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Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:34 AM 'Fatal attraction' Bowling attorneys argue Vincent acted alone By Antonio Velarde | Times Staff Writer GREENVILLE - Defense attorneys for Mark Bowling said Wednesday that their client's alleged mistress had a "fatal attraction" to Bowling that drove her to act alone in gunning down Bowling's wife in the garage of their home in late 2006. During opening statements made Wednesday in Bowling's murder trial, defense attorney Tommy Moore told the jury his team would prove Bowling's alleged mistress, Rose Deloris Parker Vincent, 28, of Middlesex, acted alone in killing his wife, Julie Bowling, who was found shot to death in Bowlings' River Glenn home on Dec. 8, 2006. Julie Bowling, who worked as a radiation therapist at Nash Day Hospital's cancer treatment center, was found by a co-worker when she didn't show up for work. "This was a fatal attraction, and Rose, and Rose only, killed Julie," Moore said. Bowling, 37, a former funeral home director, is accused of orchestrating his wife's murder, and is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and accessory before the fact to first-degree murder. Bowling, who was spared the death penalty by prosecutors in August, could face life in prison without parole if convicted. He is being represented by Moore of Rocky Mount and Tom Sallenger of Wilson. Vincent was spared the death penalty after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and she is expected to testify against Bowling during the trial. Moore told jurors Wednesday that Bowling, who owned Bowling Funerals and Cremations in Rocky Mount, had cheated on his wife and business partner in the past, even dabbling in escort services. He had a brief sexual relationship with Vincent while she was a teenager, Moore said, and that relationship had rekindled years later when they met again. But Vincent wanted to be Mrs. Bowling, he said, and that drove her to kill Julie Bowling. "When she did that, she took Mark's wife, she took Mark's life," Moore said. Defense attorneys and prosecutors began their opening statements shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday, following a jury selection that lasted from Monday until Wednesday, when the 12 jurors and three alternates were officially seated. Nash County Assistant District Attorney Keith Werner, who spoke before Moore, gave jurors a timeline of events leading up to Julie Bowling's death and told jurors the evidence would show Bowling pushed Vincent to kill her on two previous occasions before the Dec. 8 shooting. Werner said there were two failed attempts on Julie Bowling's life -- one when Bowling first gave Vincent the murder weapon and told her to kill Julie Bowling at her home and another time when he hold her to kill his wife while she was at a conference in Greenville. Both attempts were thwarted because each time Julie Bowling was with other people, Werner said. He said the third attempt, which happened when Bowling was out of town on a scuba-diving trip in Florida with friends, succeeded. He said Vincent, following Bowling's instructions, drove from her home to the Bowling home in Rocky Mount on the morning of Dec. 8, and waited for the garage door to go up as Julie Bowling got ready for work. Vincent then called out her name and then shot her once, and left the scene, returning when she remembered Bowling's instructions to "pull the trigger until it stops shooting." She then buried the murder weapon in a shallow grave at her family cemetery, he said, and went on with her day. Bowling, Werner said, later said he could not get up with his wife over the weekend, despite phone records showing the contrary. He said Vincent will testify during the trial, "make no bones about it." "In order to prove the conspiracy, you have to have some of the conspirators testify," he said. He said there are 50 witnesses in the case, making the case "like a 50-piece jigsaw puzzle." Following the opening statements Wednesday, the jury heard testimony from Nash County Medical Examiner Amy Winstead, who confirmed the shooting death of Julie Bowling, and Linda Gardner, a co-worker who found her body that morning. Werner showed Winstead several photos taken from the murder scene, and he had Winstead show and describe the photos to the jury. Bowling, who had shown little emotion until Wednesday, broke down in tears briefly as Winstead showed and described to the jurors the photos, which showed the gunshot wounds to Julie Bowling's body. Gardner, who said she worked for Bowling for more than 20 years, described the morning she found Julie Bowling's body. Gardner was asked by a supervisor to check on Julie Bowling when she didn't come in for work that morning. Gardner began crying as she described how she found Julie Bowling in her garage, dressed for work, but lying motionless on the ground next to her car with her eyes wide open. She said after she realized Julie Bowling had been shot to death, she rushed to a neighbor's house and called 911. Gardner admitted to attorneys she was "hysterical" after finding Julie Bowling's body. The defense objected to testimony Gardner tried to give concerning thoughts Julie Bowling had expressed about her husband's potential to do her harm. She was, however, able to tell jurors that Julie Bowling had to step down from a management position at the hospital because of concerns she had about how her husband was running the funeral home. A recording of the 911 call Gardner made to authorities was played for the jury. Several pre-trial motions were heard in court earlier that morning, with Nash County Superior Court Judge Quentin Sumner approving a request by defense attorneys for Bowling to not be tried during the trial for solicitation to commit first-degree murder. Sumner also approved a motion by defense attorneys for a civil dispute to not be included in the case as evidence. He denied a motion by defense attorneys to bar a witness from testifying in the trial. The trial resumed this morning at 9:30. avelarde@wilsontimes.com | 265-7868 |
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