A six-man, six-woman jury was asked this morning to find Misty Dawn Graves 18 not guilty of the second degree murder charges filed against her.

Ms. Graves 18 is charged with killing Lesean Covington last April 17

Her attorney, Mark Evans of the public defender’s office, said she fired shots at Covington because she was defending herself and her unborn baby from his physical assault.

Covington was killed with a gun Ms. Graves pulled from beneath the seat of her car, Evans said, because she wanted to scare Covington, to stop him from beating her.

"She didn’t fire the gun because she wanted to hurt him," Evans said during his opening arguments to the jury. "She didn’t want him to die. She just didn’t want to be beaten."

But, said Assistant Cole County Prosecutor Bill Tackett, Covington was killed after he refused to get out of Ms. Graves’ car during an argument over whether she would drive him to a home in the Westview

Heights subdivision on Jefferson City’s southwest edge.

"During the argument, he hears the cocking of a gun off to the left Tackett said. "The state has two witnesses who will describe the altercation."

Covington was shot about 2:45 a.m. April 17, in the 400 block of Lafayette Street. A Riverside Drive resident found the man’s body in an alley about 6:15 a.m.

Evans told jurors Ms. Graves faced life in prison if she’s convicted of murder.

In addition to the murder charge, Ms. Graves was charged with carrying a concealed weapon.