Opening Statements Begin in Wilkinson Co. Murder Trial

IRWINTON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The murder trial of a Wilkinson County man started Tuesday after it was postponed for almost a month.

Zachary Beck is accused of robbing and killing 54-year-old Ronnie Rozier at his home in McIntyre on January 6, 2011.

In the state’s opening statements, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brent Cochran says Beck owed Rozier money. He told jurors Beck showed up that night to pay him back, but then it turned deadly.

“This man right over here, Mr. Zachary Allen Beck, murdered Ronnie Rozier by shooting him four or five times in his own home, on his own couch. That’s what I expect you to hear,” Cochran said.

He also said Beck confessed to investigators, saying “I guess I just did it in cold blood,” but Beck’s defense had a different story.

“The evidence will show, if you keep an open mind and listen to it, that there is so much else going on,” lead defense attorney Ricky Morris said. “There are so many other factors that this was not murder.”

Morris says Beck is a drug addict and Rozier was a dealer. On that night, Morris says Rozier sexually violated Beck which provoked the young man to kill him.

“It’s not murder, but it’s a kid being taken advantage of, being used, and that makes him not guilty of murder,” Morris said. “[If you] got to find him guilty of something, I’m going to ask that be manslaughter only.”

After opening statements, the state called its first witness, Tracey Rozier. She is the person who found her dead husband in their home.

“I went over to check him out, see what was wrong with him,” she said.

“What did you observe? Why did you think something was wrong with him?” District Attorney Fred Bright asked.

“Blood was running down out of his hear and the back of his head,” she said.

The state expects to call 21 witnesses before resting its case. Bright tells 41 NBC he hopes the trial will be over by the end of the week.

Court starts back up again Wednesday morning at 9. 41 NBC’s Amanda Castro will be in the courtroom tweeting live updates. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook for the latest in the trial.