Disturbing Details Emerge in First Day of King Murder Trial

The gruesome details of the September deaths of Michael and Thelma King were revealed Tuesday in a St. Maarten courtroom where three men are on trial for binding, robbing and killing the Mount Pleasant couple.

Prosectuors layed out the details of the Kings' deaths, describing how the suspects sought out a condominium where it appeared someone was home, according to the Associated Press, which dispatched Charleston-based correspondent Glenn Smith to cover the trial.

[Michael King] didn’t realize [the suspects] were there until they tapped his face with a pistol and demanded cash, the AP reported.

In the minutes that followed, the retired insurance executive’s world imploded in a burst of gruesome and unnecessary violence. When it was over, he and his wife Thelma, who the men bound, gagged and blindfolded, lay dead in a pool of blood, their throats slit and their money gone, island prosecutors said.

Their pockets stuffed with cash, the men then headed for an island brothel, where they blew some of their illegal proceeds on booze and prostitutes, authorities said.

Read the AP's full report at PostandCourier.com.

The trial will continue Wednesday. The defense will present its case, and the entire trial should wrap by day's end. Unlike U.S. courts, the verdict will be decided by a judge. The outcome could come in May.