A wealthy stock trader sacrificed safety for secrecy before a fire killed a man who was helping him dig a network of tunnels for a nuclear bunker beneath his Maryland home, a prosecutor said Wednesday at the start of the millionaire's murder trial
But a defense attorney for 27-year-old Daniel Beckwitt told jurors the deadly fire that killed his client's friend was an accident, not a crime.
Beckwitt is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the September 2017 death of 21-year-old Askia Khafra. The two men met online, and Beckwitt had invested money in a company Khafra was trying to launch as he helped Beckwitt dig the tunnels. Montgomery County prosecutor Marybeth Ayres said Beckwitt created a"death trap" in his family's home, with mounds of trash blocking Khafra's escape. The hoarding conditions in the house were so extreme that trash and clutter mostly covered the floors and nearly reached the ceiling in spots, Ayres said.Bonsib said Khafra was a willing participant in the project. He showed jurors a"selfie" photograph that Khafra posted on social media, showing him in the tunnels.
A hole in the concrete basement floor led to a shaft that dropped down 20 feet into tunnels that branched out roughly 200 feet in length. The tunnels had lights, an air circulation system and a heater.
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