Jury seated in mortician's murder trial

The jury was seated Tuesday in the murder trial of a Rocky Mount funeral home owner accused of arranging his wife's slaying two years ago.

Mark Bowling, the former owner of several Bowling Funeral Home operations in eastern North Carolina, is  charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Dec. 8, 2006, shooting death of his wife, Julie Bowling.

Opening arguments are expected Wednesday.

Rose Vincent, Bowling's former mistress, pleaded guilty in February to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and has agreed to testify against him. She is serving a minimum 29-year sentence.

Vincent admitted that she gunned down Julie Bowling in the garage of the Bowling home and that Mark Bowling had provided her with a map and instructions on how to carry out the crime while he was away on a scuba-diving trip. She told investigators that she and Mark Bowling were having an affair and that he asked her to kill his wife so they could be together.