MORGANTON – The defense team of the woman on trial for the shooting of a law enforcement officer on Dec. 11, 2007, presented and rested its case Monday.
Joyce Smith Nelson, 62, has pleaded not guilty by temporary insanity to attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and discharging a weapon into occupied property.
Burke County SWAT team member Martin Lawing was shot in the neck during the stand-off. He remains paralyzed from the chest down.
Nelson’s family members spoke of her history of mental illness, and expert medical witnesses outlined the history of her mental illness, which stretched back to 1979.
