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REPLAY LIVE COVERAGE: Jessica Dayton murder trial
Apr. 22, 2010 2:23 pm
The first-degree murder trial of Jessica Dayton continues at 9 a.m. today in Iowa County District Court in Marengo.
Dayton, 19, of Belle Plaine, is accused of killing Curtis Bailey, 33, of Marengo. Bailey died from blunt force trauma to the head. He was hit several times with a landscaping rock, according to Wednesday's testimony.
Dayton and Bailey's girlfriend Denise Frei, 42, promised Bailey a menage a trois but told him he would have to drink a shot of whiskey with every sexual act. They had planned to get him drunk and when he passed out they would kill him with the help of Frei's son Jacob Hilgendorf, 19, of Belle Plaine. The plan went awry when Bailey awoke and struggled with Hilgendorf and Dayton. Dayton dropped the rock on Bailey's head two to three times and Hilgendorf hit him in head with the rock more than once.
The prosecution should wrap up Friday. The defense may start Friday or Monday.
Check out reporter Trish Mehaffey's live coverage of the trial below.
WEDNESDAY COVERAGE:Dayton promised sex before Marengo murder, prosecutors say
Jessica Dayton, 19, of Belle Plaine smiles as her family arrives in the courtroom during her first-degree murder trial,Thursday, April 22, 2010 at the Iowa County Courthouse in Marengo. Dayton is accused in the killing of her boss Curtis Bailey, 33, of Marengo in July of last year. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)
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