ST. CLAIRSVILLE – After two nearly-identical trials – the first of which ended with a hung jury – a jury Thursday found Michael Christopher LaMotte guilty of fatally shooting his wife last year.

The verdict came Thursday after Belmont County Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan and defense attorney Joseph Vavra gave closing arguments. Thursday also featured additional testimony, including from LaMotte’s family members.

LaMotte’s son, Beau LaMotte, said his father had called him and told him that his mother was dead, but gave no further details. He called his sister, Cody, but had not told her that Beverly LaMotte had died. He then went about arranging transportation to his father’s residence.

Beau and Cody LaMotte testified that it was frequent to receive calls from their father regarding drug and alcohol issues.

“They really weren’t themselves lately,” Cody LaMotte said. “They were drinking a lot and stuff.”

She added her parents frequently opened their home to people in need and with possible addiction issues. Beau LaMotte also said he has since spoken with his father, who claims to have no memory of what had occurred.

Cody LaMotte related her reaction on hearing a recording of her 911 call.

“I was shocked,” she said. “I did not remember saying that. I did not think that’s what I said.”

She gave a recounting of her call to her father, who would only tell her “the worst” had occurred.

“I now know that what I said on that recording was wrong,” she said.

Flanagan countered that the claim she made over the 911 call was both entirely different and very accurate in accordance with the facts of the case and could have most likely come from her phone call with her father.

She also said the idea of shooting might have come from her boyfriend. Flanagan challenged this assertion, stating this is the first time she had relayed this information under oath.

Other family members and friends of the family were called to the stand, testifying to LaMotte’s character as both honest and non-violent, and to the frequent presence of drugs and intoxication in the house.

In closing arguments, Flanagan replayed the 911 call from Cody LaMotte.

“That was not a mistake. That was not a misunderstanding. It was a conveyance of information from the defendant’s daughter to the 911 center,” he said. “In our lifetimes we will collectively confuse a lot of things. We will misunderstand a lot of things, but we will not misunderstand something like that. Those words cannot be misunderstood.”

He went on to note the case was unique due to the degree of recorded, video and photographic evidence that accompanied every witness from the state.

Flanagan also emphasized the death itself happened hours before the phone call. He described LaMotte’s behavior on being arrested as damage control, saying he modified his story continuously throughout his questioning by law enforcement that night, from his initial claim that Beverly LaMotte had shot herself, to later claiming he had no idea what was happening, then claiming suicide again 15 minutes later. He added that Michael LaMotte seemed to know exactly what happened during his call with his children.

Flanagan also referred to the forensic investigation, pointing out that the position of the wounds made suicide all but impossible. He also pointed out Michael LaMotte’s failure to notify anyone immediately after apparently finding his wife.

“He does nothing, because he meant for her to die. He does nothing because he’s the one that shot her,” he said.

Vavra countered by pointing out questions that he said were not satisfied by the evidence.

While a live, unspent cartridge was found under the body, the spent shells were not found. Furthermore, the deformed and fragmented bullets removed from Beverly LaMotte could match the bullets in Michael LaMotte’s gun, but these are very common ammunition, Vavra said. He said there is no certain evidence that the gun had been fired or that the bullets had come from that weapon.

He also criticized investigators for insufficiently testing for forensic evidence in the house.

Vavra also expressed doubts about the reliability of the witness testimony. He leveled particular criticism at the 911 call from Cody LaMotte.

“That is the only piece of evidence that links Mr. LaMotte to the death of Beverly LaMotte,” he said, noting the daughter’s claims on hearing the recording. “She was shocked, because that is not what she remembers saying. That is not what she believes she said.”

He added that the call was inaccurate, as her brother, not her father, had called her,

“You heard the recording. You heard what state she was in. She was panicked. She was emotionally distraught,” he said. “How can we put stock in that comment, based on the state she was in at that point?”

Vavra pointed out Michael LaMotte’s state depicted by the recordings and video and said high intoxication could easily explain the confusion and contradictions occurring during the interviews. He said Michael LaMotte made no attempt to flee or conceal the body after his wife’s death.

“They want you to believe he’s a cold, calculating monster who murdered his wife,” Vavra said, pointing out the drug and alcohol activity in the house, and that another suspicious individual had been witnessed there recently before the crime.

After the verdict was returned, Common Pleas Judge Frank Fregiato set a sentencing hearing for Oct. 2. Michael LaMotte faces a maximum of life without parole for 15 years, with an additional three years for the gun specification, for life without parole for 18 years.

Prosecutor Dan Fry said his office was satisfied with the results of the second trial.

“As far as the trial was concerned, there was no difference in our strategy, no additional evidence. We had from the beginning what we believed was evidence that proved that he had murdered his wife,” he said. “I can’t give enough credit to the detectives division of the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office for putting this case together, and Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan for trying the case. They did one heck of a job.”

Flanagan afterward called the result a fair and just ruling.

DeFrank can be reached at rdefrank@timesleader

online.com.