LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of a Clermont woman accused of killing her husband.
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Investigators say Laurie Shaver buried her husband’s body under a backyard fire pit and then pretended he was still alive to his family and friends.
The trial is expected to be a complicated one.
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It took three years for law enforcement to get involved in the case. And Shaver’s team claims that her then-7-year-old daughter pulled the trigger.
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Shaver was arrested five years after husband Michael’s disappearance in 2015.
For three years, Michael was simply missing — presumed to be living a new life with a new woman.
But a search in the couple’s Clermont back yard revealed an arm bone — and then the rest of Michael Shaver.
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Laurie Shaver will go on trial facing accusations she shot him, drained his bank accounts, and sold the gun and his possessions — all while pretending to be him.
In recent weeks, the two teams of lawyers have argued over what the jury would and wouldn’t be allowed to hear about the couple’s life as the state presents as many as 100 witnesses.
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Their story will have to overcome a claim that Shaver’s now-teenage daughter was the actual shooter, pulling the trigger to protect her mother from abuse when she was just seven years old.
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Shaver’s daughter is expected to testify.
Prosecutors said they expect it will take a week to get through all their witnesses.
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Channel 9′s Nick Papantonis will be in the courtroom throughout the trial to bring you every detail.
Watch Eyewitness News and monitor WFTV.com for updates to this story.
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