LAWRENCE, Massachusetts–Sean Fitzpatrick’s retrial has begun in the same Massachusetts courthouse where he was tried last August for two counts of first-degree murder. Fitzpatrick is accused of killing his former lover’s husband and a co-worker in March 2006.

Sean Fitzpatrick

The first trial ended in a deadlock after the jury couldn’t decide if Fitzpatrick shot Michael Zammitti Jr. in the head as he sat at his desk and his employee, Chester Roberts, who apparently had just arrived at the concrete business Zammitti owned.

Opening statements were followed by the testimony of Michael Zammitti Sr., who relived that tragic morning. He described how he found his son slumped at his desk and Roberts lying on the floor at the entrance, shot in the back. Zammitti Sr. ran out of the building screaming and called 911.

Michele Zammitti, wife of the victim, testified on Monday. She repeated the story of her brief affair with Fitzpatrick during a rocky time in her marriage, but said she was committed to saving the marriage and ended the affair with Fitzpatrick in August 2005. Fitzpatrick continued to try to see her, especially when she and her family were at their second home in Freedom, New Hampshire where Fitzpatrick lived year round.

Just as they did in the first trial, this week jurors visited the site of the shooting in Wakefield, MA.

The Commonwealth’s evidence is the same with the exception of an additional witness, a Ford Motor Co. engineer, who is expected to say that the grainy security camera that captured a green truck arriving and leaving Allstate Concrete on March 13, 2006 is consistent with a Ford model 150 pickup truck. That’s the same make and color of the truck the Commonwealth says Fitzpatrick used to commit the double murder.

A transponder on the windshield of a green Ford 150 pickup truck belonging to Fitzpatrick’s New Hampshire neighbor also shows that tolls were paid going from New Hampshire to Massachusetts and back the day of the murders, March 13, 2006.  The owner of that truck was in Florida for the winter and did not authorize anyone to use it.

The defense says Fitzpatrick didn’t do it. His attorney is expected to argue that there were others with a motive to kill the president of Allstate Concrete and that the police didn’t do enough to investigate other potential killers. Fitzpatrick testified in the first trial but his attorney will not say whether he’ll take the stand this time around.

The trial is in the same Woburn, MA courthouse though in a different courtroom, and the players are the same. Judge Kathe Tuttman is presiding, Daniel Bennett is leading the prosecution team and attorney Randy Gioia is defending Fitzpatrick. The trial should last another two weeks.

–Beth Karas, In Session correspondent

Phil Spector is expected to begin his defense today against charges that he shot actress Lana Clarkson in the mouth in the foyer of his home in February 2003. Spector is on trial again for the fatal shooting. This retrial began last October, more than a year after the jury in his first trial deadlocked 10-2 in favor of conviction for second-degree murder. Prosecutors rested their evidence last Thursday.

Phil Spector

I didn’t miss a day of the first trial which In Session (then Court TV) televised live. I couldn’t resist spending at least a few hours at the second trial so I could compare it to the first. While on vacation in Los Angeles last fall, I dropped by for a few sessions.

Some things are the same. The trial is taking place in the same courtroom, Judge Larry Fidler is still presiding, Alan Jackson continues to command the courtroom as the lead prosecutor and the state’s evidence hasn’t changed a bit. The state contends that Spector committed second-degree murder when he pointed a loaded firearm at Clarkson and fired into her mouth; the defense continues to argue that she committed suicide.

But many things are different this time. First, there are no cameras in the courtroom and the public gallery is virtually empty. Spector is no longer flanked on either side by a team of five attorneys and a paralegal. He has one new attorney, Doron Weinberg, and one assistant. He no longer arrives with two or three burly bodyguards but he does have one, who is also his driver. His wife, Rachelle, continues to accompany him daily though, on the days I was there, she was not as stylishly attired as she was when the case was televised. Not surprisingly, the past year and a half appear to have taken a physical toll on both Phil and Rachelle Spector.

The defense is expected to present much of the same evidence and maybe more of Clarkson’s state of mind in the year before she died, in an effort to show that she was depressed and, hence, suicidal.

