Emotional testimony was heard in the murder trial of Curtis Vance. Attorneys wrapped up jury selection Wednesday morning and moved on to opening statements in the afternoon. Then Anne Pressly's mother, Patti Cannady, took the stand.
Cannady, the state’s second witness, recalled for the jury the last time she saw her daughter Anne Pressly alive and the horrific scene when she found her beaten beyond recognition in the early morning of October 20th, 2008.
Cannady told jurors she and her husband routinely called Anne at 3am, a wake up call for Pressly’s job as a morning TV anchor. Cannady said she called her daughter 40 times in a span of 20 minutes and then drove to her house.
Once inside, she told jurors she couldn’t take in what she was seeing. Pressly was lying in bed, covered in blood, alive but struggling to breathe.
On cross examination defense attorneys asked he if she was in a state of shock when she saw her daughter in that condition. Patti Cannady replied, “I’m still in a state of shock.”
Pressly’s accused killer, 29-year-old Curtis Vance, is finally facing a jury just over a year after his arrest.
In opening statements prosecutors told jurors they will convict Vance through the science of DNA evidence and his own words.
In a brief opening statement the defense urged the jury to wait until they have heard everything before deciding guilt or innocence.
Judge Piazza expects the trial to last through next week. Vance could get the death penalty if convicted. Once the trial is over Vance also faces a rape trial in a Marianna case.
