By Associated Press - Friday, August 25, 2017

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - A man accused of killing a woman at a Rapid City hotel in 2015 plans to mount a defense saying she died of pneumonia.

The Rapid City Journal reports that 61-year-old Brian Duncan is scheduled to go to trial next month in the death of 60-year-old Helen Wright.

Duncan’s attorney says his defense against the second-degree murder charge is that Wright died of natural causes. Wright’s death certificate says she died from suffocation or “asphyxiation by strangulation” as a result of an assault.



Wright’s body was found in a room at the Western Thrifty Inn in November 2015. Duncan was arrested in San Marcos, Texas, in June 2016.

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Information from: Rapid City Journal, https://www.rapidcityjournal.com

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