Testimony in Jason Young’s retrial: Wife’s life insurance worth at least $2M [The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.]

Feb. 23--RALEIGH -- A former sorority sister of Michelle Young testified Thursday that Michelle's husband, Jason Young, pressed to buy $1 million life insurance policies for both of them shortly before her death.

From the witness stand, Fiona Childs said her friend considered the amount excessive. After Young died, Childs said she learned the policy was actually higher -- $2 million with a rider stating that the amount be doubled in the case of accidental death.

Childs, who met Young at N.C. State University, described Jason Young as callous about the couple's miscarriage, telling Michelle to "get over it." Also, she said, he seemed uninterested in the pending birth of their second child. Shortly before Michelle Young died, Childs said, she asked her friend to be present at the second child's birth.

"It was apparent to me ... it was because she either didn't expect Jason to be there or couldn't rely on him," said Childs, now an attorney in Apex.

Jason Young is accused of killing his wife in the early hours of Nov. 3. 2006, in the master bedroom of their home in the Enchanted Oaks neighborhood just south of Raleigh.

He was tried in June of last year, and a jury deadlocked eight for acquittal and four for conviction.

The retrial has been somewhat different from the first time, but many of the contentions are the same.

On cross-examination Thursday, Childs said her husband did not like Jason Young from the first time he met him and that she soon joined him in that opinion.

"Jason was apparent to me to be the kind of person where the world was like a giant playground to him," she said. "Fun came before responsibility."

She said her husband witnessed Young exposing himself at his wife's best friend's wedding. She also described him as being fascinated with his wife's anatomy following the birth of their daughter, who was delivered by C-section.

"He said it was neat because he could look and see Michelle's body opened up," Childs said. "He could see her organs."

Later Thursday, Jason Young's friend from N.C. State testified that the Youngs argued frequently in public. Their relationship was "volatile," Josh Dalton said, to the point that he and his wife considered not inviting him on events.

Once, after an argument with his wife on the way to a mutual friend's wedding in Winston-Salem, Young announced "he was done." Dalton said he took this statement to mean he was finished with the marriage.

Young confided in Dalton that he was having an affair with a woman in Florida, said he was in love with her and joked about getting her pregnant. He worried that he would have little contact with his daughter if he and his wife divorced.

Shaffer: 919-829-4818

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