SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla.,None — A man who said his ex-wife tried to kill him twice took the stand on Wednesday. Robert Boone became emotional while he testified against his ex-wife, Kim Boone.
Prosecutors said Kim Boone set their home on fire in December 2008, but Robert Boone was able to escape. Three months later, prosecutors said Kim Boone shot him on purpose.
Robert and Kim Boone divorced in 2009, just months after Robert Boone was shot in the chest in the couple's Winter Springs home. Kimberly Boone was acquitted of attempted murder in that case, but now, another jury must decide if she tried to kill her husband in the fire that consumed the couple's bedroom.
"There was fire going up the side of the wall and across the ceiling," Robert Boone said on the stand.
Robert Boone was home alone. A neighbor testified that he watched Kimberly Boone load some items in her car and drive off, minutes before smoke poured from the couple's home.
Prosecutors believe Kimberly Boone drugged her husband and set the fire to cash in on her husband's life insurance so she could repay hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from a former employer.
"And I asked her if she had been taking any money from the company. She assured me that she had not. And I told her that if she did that I would have to take the kids and I would have to leave," Robert Boone said.
Prosecutors said they don't think Kimberly Boone had any intention of giving him a chance.
Shortly before the fire, Robert Boone said he asked his wife for a glass of water and became ill.
"She said, 'You're just really tired, why don't you lay down?'" Robert Boone stated.
Robert Boone, who was a firefighter for 15 years, escaped his home without serious injury.
"Not a single burn mark on your body. Am I correct?" the defense asked.
"That's because I was trained. I was eating the tile," Robert Boone said.
But with a family on the financial brink, the defense would have jurors believe Robert Boone may have had his own motive for arson.
The couple received more than $100,000 from State Farm insurance as a result of the fire. It went into Robert Boone's account because he said he no longer trusted his wife with their finances.