But the hurdle for the defense is how Clarkson's blood got on Spector's white jacket. Was he standing two to three feet away and directly in front of her holding the gun, as the State contends? Or was he six or more feet away when the shot was fired, which means he couldn’t have been holding the gun? After the shooting, why did Spector wipe her mouth? Why didn’t he call 911 on one of the 14 phones in the house, three of which were within five feet of her body and why did he say “I think I killed somebody,” according to the driver who saw him two to three minutes after the shooting?

The defense should answer some of those questions in the next few weeks.

–Beth Karas, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK – In Session is live in the state of Washington this week as correspondent Beth Karas covers the case of Naveed Afzal Haq, accused of killing one woman and wounding five others in a shooting at the Jewish Federation in Seattle. In addition to murder, attempted murder and kidnapping charges, prosecutors added malicious harassment, the state’s hate crime law.

According to witnesses, before Haq, a Muslim American, began the deadly shooting spree, he announced that he was “angry at Israel.” Haq faces life in prison, and claims he was insane at the time of the shooting. The trial, which is being broadcast live, is expected to last several weeks. Stay tuned.

In Session producers are also hard at work taping trials for future broadcast. In Michigan, another insanity defense is being mounted for Anthony LaCalamita, accused of killing one and wounding two at his former office a year ago. The defense says LaCalamita was legally insane when he entered Gordon Advisors and started firing a shotgun. LaCalamita’s boss, Alan Steinberg, told jurors that LaCalamita asked him "Do you want to get shot?" four days after he was fired from the suburban Detroit accounting firm.

In Florida, Victoria Walker faces sentencing today after being convicted of a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from an altercation at Disney World. Walker was found guilty of attacking another mom who accused her of skipping the line for the Mad Tea Party ride. Walker was acquitted of felony battery in the case. She could face up to a year in jail.

The Michigan and Florida cases will be broadcast on In Session in the future.

– Carolyn Purcell, In Session senior executive producer

NEW YORK – We're In Session this week for a love triangle murder trial - the state of Colorado v. Shawna Nelson, a former police dispatcher. Watch for posts from our producer detailing this fascinating case, and tune in to watch the five-day trial.

The Supreme Court takes up D.C.'s gun ban this week.

We’re also looking into guns and the right to own them. The issue is on the docket at the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, when the justices hear arguments on whether a 1976 handgun ban by the District of Columbia violates the Constitution's Second Amendment.

In Session Senior Editor Fred Graham reports from outside the court. At issue: Does the U.S. Capitol's virtual handgun ban violate the right to bear arms guaranteed under the Bill of Rights? It's the first time in 70 years the Supreme Court has taken on the issue.

Finally, we also have a producer in Bonifay, Florida, wrapping up the case of Amanda Lewis, accused of drowning her daughter. Watch for that case in the coming weeks on In Session.

– Carolyn Purcell, In Session senior executive producer

NEW YORK – A jury in Colorado found Shawna Nelson, a sheriff’s investigator’s wife, guilty Monday of first-degree murder in a love triangle shooting. Nelson was convicted in the execution-style slaying of the wife of her former lover.

O.J. Simpson is back in court this week.

Prosecutors say Nelson was angry when Greeley, Colorado, police Officer Ignacio Garraus ended their affair, so she shot his wife, Heather, last year. The case will air on In Session in the future.

O.J.'s back in court on Friday. We'll be In Session in Nevada's Clark County District Court as lawyers on both sides of the O.J. Simpson armed robbery case address pre-trial motions. Last week, Judge Jackie Glass told both sides to be ready for trial on April 7. In Session correspondent Beth Karas will report live from Las Vegas.

On Monday we wrapped up the case of 81-year-old Marc Benayer, charged with shooting a man outside of a Boca Raton, Florida, synagogue.

On Tuesday, look for coverage of the trial of Edward Smith. Jurors will decide if Smith is guilty of vehicular homicide after his pickup truck careened into the front of a Tennessee home, killing a man inside.

In Session producers are in South Carolina this week, covering the murder trial of Billy Nathan Lee, who prosecutors say shot and killed his estranged girlfriend, 31-year-old Carma Russell. Lee faces the death penalty if convicted.

– Carolyn Purcell, In Session senior executive producer