SPRINGFIELD — After seven delays, the trial has begun for a man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend 10 years ago.
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Thomas Albert has been a murder suspect in Springfield for four and a half years.
Monday, prosecutors started opening statements in front of a picture of the woman he’s accused of killing — Candance Prunty.
“A mother should never have to bury her child. (That’s) not how it’s supposed to be,” Aaron Heskett, asst. Clark Co. prosecutor said.
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Prunty’s mom and sister found her shot to death inside her home in October 2015.
They showed up to check on her after she did not show up to pick up her three boys at school.
Clark County prosecutors say Albert was dating Candace in the summer of 2015.
That’s when Prunty broke off the short relationship.
Prosecutors read harassing text messages from Albert to Prunty and her responses in the weeks before her death.
“‘Stuff has to stop.’ All caps. ‘Please.’” the text said, “I don’t feel that way about you.”
Prunty was murdered 23 days after that.
“When she told him no, he wouldn’t accept it,” Heskett said.
Prosecutors said they have cell phone data evidence tying Albert to the murder and that Albert’s being upset about the breakup was the motive.
“He’s not some scorned lover that was so upset he had to turn to murder. He’s someone who understood he had a primary physical relationship and it was time to move on to the next one,” Anthony Satariano, Albert’s defense lawyer, said.
But Albert’s defense lawyer said there were other men in Prunty’s life who had more damning evidence against them.
He told the jury that prosecutors won’t be able to prove their case.
“Not without a murder weapon, without DNA, without fingerprints, without eye witnesses, without a plausible motive,” Satariano said.
He alleges Albert was not involved in the murder.
“I’ll be asking each and every one of you to return a ‘not guilty’ verdict on every count in this case,” Satariano said.
The trial is expected to last about three days in Clark County.
We will continue to follow story.
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