Beating death case in jury’s hands

The case against a woman accused of killing 62-year-old Jerry Deshazer has been handed over to a Douglas County jury.

Closing arguments in the second-degree murder trial of Shanna Friday were delivered Friday morning.

Deshazer bled to death from a head wound he suffered late on Feb. 1 at his southeastern Lawrence mobile home. Deputy Coroner Donald Pojman said Deshazer died from a massive loss of blood from blunt-force trauma to his head that peeled back his scalp.

Co-defendant Jerod Buffalohead testified Thursday that he saw Friday striking Deshazer with a glass bottle in the face and head during a drunken argument. Buffalohead has already pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and received a five-year prison sentence.

Other witnesses have testified that Buffalohead had hit Deshazer, but Buffalohead said he only slapped Deshazer once while trying to break up a scuffle. Buffalohead said he put his hand in front of the bottle to stop it from hitting Deshazer again when the bottle shattered.

Friday’s defense attorney, Hatem Chahine, says prosecutors don’t have DNA evidence to link her to the bottle believed to have caused Deshazer’s major injury.

Jurors will have an instruction to find whether Friday criminally aided a felon in the case, District Judge Robert Fairchild said on Thursday.

Several other factors contributed to Deshazer’s death, including the alcohol and medicine he had ingested and his existing medical conditions, which included emphysema and heart disease.