Opening arguments in Cara Rintala murder case

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Jurors heard opening arguments Wednesday in the state's first murder case involving a same-sex married couple.

First assistant district attorney Steven Gagne painted a picture Wednesday of a turbulent,  marriage between Cara Rintala and her wife AnnaMarie Cochrane. The couple was drowning in 95-thousand dollars of credit card and auto loan debt. There were restraining orders, divorce filings, and multiple calls to the Granby police during their 2 and a half year marriage.

“Cara Lee Rintala was charged with assault and battery. She was booked, she was arrested,” said first assistant district attorney Steven Gagne.

But the final 911 call came on March 29th, 2010, when police found Cara in the basement holding AnnaMarie's bloody, dead body.

“She starts volunteering statements to them. We were fighting all last night. We were fighting this morning. We shouldn't leave each others company mad,” Gagne said.

But Rintala's attorney David Hoose argued marital quarrels don't mean murder. And if the bloody basement suggested a violent struggle, how did Cara, who is significantly smaller than AnnaMarie, not have a scratch on her body? Hoose said you can't prove the truth of something if it's simply not true.

“You can pick up these little pieces that Mr. Gagne has made reference to and you can try to pile them on top of each other to reach the conclusion you want. But it's a house of cards. A puff of wind blows it all away,” Hoose said.

Hoose told the courtroom it is his great privilege to represent Cara Rintala, a fiscally responsible person who was deeply in love with her wife.

Jurors will visit the couple's former Granby home sometime next week.