The murder trial of a man accused in a fatal stabbing at the Princeton Elks Lodge last year got underway in Livingston County Monday. Joseph Anderson is charged with the murder of Grant Beckner on April 15, 2017.
According to WPSD-TV in Paducah, Commonwealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey Wiggins, who is prosecuting the case, said in her opening statement Monday that they would show Anderson stabbed Beckner not one, two, or ten times, but 17 times.
Dan Thomas, Anderson’s defense attorney, reportedly showed jurors surveillance video from that night at the Princeton Elks Lodge. He claimed a fight between Anderson and Beckner started inside the lodge and continued outside, and that Anderson acted in self defense.
After the stabbing at the Princeton Elks Lodge, the News Edge reported that police said Anderson, who was the Princeton Water and Wastewater superintendent at the time, fled the club in his city-issued truck and was later found and arrested in Cadiz.
We also reported, the case was moved from Caldwell Circuit Court to Livingston County after 56th Judicial Circuit Court Judge C.A. “Woody” Woodall granted a motion for a change of venue in November 2017.
WPSD reports the trial is expected to continue for several days, and that Thomas has said Anderson intends to testify in his own defense.
