FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The wife of a former Weld County investigator is on trial in the ambush slaying of the wife of a Greeley police officer. Prosecutors say it was because of a love triangle. Shawna Nelson was having an affair with the victim's husband.
7NEWS Reporter Lance Hernandez is blogging from the trial.

Posted at 5:07 p.m.

Deliberations end for the day.

Jurors are told to be back at 8 a.m. Monday morning.

Posted at 12:55 p.m.

Case goes to jury at 12:55 p.m.

Posted at 12:31 p.m.

Rebuttal from Prosecutor Clifford Riedel

Riedel said the big picture "is sitting right there. Shawna Nelson is the big picture."

"The investigation goes where the evidence leads and the evidence leads right there," he said, pointing to Shawna.

"Counsel says this is tragic ... I agree this is tragic. But what was the defendant's reaction when she was told the victim was Heather?" Riedel asks the jury.

He said instead of adamantly denying that she killed Heather, Shawna just sat there and shrugged her shoulders.

"This case is about greed, but not about monetary greed. This case has nothing to do with money ... Heather Garraus had something that the defendant wanted ... The thing that Heather Garraus had -- was something that you and I, ladies and gentlemen, may think was worthless -- and that's Ignacio Garraus," Riedel said.

He said the jury can "believe the defendant or the rest of the evidence ... because they are diametrically opposed."

"Let's talk about Michelle Moore. If you believe the defendant's version of the events, then you have to believe that the defendant is the best lesbian lover that has ever walked this earth," Reidel said. "If you want to believe the defendant then you have to believe that Michelle Moore is facing 9 years in prison simply because the defendant no longer wanted to be her lesbian lover."

Riedel said, "What are the odds that somebody who wanted to frame the defendant and place DNA on some article of clothing would have chosen shoes? And then what are the odds that the defendant would coincidentally say, 'I'm going to go to the liquor store and I'm not going to wear shoes.' And then what are the odds that the person who wanted to frame the defendant would dump the shoes 700 feet from where the defendant got stopped?"

"Counsel said there was no DNA on the defendant. I don't know how many of you cook? Why do you wear an apron? So you don't get anything on your clothes. She was wearing a robe," Riedel said. "There wasn't anything on the mask because the victim was on the ground looking up. Everything went the other way. If there was anything, (DNA) it was on the robe and that's what the defendant got rid of."

"Remember, the defendant had gunshot residue all over her. Her face, hands and clothing even on one of her shoes. And why didn't she have shoes? Because she saw her husband approaching and she rolled down the window and the left shoe went out. Her right foot was still on the pedal. Then the right shoe went out."

Riedel said the tire tracks in back of the credit union matched the lugs of that tire, down to the point where there was a rock.

"That's the F-250 that was in that alley," he said.

Two witnesses saw the defendant get in it and drive away.

"The defense wants you to believe that a non-working brake light is a reasonable doubt. Well, was it blocked by a Dumpster, or something else? That's not reasonable doubt," Riedel said.

He said the ballistics showed that it was Glock pistol KDN-907. Only that gun fired those casings (found at the crime scene.) Only two people had that gun, he said -- Ken Nelson and Shawna Nelson. Ken was at work.

Shawna had said earlier she sold a Glock 22 in front of a pawn shop in Loveland because she needed the cash.

"She lied and told Ken, 'I got rid of it,'" Riedel said. "She didn't. She told Michelle she didn't."

"Did Ken make a mistake and take the gun from the truck and try to hide it? Possibly," he said.

He said video from the Subway sandwich shop shows that earlier in the day, Shawna was wearing blue striped pants and white shoes. At 6:15 she's dressed in black and not wearing shoes ... and wearing Ken Nelson's underwear.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you had at 5:30 in the evening gone in to take a bath... and filled up the bathtub, then defecated on yourself at 5:30, would you really wait around 'til 6:00 at night, 6;05, not get in the tub, and then decide, 'I think I'll put on my husband's underwear and go get a bottle of wine or beer," Riedel said.

He argued that even that story changed. She told one investigator she wanted beer, and told another she wanted wine.

"She couldn't keep that story straight," Riedel said.

