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Politics & Government

Trials Underway For Alleged Killers

Chris Darrel Duve, 31, of Lake Elsinore, and Angela May Shaver, 48, of Meadowbrook, are being tried separately for the stabbing death of Paul "Pete" Cline.

Jury selection got under way today for the trial of a woman accused in the stabbing death of a 60-year-old Anza man, then squatting on his property with another man also accused in the killing.

Angela May Shaver, 48, of Meadowbrook could face 50 years to life in prison if convicted in the 2006 death of Paul "Pete" Cline.

Testimony in his case is slated to resume Thursday.

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Both defendants are charged with first-degree murder and weapons allegations and are being held in lieu of $1 million bail -- Duve at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta, and Shaver at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Kelly Hansen summoned the first two panels of prospective jurors in Shaver's trial to the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta today. The prospects will continue to be screened tomorrow as to their availability and qualifications. Opening statements in the case may begin Wednesday.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A jury was sworn in for Duve's trial last week.

According to a trial brief filed by Deputy District Attorney Blaine Hopp, Cline was killed sometime between Feb. 15 and March 5, 2006. The prosecutor said the victim knew Duve and Shaver, and the pair allegedly attacked him with a knife, stabbing him multiple times, in his house at 36990 Old Cary Road.

After his arrest, Duve allegedly admitted to investigators that there was a plan to kill Cline, apparently to steal his assets. The victim had reported the fraudulent use of his bank card card to sheriff's deputies a few days before his death, Hopp said.

In her interview with investigators, Shaver alleged that Cline had made unwanted sexual advances toward her, prompting her to stab him, according to court papers.

After the attack, the defendants, with the help of several friends -- all of whom are scheduled to testify for the prosecution -- allegedly dumped the victim's body on a hillside southeast of Anza.

Tips that Cline had been murdered prompted investigators to obtain and serve a search warrant at his residence on March 21, 2006, and evidence allegedly showed Duve and Shaver had been staying in the house.

Duve later took detectives to the location of the victim's remains, the brief states.

The defendant has prior convictions for auto theft and receiving stolen property, while Shaver has a prior federal conviction for identity theft, according to court records.

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