Prosecutors Finish Case | Video

Retha Colclasure | 6/26/2012

The case against two men accused of shooting and killing a Beulah man, and attempting to kill his brother, could go to the jury as soon as tomorrow. Cody Borner and Richard Whitman are facing two felony counts of conspiracy to commit murder after a shooting in Beulah on January 31.

Prosecutors called more than a dozen witnesses before wrapping up their case against two men charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The final witness went over parts of an interview with one of the men, Richard Whitman, just hours after the shooting.

"He stated nothing was premeditated, nobody was supposed to get hurt or nothing stupid. I wanted a bag of (expletive) weed," said Detective Warren Weidrich with the Mercer County Narcotics Task Force.

Defense attorneys say that`s all that prosecutors proved, that the two men conspired to steal a bag of weed, and maybe an Xbox. Not that they planned to kill anyone.

"There`s no suggestion from anything that there was even an agreement to go over and cause harm to anyone, under any circumstances. To have a conspiracy to commit murder, there has to be an agreement, the objective of the conspiracy has to be to commit a murder," said Travis Finck, Whitman`s defense attorney.

Defense attorneys for both Whitman and Borner requested that the charges be dismissed, as is usual after prosecutors present their part of a case. The judge denied the motion.

Defense attorneys will begin their case tomorrow.

After the defense finishes its cases, prosecutors have the chance to call witnesses back to the stand, if need be. Then both sides will give their closing arguments, before the case goes to the jury.

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