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PrintCOLUMBIA — After hearing closing arguments from the defense and the prosecution Tuesday morning, a Boone County jury comprised of nine women and three men began deliberations at 11:50 a.m. in Tausha L. Fields' murder trial.
Fields is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the 2004 death of her ex-husband, Mitchell Kemp.
- Tracy Kemp, brother of murder victim Mitchell Kemp, talks to reporters with family members Tuesday night after a jury took nearly nine hours to convict Tausha Fields in the shooting death of her former husband Mitchell Kemp. Fields was convicted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
- Defense attorney Paul Hood (left) offers up business records as proof to Judge Oxenhandler while court reporter Kristal Murphy enters the information into official record on June 29 at the Boone County Courthouse during jury deliberation for Tausha Fields' trial. She is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of her ex-husband Mitchell Kemp in 2004.
- Attorneys Richard Hicks (left) and Paul Hood (right) inspect evidence photographs at the jury's request for images that show Lexi, Tausha Fields' daughter, in August 2004 during jury deliberations for Fields' trial on June 29 at the Boone County Courthouse.
- Tausha Fields listens as her attorney, Paul Hood, delivers his closing argument to the jury during Fields's first-degree murder trial June 29 at the Boone County Courthouse.
- Tausha Fields, center, listens to testimony from Detective David Wilson with one of her attorneys, Kim Shaw, left, during trial on June 28 at the Boone County Courthouse. Wilson answered questions from the defense about her continuous contact with the authorities prior to her arrest.
- Defense witness Jami Bowden breaks down on the stand during Tausha Fields' trial on June 28 at the Boone County Courthouse while recounting an altercation in 2005 between herself and Greg Morton. Morton pleaded guilty in June 2009 to killing Fields' ex-husband Mitchell Kemp on August 24, 2004.
- Tausha Fields scribbles notes on a piece of paper during a short recess Friday during the fifth day of her first-degree murder trial at the Boone County Courthouse. The prosecution showed videos from the 2008 interviews between Fields and detectives during both the morning and afternoon sessions.
- Enforcement Officer Brandon Weber of the Boone County Sheriff's Department watched videos from the 2008 interviews between Tausha Fields and detectives during the fifth day of Fields' first-degree murder trial at the Boone County Courthouse on June 25. Weber was one of many in attendance during the afternoon.
- Boone County detective, David Wilson, testifies during the fifth day of Tausha Fields' first-degree murder trial at the Boone County Courthouse on June 25. The prosecution showed videos from the 2008 interviews between Fields and detectives during both the morning and afternoon sessions.
- Keith Jones identifies vacation photos while living in Florida with Tausha Fields during witness testimony in Fields' first-degree murder trial on Thursday at the Boone County Courthouse.
- Tausha Fields is charged with the death of her husband, Mitchell Kemp.
Fields led Kemp to a property owned by her then-husband, Gregory Morton, who pleaded guilty to shooting Kemp. Morton testified that the murder was Fields' idea and that she helped bury the body.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Fields faces life in prison without parole. Missouri law allows for accomplices in a murder to be charged as if they were the killer.
The jury also has the option of convicting Fields of a lesser charge of second-degree murder if it finds that Kemp's murder was not premeditated. Fields could also be found innocent if the jury believes she acted under coercion by Morton.
Jury selection for the trial began June 21. The jury heard five days of witness testimony from the prosecution and the defense before closing arguments began Tuesday morning.
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