects of the relationship with Herrington’s second wife that prosecutors want to introduce at his trial, scheduled for April 5. According to Helmick, Herrington tried to get two different men to either kill or help him kill his ex-wife.
The first time, he offered a man $10,000, saying he would have to be on a fishing trip when the death occurred because everyone would know it was him, Helmick said.
The second time, Herrington wanted another man’s help, he added.
“He said it would be worth his while,” the prosecutor said. “He said he had a plan. He would shoot her with a gun, pull her into a van.”
The jealousy and control Herrington tried to exert over women, in addition to pleading letters he wrote the two women asking them to return, show how Herrington acted, his intent and his motive, Helmick said.
Herrington wrote some 50 letters to his ex-wife asking her to come back.
“When Mrs. Carter was found dead, there was a similar letter in her house,” the prosecutor added.
Both men Herrington allegedly asked to kill his ex-wife once worked for him, said defense attorney Richard Hagler, adding that Carter and Herrington once had to call police about the first man Herrington allegedly solicited to kill his ex-wife because he assaulted them.
“One is soliciting where no harm ever came,” Hagler said. “I think you’ve got two totally different sets of circumstances.”
Hagler also said that Herrington’s DNA didn’t match DNA found on Carter.
To allow jurors to hear allegations that Herrington tried to have his ex-wife killed would be prejudicial and shouldn’t be allowed to reach a jury, Hagler argued.
Muscogee County Superior Court Chief Judge John Allen took the attorneys’ arguments under advisement, meaning he’ll make a decision later.
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