By Keith Carls
KCOY
SANTA MARIA — The first witnesses to testify were Lompoc Police officers who investigated the shooting death of Victorville Federal Prison guard Gary Bent at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lompoc on March 8, 2012.
The mostly-female jury were shown photos of Bent’s body slumped over a bathtub where he was shot in the neck by McNally after the two had been partying in the hotel room.
Bent family members and friends began crying when the photos were shown on an overhead projector in court.
Bent was visiting Lompoc for prison guard training when he met up with his friend McNally after the two had exchanged text messages.
A Lompoc Police officer who discovered Bent’s body in the bathroom at the hotel and later arrested McNally at gunpoint at his father’s home was first to testify.
Full story: Trial Underway in Lompoc Prison Guard Murder Case