Michelle Young

Raleigh man to be arraigned in wife's 2006 beating death

A Raleigh man set to go on trial next month in the beating death of his pregnant wife is expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in a Wake County courtroom.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — A Raleigh man set to go on trial next month in the beating death of his pregnant wife more than four years ago is expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in a Wake County courtroom.

Jason Lynn Young, 37, was arrested in December 2009 on a first-degree murder charge in the slaying of Michelle Young, 29, who was five months' pregnant when she was beaten inside the couple's Wake County home on Nov. 3, 2006.

According to search warrants, Jason Young told investigators he was out of town on business when his wife was killed.

Jury selection is expected to begin the week of May 30. Prosecutors have indicated that they will not seek the death penalty.

On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens is also expected to hear a motion from defense attorneys to suppress testimony from a convenience store clerk who says she sold Jason Young gasoline in King, N.C. – approximately 120 miles from Raleigh – on the morning his wife was killed.

Jason Young has said he was sleeping in a hotel room in Hillsville, Va., about 45 miles away, at the time, Wake County Assistant District Attorney Becky Holt said in a pre-trial hearing last month.

Investigators haven't offered a motive for the killing, but in search warrants, they have described the couple's marriage as a "volatile" relationship that included violent arguments and infidelity on his part.

In 2009, a judge awarded Michelle Young's family $15.5 million in damages in a wrongful death suit against Jason Young after he failed to respond to the suit.

Michelle Young's sister, Meredith Fisher, has primary custody of the Youngs' daughter, Cassidy, who was 2 years old when she was found in the same room with her mother's body.

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