Billings Murder Suspect Scheduled To Stand Trial

11:45 a.m.
The judge has allowed News Five inside the closed door conference.

State Attorney Bill Eddins says prosecutors will call 40 witnesses during the trial. Ashley Markham, Melanie Billings' daughter, will be the first witness to testify. Eddins told the judge he expects the state to take 2 1/2 to 3 days to present their case.

The jury will be selected from a pool of 100 potential jurors beginning on Monday.

11:15 a.m.
Attorneys involved in the high profile home invasion murder of a Beulah, Florida couple will meet behind closed doors this morning.

The attorneys will discuss last minute details for the trial of Patrick Gonzalez Jr., the first of seven men accused of killing Byrd and Melanie Billing. Gonzalez, Jr.'s trial is scheduled to begin on Monday.

The Billings, a couple well known for adopting special needs children, were shot to death in their home on July 9, 2009. Nine of their children were in the house during the home invasion, but none of them were hurt.

Investigators have described Gonzalez Jr., 36, as the mastermind of the killings. In the weeks following the murder, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan often said he beleived robbery was the motive, but nearly 800 pages of interviews and other discovery documents suggest the murder may have been a contract killing with ties to with MS-13, a violent gang with roots in Central America.

Florida State Attorney Bill Eddins is seeking the death penalty against Gonzalez Jr, and two other suspects, Wayne Coldiron, 42, and Donnie Stallworth, 29.

Two other men, Gary Sumner, 31, and Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Sr., 57, are also charged with murder.

A teenager, Rakeem Florence, who was 16 at the time of the murder, and Frederick Thornton, 20, have pleaded guilty to second degree murder and will be called by prosecutors to testify in Gozalez, Jr.'s trial.

An eighth suspect, Pamela Long Wiggins, is charged as an accessory after the crime.