LIVE COVERAGE: Mark Becker trial resumes

The prosecution could wrap up its case late today or early Wednesday in the Mark Becker murder trial in Butler County District Court.

Becker, 24, is accused of shooting and killing Ed Thomas, Aplington-Parkersburg football coach, last summer. Witnesses scheduled for today include two school custodians, a teacher and an Aplington resident who saw Becker before the shooting.

Gazette Reporter Trish Mehaffey is liveblogging the trial from the Butler County courtroom. Readers can follow along and ask questions and provide comments.

Six Aplington-Parkersburg students testified Friday that Becker walked into the weight room on June 24 and shot Thomas in the face and abdomen. After he fell to the floor, Becker then stomped on his head, the students said. There were about 20 students in the room at the time.

Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown said in his opening Becker told police that he planned to kill Thomas that day. He broke into his parent's gun cabinet, took out a .22 caliber handgun and did some target practice on a birdhouse before he started looking for the coach who he found in the weight room. Brown said he didn't doubt Becker has a mental illness but that doesn't equal insanity.

Brown is expected to play the audio recording of the police interview for the jurors this week.

Derek Jones, one of Becker's defense attorneys, said in his opening that Becker suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and has for years. He believed Thomas was “Satan” and shot him to stop the “voices in his head.” Jones argued that Becker couldn't distinguish right from wrong and could not understand the nature and quality of the act.