Jury questions degrees of murder

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) - The jury in the Troy Brake trial has asked for the legal difference between first- and second-degree murder, as they deliberate his fate for the killings of 4 people in Wright Township.

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The fate of Troy Brake now is in the hands of his jury.

The verdict is expected to come down Thursday for the man accused of killing four people and setting their home on fire. Ten men and two women will make the decision. The Zimmer family and Katherine Brown are the victims.

Wednesday's court session had some surprises.

Defense attorney Paul McDonagh accused the prosecutor of being part of a conspiracy theory that went after Brake.

"They didn't have any answers, they weren't coming up with any answers," McDonagh said. "They weren't coming up with a suspect. Hell or high water, they were going to find themselves an expert to link 'em up. Troy Brake was convenient."

Prosecutor Ronald Frantz was shocked, saying he had never been accused of taking part in a conspiracy.

"I haven't been accused of political grandstanding either until today," he said.

Prosecutors say they have plenty of evidence against Brake: Most importantly, the shell casings that tie him to the scene.

"His failure to pick up all of his brass as they call it, is his undoing," Frantz said.

A jail inmate testified Brake killed for lust.

"He revealed to me he had to have her, even if he had to get rid of everybody," he said. "He had to have her."

Brake's girlfriend, Tarah VanDyke, allegedly covered up for him.

"This is a planned execution of a family and Katherine Brown," Frantz said. "All were killed close to their bedrooms, indicating that murder was the first order of business."

But McDonagh saw it differently. He said VanDyke gave a credible alibi.

"The prosecution's evidence is scant; it's unusually scant; it's predictably scant," he said.

His theory was that Jeremy Zimmer was a drug snitch who was threatened, and this was a professional hit.

"Drug dealers do not tolerate snitches; they eliminate them; they eliminate them, they eliminate members of their family," McDonagh said.

The jury returns at 9 a.m. to resume deliberating.

"It's in the jurors' hands, and God willing, they'll see the truth through that smoke screen that the prosecutor tried to put there and my brother will be found not guilty," said Jason Brake, Troy's brother.

24 Hour News 8 will have crews in Grand Haven and have live coverage online and on air.