Young is charged with beating his wife Michelle to death. She was 5-months pregnant with the couple's second child when she was found in their home on Birchleaf Drive in Raleigh on November 2, 2006. Jason told investigators he was on a business trip in Virginia the night of the murder. Investigators said the killer left the Young's 2-year-old daughter Cassidy with her mother's corpse for hours and her small bloody footprints were tracked throughout the home.
Prosecutors contend the Youngs were having marital and financial problems and Jason wanted out of the marriage. They claim he left the Hampton Inn where he was staying in Hillsville, Virginia and returned to the Triangle to kill Michelle.
On the witness stand Monday, Pat Young told jurors about her son's childhood.
She called him an "imp."
"He was always teasing," she said.
Mrs. Young testified that both Jason and Michelle were strong willed people and stubborn. She said she witnessed some disagreements.
"I haven't seen too many people in life that don't argue some," she said.
Young's defense asked his mother a series of questions about his marriage and birth of his daughter. She described Jason as very happy and excited to be a father.
"Cassidy was first in his life," she said.
Mrs. Young's testimony came after the prosecution rested its case Monday. The final prosecution witness was Sergeant Richard Spivey with the Wake County Sheriff's Office. He's the lead investigator in the case. Spivey began his testimony with surveillance camera video from a Cracker Barrel restaurant of Young that shows clothes he was wearing the day his wife died. Prosecutors say some clothing has not been found.
Also in his testimony Monday, Sgt. Spivey spoke about a medicine dropper found in the Young home after the murder. Spivey said the dropper had DNA on it belonging to the Young's 2-year-old child. He said it also contained the prescription drug Dihydrocodeine, which Jason had access to as a representative for a pharmaceutical company.
Prosecutors contend Young used the drug to put the child to sleep while he killed Michelle.
"It causes dizziness, drowsiness, and sleepiness," said Spivey.
Under cross-examination Monday, Sgt. Spivey testified that fingerprints on the cap of the dropper bottle didn't match either Jason or Michelle Young.
Young's defense has questioned if it was possible for Young to drive all the way from Virginia, kill his wife, and get back again all in one night. Spivey testified under cross-examination that one of the calls that came from Young's cell phone the morning of November 2 actually came in on a cell phone town substantially north of Hillsville.
Prosecutors say detectives made multiple test drives during their investigation, and say Young did have time to make the drive.
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