Susan King speaks with Logan Weeks, a paralegal, during her first-degree manslaughter trial at Jackson County Circuit Court on Tuesday.

A Medford woman accused of firing a gun on her Central Point property in 2017 that led to the death of her husband faced a jury in Jackson County Circuit Court Tuesday for the second time in five years after her previous conviction was thrown out.

Susan King, 61, is accused of first-degree manslaughter for allegedly shooting and killing her husband, Duane King, then 58, on June 20, 2017, while he was in a recreational vehicle parked in the driveway of the couple’s home in the 2800 block of Oakridge Avenue in Central Point.

King’s second trial comes after the U.S. Supreme Court and the Oregon Supreme Court decided in 2020 and 2022, respectively, that nonunanimous jury verdicts were unconstitutional. Jurors in King’s 2018 trial acquitted her of murder, but voted 10-2 that she was guilty of first-degree manslaughter. King was serving a 10-year prison sentence before the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed her conviction in 2021. King has been out of jail on bond as she awaited her trial.

King appeared in court Tuesday dressed in civilian clothing. She was emotional at times, dabbing her nose with a tissue as police body camera footage showed officers asking her slain husband if he was still alive while he was lying in a pool of his own blood.

Deputy District Attorney Sara Shaw told jurors Tuesday police responded to the scene after King’s neighbor, Olivia Haaf — who has since died — called 911 and reported hearing gunshots and someone saying, “Oh my God!”

Haaf also said she saw Duane King’s feet sticking out of the RV before Susan King allegedly pushed his feet back in and shut the door. Haaf also alleged she saw King leave the Oakridge Avenue home in a vehicle before she returned and was arrested by officers.

Shaw told jurors an investigation later determined that bullet fragments ricocheting off the RV door struck Duane King, leading to his death. Detectives who later interviewed Susan King noticed blood on her shoe and “she ultimately admits to shooting her husband,” according to Shaw.

“She said she shoots one time in the ground and one time at him,” Shaw said.

King’s Eugene-based attorney, John J. Kolego, told jurors that at the time of Duane King’s death, the husband had been married to Susan for almost 17 years. But by June 2017, he had been living in the RV on the property for several months and rarely went inside the home.

The day Duane King died, Susan King was packing her belongings to travel to Iowa to visit her brother. She had been up early and drinking, Kolego said in court.

“In the course of packing, and so forth, she picks up the gun,” Kolego said.

He said Susan King fired a round into the ground and another in “the general direction of Mr. King.” That round hit the edge of the “pop out” located on the RV’s fifth wheel, Kolego told jurors. The round then splintered into “at least four fragments” and penetrated Duane King’s body, who later died from the sustained wounds, the defense attorney said.

“I believe the evidence will be that this weapon’s bullets would never hit Mr. King, but for the fact that it hit the pull-out, fragmented and one of these fragments severed his femoral artery,” Kolego said.

Kolego said Susan King drove around the neighborhood before returning to the house, where she was arrested. King was later taken to the hospital, where detectives questioned her, according to Kolego. King told them she didn’t know what happened, Kolego added.

When detectives asked he if she wanted to kill Duane King, Susan responded, “Oh no, never! Never! Never!” according to Kolego. King also told detectives she knew nothing about operating firearms and her husband was “a gun aficionado.”

“She did not proceed with getting a concealed weapons permit because she didn’t feel it was appropriate to have a gun because she didn’t know how to use it,” Kolego told the jury, which was seated Tuesday afternoon.

He closed his opening statement by telling jurors “there will be no doubt” his client fired the shot that killed Duane King.

“The issue is going to be the culpable mental state,” Kolego said, telling jurors he would have to wait to make that argument.

He urged jurors to “keep an open mind” until evidence is presented.

King’s trial is expected to last four days and could end Friday.