OTTUMWA, IOWA -- UPDATED- Jurors in the Seth Techel murder trial continued to hear from the defendant via audio and video recordings.
During the afternoon session, jurors watched the DVD made when Department of Criminal Investigation Agent Chris Thomas interviewed Techel on the afternoon of May 26.
Much of the video repeats the audio tape made by Wapello County Sheriff's Deputy Jeff Layton. Techel recounts the events of that morning when he says he was taking a shower when his wife was shot to death in her bedroom.
He also repeats the lengthy history of his problems with his neighbor Brian Tate. It is the defense theory that Brian Tate murdered Lisa Techel.
At about the half way point of the interview Thomas asks Techel if he is engaged in an extra-marital affair.
At that point offers he some information that he had a flirtation with Rachel McFarland, but that it had ended after Lisa Techel found out.
Techel continued discussing the state of his marriage, saying that the couple was happy with Lisa pregnancy and that on the day of Lisa's death, they were both happy.
Last week, McFarland testified that Seth wanted to leave Lisa to be with her and that on the day before her death, Techel was supposed to be discussing getting a divorce with Lisa.
The prosecution is expected to continue its case on Monday when court resumes.
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Jurors in the first degree murder trial of Seth Techel heard the voice of the accused murderer this morning.
The state called Wapello County Sheriff's Deputy Jeff Layton to the stand. Layton conducted the initial interview with Seth Techel on the morning of May 26, just after Lisa Techel was discovered shot to death in her bed in the couple's home near Agency, Iowa.
Layton's direct testimony consisted of the audio tape of that interview recorded in Layton’s squad car. On the tape, Techel describes hearing a gunshot, finding his wife barely breathing in bed and then running out of the house to find the assailant before returning to administer CPR.
The conversation then quickly turns to the subject of Brian Tate, the neighbor Seth Techel claims was harassing him. Techel tells Layton that he has never bothered Tate, but suggests Tate has acted in a creepy manner a number of times. Techel also describes the day before Lisa’s death, telling Layton that it was a normal day; they paid some bills, Lisa cut his hair and they chatted about work. Techel doesn't mention any marital problems to Layton.
A previous witness, Rachel McFarland, testified that the night before Lisa’s death, Seth and his wife were going to discuss ending their brief marriage and that Lisa was planning to move out of the home.
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