"But would you really not get in the tub after you defecated on yourself, for over 30 minutes but decide, 'I think I'll go to the liquor store in this condition and then I'll get in the tub. Does that make any sense to anybody?" Riedel asked the jury.

"She filled the tub with water because she she knew she was going to be coming back in a rush and what was the plan? I'm going back to the house and I'm in the tub and any trace evidence is washed away down the drain. That's why that tub was filled," he said.

"There was only one person behind the grim reaper mask who had a motive, who hated Heather Garraus so much she wanted her dead, who told Morrison she would pretend the shooting range target was Heather. Only one person planned it. And only one person's DNA was on the mask -- that was Shawna's."

"This case is not about infidelity. The defendant is not on trial for being unfaithful to Ken. Ignacio is not on trial for being unfaithful to Heather. This case is about fidelity. Heather was faithful to a husband who did nothing but cheat on her," Riedel said.

The defendant was a messenger of death to the marriage of Ignacio and Heather. She was a messenger of death because she felt she had no other options, Riedel said.

"Heather Garraus was executed because she was faithful," he argued.

"When Heather Garraus was on her knees looking up into that mask with the grim reaper, she knew who was behind the mask. The evidence shows Heather Garraus thought she would be killed by the defendant. The evidence shows that Heather Garraus was right," he said.

"Let Heather know that justice has been done," he told the jury.

Posted at 11:32 a.m.

Kevin Strobel begins his closing.

Strobel said Shawna Nelson is not guilty. She didn't have a gun, had no reason to shoot Heather Garraus. He said the evidence shows she didn't do it.

This was not an overnight fling. It lasted three and a half years. "Did she do everything she could to get Ignacio to divorce Heather? No," Strobel said. "Even when she got pregnant a second time she didn't use that against Heather."

"Mr. Garraus wanted an abortion and she said, 'No, I'm not doing it. It took too much out of me the last time.' She told Ken about it and they reunite," Strobel said.

It doesn't make sense but she's explained the relationship and said things that are embarassing, Strobel said.

"Yes, she's told lies but you were able to see her answers to my questions and the prosecution's. Her testimony fits and makes sense," Strobel said.

They want you to believe she made a series of phone calls to see if Heather was at work on Jan. 22. "You can see, she went right over to Heather's line," he said.

Strobel said the last thing Ken Nelson would do is destroy evidence. "The gun was in his posession and he gave it to investigators before he came into contact with Shawna," Strobel said.

He showed pictures of a truck covered with snow on the toolbox. He said prosecutors have questioned why Shawna would go out in the snow and cold without shoes.

He said, "Look at the picture. There's no snow and ice."

One witness had testified she saw one brake light come on. She wanted to see the license plate. She wanted to see what was going on with this truck. She saw only one brake light.

"The Nelson truck doesn't have a malfunctioning light. They work," Strobel said.

The direction of travel doesn't jive with prosecution's theory, he argued. The better way would have been to turn left to 11th then up to Hwy 34. The problem with other routes is it doesn't give them enough time to get most of the way to her house before she is stopped.

"Shawna Nelson's DNA is not on evidence at scene," Strobel said. "Someone has just come up to Heather Garraus put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. There was blood everywhere. There would have been blood on that gun. There would have been Heather's hair."

He said the shooter went back to pickup truck and there would have been blood on the handle of the truck. The gun would have had to go somewhere. He said not one item of Shawna's clothing has Heather's blood on it. There is not a single hair of Heather Garraus anywhere inside Shawna's truck.

"Their burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt," Strobel said.

What is the lack of evidence? It's lack of DNA, lack of a murder weapon in Shawna's possession. Most important, lack of independent police investigation. He argued that Greeley police had a clear conflict of interest yet they were the ones who did the investigation.

People interviewed, who had knowlege of the relationships, were members of the department.

"They reached a conclusion that Shawna was guilty and didn't even investigate anyone else," Strobel said. "They didn't check out a lot of things. I don't know who killed Heather Garraus. There's a lot of people they didn't investigate."

"Did Ignacio have a motive to get rid of Heather? I don't know, it wasn't investigated. Did Ken Nelson have motive? I don't know, they didn't investigate. Did Michelle Moore have reason to get back at Shawna? I think so. They didn't investigate," he said.

