The 10th day of the first-degree murder trial for Donthe Lucas featured testimony from a former neighbor of the Lucas family, a former FBI agent and a soil expert.
Schelling reportedly drove to Pueblo from her home in Denver on Feb. 4, 2013, to meet with Lucas, who was her boyfriend at the time and the purported father of her unborn child.
Before the neighbor Mercedes Woods testified, 10th Judicial District Court Judge Thomas Flesher told the jury that the prosecution asserts the evidence (provided by Woods) goes to the defendant’s state of mind and told the jury they may not consider the testimony for any other purpose. He said it is up to the jury to give what weight, if any, it wishes to give to the testimony.
The first-degree murder trial of Donthe Lucas is set to resume Wednesday following a two-week break prompted by COVID-19 exposure in a Pueblo courtroom.
Lucas, 28, is accused of killing his then-girlfriend, Kelsie Schelling, who disappeared in Pueblo Feb. 4, 2013, after traveling to meet Lucas. Schelling was 21 years old and about 8 weeks pregnant at the time.
Trial proceedings were five days underway on Feb. 9, when 10th Judicial District Court Judge Thomas Flesher called for a two-week recess, saying someone in the courtroom tested positive for COVID-19.
The 14-day quarantine was recommended to the court by the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment.