The punishment phase of the Stephen Stanko trialgot underway Wednesday morning.

He was found guilty Monday of the shooting death and armed robbery of 74-year-old Henry Lee Turner.

He faces either a second death penalty or life in prison.

Look for other stories about the trial elsewhere on this Website.

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5:06 p.m. — The state has rested its case. Court resumes at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

4:26 p.m. — The state called Henry Turner’s girlfriend, Cecilia Kotsipias, to talk about the man who affectionately called her his “brown eyed lady.”

She said she met Turner at Myrtle Beach and they hit it off immediately.

“We danced and danced and danced,” she said of their first date.

Even though Kotsipias lived in Charlotte, they continued their relationship for years until Turner’s death.

She said they would go fishing as often as they could.

“Anytime we would go out where there was a DJ, Henry would always get him to play Brown Eyed Girl for me,” she recalled.

Turner, a military veteran, had a pair of red, white and blue pants that he would wear all the time.

She also said Turner never liked decorating Christmas trees until he decorated hers the first time.

Turner called Kotsipias at about 4 a.m. on the morning he died and told her Stanko was at his house.

“He told me Stephen’s father had just died and said he was going to take him in,” she recalled. “The last words I ever heard him say was ‘I love you brown eyes.’”

Kotsipias said she and Turner would talk at least three or four times each day.

“He wanted to marry me but I did not want to get married. We had a great life. Stephen Stanko ruined our lives. We should still be fishing and singing,” she said.

On the day Turner was killed, Kotsipias received a visit from police in Charlotte. They told her Turner had been murdered.

“The first words out of my mouth were Stephen Stanko,” she testified.

1:06 p.m. — The state has presented a series of witnesses who said Stanko scammed them out of thousands of dollars by claiming he would perform services for them as an attorney.

But the most dramatic portion of the trial came as the state played a recording of the 911 call Christina Ling placed after she had been left for dead by Stanko.

She made the call from the same room where her mother was bleeding to death next to her.

Her father, Chris Ling, had been in the courtroom but walked out as the tape began to play.

“I just can’t listen again,” he said. He heard the call in its entirety in the 2006 trial.

Several times during the call Christina Ling cried out “I want my mommy. Please help my mommy.”

The dispatchers worked hard to keep the girl talking while help was rushing to the scene.

“What’s taking them so long?” she painfully asked the dispatcher.

“They will be right there, honey,” was the response during one of the times.

Despite the horrifying events she had suffered, Ling was able to maintain her composure enough to answer all of the questions.

At one point the dispatcher said they could not understand what she was saying when she said Stanko’s last name, so, even though she was in the middle of a pool of her own blood, she was able to spell it for them.

“He has a (criminal) record,” she added.

11:28 a.m. —

Kathleen Crolley, whose family owns a furniture store in Surfside Beach, testified Stanko stopped by the store in 2006 saying he needed to buy two desks for his wife, claiming they were building a house in Pawleys Island.

While they were talking about the desks, Stanko received several calls on his cell phone.

Crolley said she overheard Stanko’s side of the conversations and could tell he was collecting money for a charity.

She said she asked him about it and he claimed his young niece had cancer and was hospitalized at MUSC.

Stanko told Crolley he had taken a year off from his job as a lawyer to start the Children’s Cancer Research Organization.

Crolley said MUSC hold a special place in her heart because her baby was born prematurely.

She said the store donated $100 to the “charity” and she gave him an additional $25.

She later learned there was no such charity.

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10:52 a.m. — Chris Ling, he ex-husband of Laura Ling and father of Christina Ling, who survived Stanko's attempt tp kill her, said his daughter will not testify in the trial.

10:22 a.m. - Stanko’s former girlfriend, Elizabeth Buckner, kicked off the state’s case with very emotional and dramatic testimony about their stormy and abusive relationship.

She said they met when they were both working in telecommunications in 1992.

They began a romantic relationship that later deteriorated.

She said Stanko was fired from the dealership for stealing cars but did not tell her.

She said he had been driving her car and when she used the vehicle to buy groceries. When she went to put the groceries in the trunk, she saw all of his stuff from work.

When she confronted him about being fired and other lies he had told, things turned violent.

“I was angry and hurt because he had lied to me again,” she testified.

She said there was a lot of pushing, shoving and cursing as she told Stanko to leave. He said he would and started packing.

Buckner said she went to bed but woke up the next morning and noticed the strong smell of Clorox.

“He leaped on me and held the Clorox, 409 mixture cloth over my face to try to do whatever he whatever it was he was going to do,” she said. “I thought I was going to die.”

Buckner said Stanko got upset and said “it’s not working” meaning he saw someone killed in a movie in that manner.

Stanko tied Buckner up and placed her on a toilet while he took a shower.

“He was humming and talking like nothing happened,” Buckner testified.

After he showered, Stanko took Buckner in the living room, kissed her on the head and said goodbye.

Stanko was later arrested and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the attack.

9:30 a.m. — Defense attorney Brana Williams — during her opening — agreed some of the testimony may bring tears to the eyes of some jurors.

She reminded them they do not have to impose the death sentence if they do not want to do that.

9:25 a.m. — During his opening statement, Assistant Solicitor Fran Humphries said “the reason we are here is because of the conduct and character of defendant Stephen Stanko.”

He said what the jury has heard so far “doesn’t touch the conduct” of Stanko.

He also apologized in advance for the things the jury will have to hear concerning Stanko’s previous crimes.

He said “it will be difficult and trying” and there will be times the jury will want to close their eyes and close their ears during the testimony.

9:10 a.m. —

Diggs made a motion to have testimony abut Laura Ling’s murder excluded from the state’s case.

In this portion of the trial, the jury can hear about prior “bad acts” committed by Stanko which they were not allowed to hear about in the first phase of the trial.

The judge denied Diggs motion.

9:03 a.m. —

The start of the trial was delayed as the court awaited the arrival of defense attorney William Diggs. The judge asked his assistant, Brana Williams if he did not understand that court was to start at 8:30. Williams said his paralegal told her he left his office at 8 a.m.

 Diggs arrived at 9 a.m. and was quizzed by the judge on his tardiness. The judge told him it was his responsibility to be in court by 8:30 to deal with motions before the jury got to court. Diggs said he was late because of traffic. The judge said he will "deal with" the tardiness when the trial is over.