EVERETT, Wash. - A man was convicted of murder after witnesses testified that he relied on his cat's behavior to decide the victim deserved to die.
A jury Wednesday deliberated for about three hours before convicting 40-year-old Clayton Edward Butsch of shooting Chad J. Vavricka in 2004 as the man slept in a folding chair in Butsch's trailer. Vavricka, 30, was shot twice in the head.
Prosecution witnesses, many of them drug users with criminal records, testified that Butsch said he relied on his cat, Sam, to determine who was good and who deserved to die. When Sam refused to go near the sleeping Vavricka, Butsch shot him, they said.
Butsch's lawyer argued that the witnesses framed Butsch and made up the cat story.
He faces 38 to 50 years in prison at sentencing Tuesday.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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