Defendant In N.H. Murder Trial Completes His Testimony

It's one the grisliest murders in recent New England history: a mother stabbed to death by two young men armed with a machete and a knife, her daughter seriously injured.

Steven Spader is already serving two life sentences for the home invasion attack in the small New Hampshire town of Mont Vernon. A jury took fewer than two hours to find Spader guilty of murder.

The other defendant, Christopher Gribble, is now on trial and admits — in testimony that some onlookers have described as riveting and remorseless — to killing Kimberly Cates and attacking her daughter Jaimie.

Gribble's lawyers are presenting an insanity defense, even though it's been more than 50 years since that kind of defense was successful in New Hampshire.

WBUR's All Things Considered host Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with columnist Dean Shalhoup, who's covering the trial for the Nashua Telegraph, about Gribble's testimony and the status of the trial.

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