The mother of a boy killed and another wounded in a road rage incident in Colorado testified Wednesday at the other driver’s trial.
The driver who had yelled at Meghan Bigelow on a busy suburban street and then followed her and her three sons into the parking lot of a dental office to argue with them began to leave. Then, Bigelow recalled on Wednesday, Jeremy Webster stopped after she pulled out her phone to take a video of his car and got out of the vehicle with a firearm.
Prosecutors’ Burden in Colorado insanity defense cases
Bigelow testified at the beginning of Webster’s murder trial that she told her sons to flee and started walking away from them to prevent Webster from harming them. After being shot in the back and falling to the ground, she was shot in the head.
On June 18, 2018, in the Denver suburb of Westminster, Webster, now 27, allegedly shot Bigelow’s two other sons, killing the eldest, 13-year-old Vaughn Bigelow Jr., and wounding the youngest, 8-year-old Asa. Another witness to the shooting was shot during the road rage incident.
Colorado’s chief deputy district attorney Jennifer Prince told the jury during opening statements that Webster made eye contact with the witness, John Gale, while Gale waited in his pickup truck for an appointment with his 9-year-old daughter.
Webster has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the shootings, which requires prosecutors to prove that he was sane and aware of right and wrong at the time.
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Defense Strategy
Prince stated that Webster, who was located and arrested with the aid of the video captured by Meghan Bigelow, told detectives he had been losing his mind for years and that it appeared he had merely witnessed the shooting as opposed to being involved.
A therapist told police According to police, at the age of 23, Webster was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed antipsychotic and antidepressant medication. Webster stated in court documents that he had recently begun taking a new medication that day.
Prince stated, however, that Webster acted deliberately on the day of the shooting, concealing his handgun, which had been in the passenger seat, in a backpack in his trunk after the shooting and attempting to kill Gale to cover up his actions as evidence that he was aware of what he was doing.
“The evidence will demonstrate his conscious decision-making before, during, and after the crime,” said Prince, adding that Webster ran an errand at Home Depot after the shooting and then returned to a construction site to finish the job.
Meghan’s husband, Vaughn Bigelow Sr., occasionally bowed his head or rested it in his hands while Prince spoke about the shooting.
During testimony, Webster, dressed formally, sat next to his attorneys and frequently wrote on a yellow legal pad.
The defense has not yet presented any witnesses and did not make an opening statement, which is not required.
