Suspect Faces Man He Is Accused Of Shooting
Posted: 5:48 pm EDT June 9, 2009Updated: 7:04 pm EDT June 9, 2009
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A jilted lover faced one of the people he's accused of shooting Tuesday in court, for the first time since the attack.The defendant will try to argue that the horror of finding his ex-girlfriend coming home with a new man sent him over the edge.Unbuttoning his striped shirt in court, Adam Strickland showed jurors the scars still left nearly two years after prosecutors say a bullet from a romantic rival's gun pierced his chest and ended up in his right arm."As soon as I heard the noise, I felt a fiery pain in my chest and I just, I knew I'd been shot," said Strickland.The defendant, Darren Bridgeman, looked pale and very tense as he glanced at the cameras.Prosecutors argue that he showed up to the Chuluota home of his ex-girlfriend, Tracy Bennawit, early on June 24, 2006 and found her arriving with her son and Strickland who was her new boyfriend.As the teenage son ran for cover, prosecutors say, Bridgeman first shot Strickland and then murdered Bennawit."The defendant turns the gun on Tracey and shoots her six times, killing her on the spot," said the prosecutor.As deputies searched for him, Bridgeman allegedly then drove a rental car to Atlanta and hopped a flight to London.Defense psychologists testified that Bridgeman may've acted in the heat of passion when he saw his ex-girlfriend with another man.They're claiming that he was insane at the time and should avoid the possible life sentence he's facing.
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