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HOUSTON (AP) — A man traveled from Utah to suburban Houston in 2014 and stalked his ex-wife's family for two days before killing six of them as part of a plan to harm anyone who had helped his former spouse, a Texas prosecutor said Monday.
Ronald Lee Haskell lived with his family in Utah but had a history of domestic violence that eventually led to divorce. His ex-wife and their children moved to Texas to live near her family, Harris County prosecutor Samantha Knecht said during opening statements in Haskell's capital murder trial.
Haskell confronted Stephen and Katie Stay — his ex-wife's sister — at their home in July 2014 and fatally shot them and four of their children, Knecht said. He also shot the couple's oldest daughter, who was 15 at the time. She suffered a head wound and played dead before notifying police, according to Knecht.
Haskell, who turned 39 on Monday, took the Stays' vehicle and was near the home of his ex-wife's parents when police cornered him. Officers took him into custody after an hourslong standoff, Knecht said.
She said Haskell had intended to kill his ex-wife's brother, who also lived in the area.
"This was a plan created in anger and fueled by vengeance," she told the jury.
Haskell faces the death penalty if convicted of capital murder.
Defense attorney Douglas Durham told jurors that Haskell admits to killing the six but said he was severely mentally ill at the time and didn't know his actions were wrong.
Haskell was a "very troubled and sick individual" who heard voices telling him that his family would return to him if he killed the Stays, Durham said.
