FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Opening statements began Monday in the trial of a South Florida man accused of killing an attorney and dumping her body in a canal.
Tony Villegas, 52, is charged with murder in the death of Melissa Lewis, a partner in convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein's now-defunct law firm.
Villegas was arrested in 2008 after Lewis' body was found in a Plantation canal.
Prosecutors allege that Villegas killed Lewis because he believed that she was responsible for the breakup of his marriage.
Assistant state attorney Shari Tate told the jury that Lewis died of strangulation, which she called "a hands-on, personal murder."
"It takes time. It takes pressure. It takes thought. It takes intent. It takes premeditation," she said in her opening statements. "And why? Because she was a friend."
Defense attorney Bruce Fleischer said in his opening statements that the prosecution doesn't have evidence to prove that.
"I submit to you that although the state will be able to put some pieces of the puzzle together on the table, there will be other pieces of the puzzle -- important pieces of the puzzle, when you analyze them -- that are missing," he said. "And those missing pieces are reasonable doubt."
Debra Villegas is expected to testify against her ex-husband.