Lawyers will make their opening statements Tuesday in the federal trial of Gregory Owens, a New Hampshire man accused of trying to kill his wife in a staged break-in at a Saco home in 2014.

The trial in U.S. District Court in Portland is the first of two cases that authorities have brought against Owens, 59, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, for the shooting on Dec. 18, 2014, of his wife, Rachel Owens, and family friend Steve Chabot.

Gregory Owens has pleaded not guilty to two federal counts: interstate domestic violence, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, punishable by up to life in prison.

The federal trial is expected to take two weeks. Owens is charged with two federal counts – interstate domestic violence, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, punishable by up to life in prison.

Owens also faces multiple state charges, including aggravated attempted murder. His trial on those charges in York County Superior Court in Alfred has not been set and depends in part on the outcome of the federal trial.

Owens’ attorney, Sarah Churchill, and the federal prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee, completed jury selection Monday in federal court.

McElwee is scheduled to begin calling the government’s witnesses after she and Churchill make their opening statements.

Owens is accused of breaking into a house at 25 Hillview Ave. in Saco, where his wife had been staying with friends Carol and Steve Chabot. Authorities say Owens wore a black ski mask, obscuring his identity, as he shot his wife three times, including once in the head. He is also accused of shooting Steve Chabot three times in the torso through a bedroom door. Both survived.

Investigators collected DNA evidence from Owens after he was stopped by New Hampshire State Police less than three hours after the shooting as he was driving in Hudson, New Hampshire. They also collected DNA evidence from bloodstains on the steering wheel and armrest of Owens’ Hyundai Santa Fe sport utility vehicle that matched a DNA sample taken from a swab from a broken window on the rear garage door of the Chabots’ home, according to a report FBI Agent Pamela Flick filed with the court to obtain search warrants in the investigation.

Owens is a former Army marksman who investigators believe tried to kill his wife after his girlfriend in Wisconsin threatened to expose their affair.

McElwee wrote in her trial brief filed in December that she expects to call about 40 witnesses to testify for the government.

“Evidence linking the defendant to the crimes which will be presented at trial includes footprint analysis, DNA analysis, contradictory statements made by the defendant after the shooting to police and his mistress, jail call recordings and physical evidence from the scene and from the defendant’s home in Londonderry,” McElwee wrote.

Churchill said in her federal trial brief that she expects to call 10 defense witnesses.

“Defendant Owens intends to rely on a defense of general denial, the presumption of innocence, and holding the Government to its burden of proof,” Churchill wrote.

Churchill also expects to call a different DNA expert to testify.

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