For the second time a jury is deliberating in the case of a D.C. police officer accused of trying to kill his wife during a fight in their Maryland home in 2013.
The last time Samson Lawrence stood trial, the jury could not decide.
Betty Lawrence suffered injuries around Thanksgiving 2013 after an argument over hanging a projection TV got out of control.
Samson is accused of spraying his wife's face with Lysol, pushing her down steps, hitting her with a pendant lamp, choking her and holding knives to her neck, but none of his DNA was found on any of the alleged weapons left inside the home, which swayed alternate juror Leroy Roe.
“I don’t think he meant to kill his wife or meant to harm her in any way,” Roe said. “He reacted in self-defense.”
Lawrence is charged with attempted murder and assault.
