Day One of Whitman/Borner Murder Trial - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Day One of Whitman/Borner Murder Trial

It's day one of the murder trial of 29-year-old Richard Whitman and 24-year-old Cody Borner.

They are accused of entering a Beulah apartment with loaded weapons January 31st...shooting and killing Michael Padilla and shooting and injuring his brother Timothy.

On day one of the trial at the Burleigh County courthouse, a jury was selected and prosecutor Ladd Erickson gave his opening statement.

He says some "bad blood had developed over drugs", and that there were up to nine shots fired in the scuffle.

"Tap, tap, it was about an inch away from his body when those shots were fired, we can show that... very close range shots." says Ladd Erickson.

Both men have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

Whitman and Borner each have a defense attorney.

Their attorneys say that neither Whitman nor Borner conspired to kill anyone that day...

But that their objective at most was to rob them... and would be revealed through evidence.

"The reality is Mr. Whitman never conspired with Cody Borner to cause the death of Michael or Timothy Padilla, under any circumstances." says Travis Finck

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Three witnesses took the stand, including Tim Padilla who now lives in Billings Montana.

Amber Schatz will have more on the trial tonight at ten.