S.D. Dismemberment Case Goes to Jury

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Jurors were considering capital murder charges against a woman accused of killing her former lover's friend and cutting apart the body with a chain saw.

The deliberations began Wednesday after lawyers wrapped up closing arguments in South Dakota's first capital punishment case with a female defendant.

Prosecutors accuse Daphne Wright, 43, of abducting, killing and dismembering Darlene VanderGiesen, 42, in February 2006. Remains were found in a Minnesota ditch and a Sioux Falls landfill. All three women were deaf and knew each other through the deaf community.

"This is not a game. This is real life. And Darlene VanderGiesen is really dead," said State Attorney Dave Nelson. "This defendant really killed her. And that's what all of the evidence in this case proves."

Wright is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree premeditated murder and kidnapping. If she is convicted, prosecutors can ask the jury to sentence her to death by lethal injection.

Nelson said Wright was jealous of VanderGiesen's friendship with Wright's former lover. The jealousy turned into a rage that drove Wright to kidnap VanderGiesen, kill her, cut up the body with a chain saw and burn it, he said.

Traci Smith, one of Wright's public defense lawyers, said prosecutors provided no evidence from the day VanderGiesen disappeared to prove kidnapping or murder, and instead focused on the dismemberment.

"Take yourself outside the emotions of the chain saw. This is a sad case. Darlene VanderGiesen died, and no verdict you bring is going to bring Darlene back," she said. "The state wants you to be distracted from the important aspects of this case: What happened on February 1st, 2006?"

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