He argued that taking a position four minutes into the case is not an independent investigation. "That's advocacy," he said.

We don't know that the cartridges found at the scene were fired from the gun or were dropped there, he said.

He puts up a picture of the gun on screen. He said witnesses described the weapon as having 8 to 10 inch barrel. He said the barrel on this gun is nowhere near that. He said the evidence "has to dispel any reasonable doubt that you may have."

"For one of you the doubt may come from lack of DNA. For another, that Shawna Nelson did not have a gun. The law says you have a reasonable doubt, you don't go ahead. You hesitate," he said. "It's not enough to say, 'I think she's guilty. The evidence must take you beyond any reasonble doubt and the evidence in this case doesn't do that."

Certainly, there are things that are sympathetic. That Victoria is without a mother. It's had an impact on Shawna. She hasn't been able to be with her children, he argued.

"Michelle Moore started out trying to dig herself a hole and wanting to be protected from that ... and she ended up digging herself a grave," he said. "She lied to investigators and she lied to you. Her story grows and grows and becomes utterly fantastic ... to the point where she claims Shawna said she was going to inject cyanide into Heather's neck."

"Her story does not fit. It is not the truth. You cannot rely on her testimony," he said.

"There is the tire track. I cannot tell you how that tire track got behind this building. They cannot tell you when those tire tracks got there. It's speculation that the truck shown in the ATM video is the Nelson's truck," he said.

Speaking about the shoes found 700 feet from where Nelson's truck was stopped, Strobel said, "I don't know who those shoes belong to. If those shoes belong to Shawna, they're men's shoes size 10. She wear women's size 8."

What about the mask found in her truck?

"Yes, Shawna Nelson owns a mask. She owns this mask. But don't you think there would be gunshot residue and blood spray on that mask? There is not," Strobel said.

"Gun shot residue doesn't mean anything in this case. Ken Nelson used it day in and day out. He went out to the range, he went hunting. That vehicle could be full of gunshot residue. She was put in a squad car without having her hands bagged. She could have got it there," Strobel said.

He said the prosecutors argued that she had motive because of the break up, because of her text messages which threatened to make Ignacio pay.

"That seems to be the crux of their case. Does that show a plan for first-degree murder, saying, 'I'm going to take you for child support?'"

"It's human nature to go through break up after 3 and a half years. She had given birth to her child. What pissed her off the most is that he didn't want to have anything to do with his child. But to say so much that she wanted to Kill Heather, that's too much," Strobel said.

On Jan 23, the day of the shooting, Shawna Nelson was moving on, he argued. She saw Ignacio Garraus and his daughter outside the store and she told her children don't talk to them.

"We do have this relationship ... this drama ... so there's an assumption that she did it," he said.

Over 100 exhibits, but you have to step back and look at the bigger picture.

"Does this evidence prove that Nelson is the one who committed this crime beyond a reasonable doubt? If there is anything that does cause you to hesitate, you're sworn duty is to find Shawna Nelson not guilty," he said.

Posted at 10:33 a.m.

Closing arguments begin.

Prosecutor Gregory Lammons: What's the motive in this case? It's one of the oldest in the world. Jealousy. Blood and jealously. Who was jealous of Heather Garrous? Who was in love with Ignacio Garrous? One person, the defendant.

You've seen the texts, the e-mails. You've heard from numerous witnesses. Consider her motive, consider her credibility.

"The defendant got on the stand and esentially contradicted every other witness. It's incredible," Lammons said.

You heard from Jennifer Morrison who said Shawna would pretend her target at the shooting range was Heather. You saw Paige Walker tell you she heard the defendant say Heather Garraus had ruined her life, that she wasn't having sex with Ken anymore?

"What ax do these two witnesses have to grind?" Lammons asked.

Ms. Tuma recited the nasty things Shawna said. "Bi***." She also said she was going to make Ignacio's life a living hell. She said, 'I don't know what I have to live for.'"

"Compare all those witnesses to the defendant. She hadn't moved on. She was desperate to cling to Ignacio Garraus," Lammons said.

You heard Shawna say she'd have enough of this drama.

Lammons said that when she learned Heather had left home, after learning about the affair, she thought, "Here's my chance."

