TROY, Mo.聽鈥 The murder retrial of Russell Faria opened Monday with the prosecutor accusing him of stabbing his wife in a rage, and the defense lawyer trying to shift blame to a friend of the victim who collected some of the life insurance.
The dichotomy is a stark contrast with Faria鈥檚 first trial, in 2013, in which a Lincoln County judge refused to allow evidence pointing to someone else. In that one, a jury convicted Faria of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Information regarding Pamela Hupp, who became beneficiary of $150,000 in insurance days before the murder of Elizabeth 鈥淏etsy鈥 Faria, played a role in an appellate court decision to send the case back to a judge for reconsideration. This time, it was a 51黑料 judge on loan to Lincoln County, Steven Ohmer, who granted a new trial and agreed to allow accusations against Hupp.
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Faria has chosen to have Ohmer, not a jury, decide the verdict.
In opening statements, Prosecuting Attorney Leah Askey portrayed Faria as a controlling and abusive husband who tried to alienate his wife from her friends and family. Askey said his longtime mistress was pregnant at the time of the killing in 2011.
Betsy Faria was 鈥渇earful鈥 of her husband, and 鈥渄esperate鈥 to change life insurance beneficiaries, Askey said. The prosecutor was skeptical of Russell Faria鈥檚 alibi 鈥 that he was watching movies with friends miles away when his wife died.
Defense lawyer Joel Schwartz said that his case will be based on evidence, not theories.
鈥淲hat this case comes down to ... is a life insurance policy.鈥 Schwartz said.
He said Hupp had 鈥渋nsisted鈥 upon being with Betsy Faria the day of the murder. Several days earlier, Betsy Faria had changed some, but not all, of her life insurance to Hupp鈥檚 name.
Schwartz said Hupp has changed her story repeatedly but that investigators didn鈥檛 question her accounts, make note of her cellphone records or confirm things she said. She also has changed her position about whether the $150,000 in insurance proceeds was supposed to be passed along to Betsy Faria鈥檚 daughters.
Askey鈥檚 first five witnesses were friends or relatives of Betsy Faria, who described a husband who was angry and verbally abusive toward his wife. Asked about the atmosphere, Mariah Day, the victim鈥檚 daughter, said, 鈥淎lways fighting and hostile, I guess.鈥
One of the victim鈥檚 sisters said Russell Faria once pushed her and threatened to cut her up 鈥 seven years before the murder.
But the witnesses also said that in later years, the Farias worked on their relationship, attended church and were more loving.
It was 鈥渃learly a crime of passion and one of rage,鈥 Askey told the judge. She said Russell Faria made inconsistent statements to police, and smoked and laughed and prattled with officers for an hour after they arrived.
Moreover, Russell Faria鈥檚 slippers, found in a closet, had his wife鈥檚 blood on them, as did a light switch in the master bedroom.
Schwartz has noted that Faria had no blood on his clothes, and said he thinks the slippers were planted to frame his client.
Under cross-examination Monday, Amy Buettner, a crime scene investigator, said it appeared that the slippers had not so much stepped in blood as been dipped in it.
Schwartz said in opening statements it appeared that Betsy Faria had been dead for some time when her husband found her and called 911.
A paramedic testified that although he touched Betsy Faria only briefly, he noticed that she was cold and stiff and that blood at the scene was congealing and dried in spots.
Schwartz is expected to again present testimony from four friends of Russell Faria that he had been with them for a game night in O鈥橣allon, Mo., at a time when Betsy Faria was not answering phone calls from her daughter. Askey suggested in closing arguments in the first trial that those witnesses might have lied.
There has been a focus throughout the retrial on Hupp and what she told people about the Farias鈥 marriage, the life insurance and an incident in which Russell Faria allegedly placed a pillow over the face of his terminally ill and occasionally suicidal wife, to show her what it would be like to die. Betsy Faria was dying of cancer.
Also introduced Monday was a tape of Russell Faria鈥檚 911 call. Askey elicited testimony from a Lincoln County 911 supervisor who said she learned in advanced training that 30 percent of 911 calls in murder cases are made by the killers. Ohmer would not allow her to opine on whether she thought Russell Faria was one of them.
One investigator mentioned seeing 鈥渄roplets鈥 of water in the Farias鈥 bathtub, which might support Askey鈥檚 theory that Russell Faria cleaned off blood after killing his wife. The water was not mentioned in any police report, however, and the investigator couldn鈥檛 recall much detail about it.
Questions about Russell Faria鈥檚 conviction were raised last year in a joint Post-Dispatch/STLtoday.com and Fox 2 News investigation.
Russell Faria, then 41, reported finding Betsy Faria, 42, dead on the floor of their home outside Troy, Mo., on the night of Dec. 27, 2011. He told a 911 dispatcher he thought it was suicide. Although authorities found that his wife had been stabbed 55 times, there was relatively little blood at the scene.
Hupp had dropped off Betsy Faria that night, and told officers her friend was fine when she left. Hupp and Russell Faria have both told the Post-Dispatch and Fox 2 that they did not kill Betsy Faria.
Schwartz said he expects the trial to wrap up by Thursday. Faria is free on $500,000 bail.
