UPDATE:
The case continues for a retired Lebanon County pastor accused of killing his ex-wives.
The trial is in Northeastern PA, centering on the murder of his second wife back in 2008.
Friday, Arthur Schirmer took the stand and told his side of the story, explaining why he says he's innocent.
Arthur Schirmer has been married twice. Investigators say the former pastor killed both of them and made their deaths look like accidents.
The trial underway now is in Monroe County for the killing of Schirmer's second wife, Betty. He testified a car crash put his wife in the hospital where she eventually died.
But prosecutors say Schirmer staged the accident after beating his wife. On the stand, the former pastor was calm and admitted to cheating on her and lying about it.
But Schirmer insisted testifying "I didn't stage the event."
It happened in 2008. He told jurors he was driving his wife to the emergency room for severe jaw pain.
Then his wife removed her seat belt to get more comfortable and then a deer jumped in front of the car. He swerved and hit a guardrail.
Betty was hospitalized with severe head and brain trauma. Schirmer testified it was a time he felt, "alone, lost and scared" while she lay in a hospital bed on life support.
He said his decision to pull the plug "was agonizing, really, because you want her to live. We wanted her to live. It was just a very agonizing decision."
When asked about blood found on his garage floor, Schirmer testified that Betty cut her arm on some wood she helping him move in the garage.
But this is just the first trial. The 63-year-old is awaiting trial in Lebanon County for the 1999 death of his first wife, Jewel.
Schirmer testified in Jewel’s case that he came home and found her dead at the bottom of the basement stairs.
Prosecutors then presented an email that Schirmer wrote after she died, saying his first wife was never satisfied in life but could be in death.
He's pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Schirmer was the first trial's last witness. Closing arguments are set for Tuesday.
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A retired Pennsylvania pastor told his side of the story in court, on trial for murdering one of his two past wives.
Arthur Schirmer's first murder trial is being held in Monroe County for the death of his second wife Betty.
He testified that he did cheat on her and lied about it, but insists he's telling the truth about her death, sticking to his story that she died in a car crash.
Schirmer is charged with homicide in the 2008 death of Betty Schirmer. He's charged separately in Lebanon County in the 1999 death of his first wife, Jewel.
Prosecutors say he bludgeoned both women and staged their deaths to look like accidents. Schirmer has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Closing statements in this murder trial are set for Tuesday.
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STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A retired Pennsylvania pastor accused of killing his second wife is testifying in his own defense.
Arthur Schirmer took the stand on Friday at his trial in the Pocono Mountain community of Stroudsburg.
Schirmer is charged with homicide in the 2008 death of Betty Schirmer. He is charged separately in the 1999 death of his first wife, Jewel. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
In court, he appeared calm and showed little emotion as he described the deaths of both wives.
He says he found Jewel dead at the bottom of the basement staircase when he came home from a jog. He says she had been vacuuming dog hair from the steps.
Schirmer described his decision to remove Betty from life-support after a car accident as "agonizing."
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