Michelle Young Murder: Husband's Retrial Begins
Jason Young, 37, is on trial for first-degree murder charges for a second time.
Feb. 8, 2012— -- The second trial of a man who is accused of beating his pregnant wife to death in their North Carolina home began with testimony from the dead woman's sister that the defendant was unfaithful with multiple mistresses.
Jason Young, 37, is on trial for first-degree murder a second time after a jury was deadlocked while deliberating last July. Michelle Young was 29 years old and five months pregnant with their second child when she was found face-down in a pool of blood by her sister, Meredith Fisher, in 2006.
Jason Young was released from jail in July 2011 after posting a $900,000 bond but now could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
Fisher went to the couple's house after receiving a voicemail from Jason Young asking her to do a favor and see if she could find an item in the house near the computer.
In emotional testimony, Fisher described finding her sister, who was a star employee at Progress Energy, beaten with her then 2-year-old daughter, Cassidy, nearby.
"That's the small of her back, that I touched her and felt that she was cold," Fisher recalled.
Fisher tried to encourage Cassidy, the only witness and now age 7, to speak on the 911 call: "Sweetie do you know what happened to mommy? Did she fall?" Cassidy responded "She's got boo-boos everywhere."
Young says that he was at a hotel on a business trip in Hillsville, Va., 160 miles from their home in Raleigh, the night that his wife died.
The prosecution argued that Young drove back from Hillsville that night to murder Michelle, and then tampered with the hotel's security equipment to cover his tracks.
Keith Hicks, a worker at the hotel, testified that he found an unplugged security camera and an open emergency exit door.
Prosecutors say that Young cheated on his wife – an allegation that is not denied by defense and was corroborated in the man's first trial by two women. One of the mistresses to testify was a childhood friend of Jason Young and the other an ex-sorority sister of Michelle's -- both said they had sexual relationships with Jason Young in the months leading up to the murder of his wife.
"He's acted like an obnoxious, juvenile jerk. But what you've got to remember ladies and gentlemen, is that we don't convict people of murder, just because they act like jerks," said Young's lawyer.
In the first trial, Young's defense argued that the mystery behind the young mother's death remains unsolved, and that the killers are still on the loose.
Jason Young, Michelle's husband, showed no emotion as the court listened to Fisher's emergency call. In a rare move during his first trial Young took the stand in his own defense and tearfully denied having any involvement with his wife's murder, telling jurors he that while he was not a model husband, he loved Michelle and had nothing to do with her death.
In his first trial he jury deliberated over the course of three days. The deadlock resulted in eight votes in favor of acquittal and four for conviction.
ABC News' Caila Klaiss contributed to this report.
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