MEDFORD, Ore. – The second trial in the 2022 stabbing death of a woman outside of Rumors Lounge in Medford began this week.
Zachary Carl Helwagen is charged with two counts of murder in the second degree and robbery in the first degree.
His accomplice, Hannah Marie Martin, stabbed 31-year-old Brittany Lovrovich in the parking lot of Rumors Lounge on Riverside Avenue back in March 2022.
She was found guilty this past July.
Opening statements in the trial began Tuesday with the prosecution calling police investigators as well as Lovrovich’s mother.
“What Kyle Adams wanted to was to meet up and talk with her to get his stuff back, but what ends up happening is the defendant arranging for by any use of force getting whatever he wanted,” said Attorney for the Prosecution, Michael Cohen.
Meanwhile, Defense Attorney Michael Bertholf argued that Helwagen never wanted violence.
“Mr. Helwagen did everything he could to avoid violence with Ms. Lovrovich that night and the evidence and everything is going to show that is exactly what happened,” Bertholf said.
The prosecution says that Martin and Helwagen staged a self-defense wound on Martin’s hand to try to avoid a murder charge.
The jury trial is expected to last all week.
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