"What does she do? she calls the credit union," he said.

On Dec. 18, she learns the affair is over, that Ig is going to reconcile with Heather. What does she do? She sends an unblocked cell phone call to Ig saying, "You're going to pay."

The defense rests at 9:27 a.m.

Prosecution says they want an hour for closing arguments. Defense says they also want an hour.

Judge goes over instructions.

Posted at 9:11 a.m.

Marilynn Cullison takes the stand.

She's an investigator.

She told jurors she went to the Glock Web site to learn about and compare model 22 and model 27. She said 22 had slightly longer barrel and weighed 3.17 ounces more.

Cullison said she did a timeline on two routes between the credit union and Shawna's house.

Public defender put a map showing a main street in Windsor on the overhead. She said one route was faster -- 18 minutes, 20 seconds. The other was 21 minutes.

She'd earlier testified that she tried to interview eyewitnesses to the murder, but they didn't want to talk. Right?

"Yes," she said.

Prosecutor said they didn't want to talk to you because you told them you represented the woman they believed blew their friend's brains out?

"I guess so," she said.

Prosecutor showed Cullison the gun and talked about the length. She said it was 1.26 inches. Prosecutor held up a gun and said witnesses wouldn't be able to tell the difference would they?

"No," she said.

Posted at 8:37 a.m.

Prosecution cross-examines Shawna Nelson.

Jurors enter at 8:38 a.m.

Prosecutors ask about Shawna's communication with another man who'd asked her to set him up with Michelle Moore. Shawna said she told Mr. Sherbert about her affair with Ignacio Garraus, and her child named Christian. She's asked if she was embarrassed to share this info with someone she hardly knew. She said she'd been drinking.

She was asked if she remembered Steve Sherbert asking how she could leave a double life and her saying "because I'm a really good liar."

She said she didn't remember saying that.

She was asked if she remembered telling Sherbert she couldn't stand having sex with Ken.

"You testified that you enjoyed shooting handguns with Ken?"

"That was a long time ago before the kids were born," she said.

She said she never got a receipt for selling a gun to a guy in Loveland. She had intended to pawn it but sold it to a guy whose name she didn't know. She said didn't know if the guy was a felon and intended to rob a bank with it.

"What's more embarrassing: having your name listed in a pawn sheet or having your husband's gun used in a robbery?" Lammons asked.

"Objection!" the defense said.

Motioned is sustained. She does not answer.

Next, he asked about a retirement party where she confronted Michelle Bush.

"Despite being pregnant, you were drinking?"

Yes, she answered.

"You were jealous of Michelle Bush because she had left with Ignacio Garraus?" Lammons asked.

"I wasn't jealous of her. I thought she was intentionally disrespecting me," said.

Lammons asks about a phone conversation Shawna had with her sister, Deb Smith.

In June 2007, did you say, "We never had sexual contact when talking about Michelle Moore?"

"Yes, I did," Shawna said.

"Did you tell the truth to your sister?"

"No, I didn't," she said.

"Did you remember telling her that your marriage to Ken was a huge frickin' sham too?"

Yes, she answered.

You've been able to read witness statements and look at photographs?

"Yes. Not all at once," she said.

He said she's been able to watch all these people testify. Lammons asked if she heard Yvonne Woods testify that DNA found was unique to every one except identical twins? Yes.

"You don't have an identical twin?" Lammons asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," she said.

Lammons asked about the night she was stopped and Detective Tharp said, "We all know about the history here. And you said, "Oh, I know it doesn't look good."

Lammons asked about her testimony that she wanted Ignacio to reconcile with Heather, then showed her the cell phone picture of Christian with the text underneath saying Ig's flesh and blood.

"Was that your attempt to help them reconcile?" he asked.

"No, that was a dig," she said.

Heather had never done anything to you had she?

No, Shawna answered.

"When you talked about her being vanilla and fat, was that your attempt to get them to reconcile?"

"No, I was drunk," Shawna said.

Public defender asked Shawna if there has been drama between Nelson and the Garraus'. She said yes.

He asked if Shawna ever had the desire to kill Heather Garraus over that drama. She said no. He asked if she ever wanted to shoot Heather in the head. She said "never."

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