Daily Breeze
Dawn Viens and David Veins (Photo provided courtesy The Daily Breeze)
A jury in the murder trial of a Lomita chef accused of killing his wife then slow cooking her body its second day of deliberations without a verdict. The defense is making the case that his wife's death was unintentional - a tragedy, but not murder. Whit Johnson reports from Downtown LA for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Sept. 26, 2012.
There was crucial testimony onTuesday in the murder trial of chef David Viens, accused of killing his wife, Dawn. Beverly White reports for the NBC4 News at 11pm on Tuesday, Sept.18, 2012.
Jurors found a Lomita chef accused of killing his wife and then cooking her remains to destroy the evidence guilty of second-degree murder.
Document: David Viens' Interview With Deputies
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The trial took place in the downtown Los Angeles criminal justice center. Jury deliberations spanned three days.
David Viens' wife disappeared in 2009. In a taped interview played in court last week, Viens -- a former chef at the Thyme Contemporary Cafe in Lomita -- told deputies about what he did with Dawn Viens' remains.
"I took some, some things like weights that we use and I put them on the top of her body, and I just slowly cooked it and I ended up cooking her for four days," Viens said on tape.
Viens told authorities he argued with his wife, then restrained her with duct tape. Viens told investigators that he found his wife dead the morning after the argument.
Defense attorneys argued that Viens did not intend to kill his wife. The second-degree murder verdict indicates jurors did not believe the murder was premeditated or planned in advance.
Viens had jumped off a Rancho Palos Verdes oceanside cliff in 2011 after he learned he was under suspicion in the 2009 death.
After being hospitalized in what police said was a suicide attempt, Viens implicated himself in the killing, police said at the time.
After Viens' arrest, authorities dug underground at the Pacific Coast Highway restaurant, looking for Dawn Viens' remains, which were never found.
Sentencing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 27.
