Ex-soldier accused of murdering wife breaks down in trial

Ex-soldier Skylar Nemetz wept on the witness stand as he told a jury the death of his 19-year-old wife was not murder, but a tragic accident.
 
"Because of my stupid mistake, she died that day," Nemetz said through tears.
 
Danielle Nemetz was shot in the back of the head in the couple's Lakewood apartment on October 22, 2014. Prosecutors said the now 21-year-old Nemetz deliberately pulled the trigger on an AR-15, killing Danielle as she sat at a computer.

At the time Nemetz was an Army specialist based at Joint Base Lewis McChord and had just returned from a training mission at the Yakima Firing Range. 
 
Nemetz told jurors he was putting away an AR-15 left out for Danielle to use for personal protection when it discharged accidentally.
 
"I dropped the weapon and went up to my wife on the left side, and I saw her face and my wife wasn't there anymore," Nemetz said.
 
"Did you intend to hurt your wife?" asked defense attorney Michael Stewart. "I did not," Nemetz answered, drying tears. "I did not intend to hurt my wife, I never did. I wanted her to be with me forever, I wanted her to be the mother of my child."
 
But Nemetz was attacked during cross-examination as Pierce County Deputy Prosecutor Greg Greer began hammering away at inconsistencies in his story, including his behavior the night of the shooting.

"The woman you wanted to have children with, the woman that means the rest of your life to you, you didn't go to her aid, did you?" asked Greer. "No, I did not," Nemetz responded.
 
Nemetz, who was emotional and often weeping uncontrollably during his direct testimony, grew cold and often argumentative under cross-examination, often appearing to spar with Greer, asking him to repeat and rephrase questions, claiming he didn't understand.
 
Greer had Nemetz hold the rifle used in the shooting to demonstrate how he may have received a cut on his finger when it fired. 
 
Greer hammered Nemetz on how the rifle could have fired accidentally, given the defendant's claims that he had been around guns his whole life.

"Mr. Nemetz, you're charged with murder in the first degree and you're claiming that this was an accident, is that correct?" Greer asked in the confrontational cross-exam. 
 
He also focused on claims by a friend of the couple's that Nemetz was angry that a former boyfriend of Danielle's had purchased alcohol for her and even stayed at the couple's apartment while he was away in Yakima.
 
Nemetz had testified the two were planning on having a child and that Danielle had been told by a doctor to avoid alcohol to protect the health of a child in the event she became pregnant.
 
He denied being told his wife had been drinking in his absence and claimed he was not upset with her the night she died.
 
Defense attorney Michael Stewart rested his case after Thursday's testimony, but jurors could hear from another prosecution witness.
 
Prosecutors are asking Judge Jack Nevin to allow text messages between Danielle Nemetz and a friend in which she expresses fear of her husband's outbursts of temper and attempts to control her.
 
Nevin hasn't ruled on whether the messages, and testimony from the friend, will be heard by jurors.
 
The trial is in recess for one week and expected to resume February 22.

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