DEFIANCE MURDER TRIAL UNDERWAY

Wit­ness tes­ti­mony in the aggra­vated mur­der trial of an Oak­wood woman is set to begin this morn­ing in Defi­ance County Com­mon Pleas Court after jury selec­tion and open­ing state­ments were com­pleted Mon­day after­noon.

The jury was seated just before 4 p.m. yes­ter­day in the trial of 46 year old Judith Hawkey, charged with aggra­vated mur­der; four counts of endan­ger­ing chil­dren; and insur­ance fraud.

Hawkey is accused of hav­ing her then 10-year-old step­son (now 20) to shoot and kill her hus­band — Robert Breininger, the boy’s father — on Nov. 3, 2003 at their home in Mark Cen­ter. The shoot­ing was ruled acci­den­tal at the time, but recent state­ments by the boy allowed author­i­ties to charge Hawkey with the crime.

Hawkey is also accused of “tor­tur­ing or cru­elly abus­ing” the child over sev­eral years and col­lect­ing the life insur­ance pro­ceeds from Breininger’s death.

Hawkey is being held on a $3 mil­lion cash bond at the Cor­rec­tions Cen­ter of North­west Ohio.

If con­victed of aggra­vated mur­der, Hawkey could be sen­tenced to life in prison.