Wife tells court husband shot himself over porn

Joanna Findlay took the stand in Maryland yesterday and told her trial that Gary Trogdon had earlier assaulted her.

She said her husband dragged her from her bed and attacked her, chasing her around the house, before she punched him in the nose. Findlay claimed she broke free and grabbed a pistol – firing the gun into the floor in a bid to scare him off.

She then called emergency services and told her husband she planned to turn him over to police because of child pornography found on his computer. But as Findlay, 41, left the house and walked down the driveway she said she heard two gunshots from inside the house.

When police turned up at the home they found her outside and Mr Trogdon dead inside on a chair in the living room.

Findlay told St Mary’s County Court: “He pushed me down on the bed and he laid on top of me... he wouldn’t let me up. I’ve never pointed a gun at anyone.”

Aberdeen-born Findlay, 40, was arrested after Mr Trogdon, 57, was found with a gunshot wound to the chest in October. She denies second-degree murder and claims he shot himself after she confronted him over the child pornography.

But the trial heard Mr Trogdon called police before his death and told them his wife had shot him during an argument. A medical examiner has told how the autopsy alone was inconclusive as to the cause of the death.

Dr Ana Rubio told how the muzzle of the pistol was touching Mr Trogdon’s shirt when it was fired.

She added: “The wound itself allows to be any of those three possibilities – homicide, suicide or accidental.”

Findlay’s lawyer John Ray said both that gun and the weapon that killed Mr Trogdon had blood on the handles.

Ray argued that Mr Trogdon shot himself over the embarrassment of the images. He alleged that detectives had seized computers that had hundreds of images of child pornography.

Findlay denies murder. The trial continues.