Feb. 27—WILKES-BARRE — Before Anthony Dion Shaw left his East Orange, N.J., apartment to travel to Wilkes-Barre Township on May 1, 2018, he was conversing with his on-again, off-again girlfriend Cindy Lou Ashton by text messages.

In one text message, Shaw, 47, asked Ashton, 39, if she was talking to an ex-boyfriend.

The series of text messages as explained by digital forensics expert, Dan Lewis, a training specialist with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a former Plains Township police detective, illustrates Shaw was agitated and jealous, a motive prosecutors argued, led him to plan and brutally kill Ashton inside her Nicholson Street apartment.

First Assistant District Attorney Anthony Ross along with assistant district attorneys Brian Coleman and Gerry Scott rested their prosecution of Shaw Tuesday morning.

Shaw opted not to testify in his own defense and his attorney, David W. Lampman II, did not put forth any defense witnesses, ending the two-day non-jury bench trial before President Judge Michael T. Vough.

During closing arguments, Lampman acknowledged the evidence presented during the trial shows Shaw killed Ashton but argued Ashton was killed in a “heat of passion,” in his request for a third-degree murder conviction.

To bolster his argument, Lampman said Shaw’s attempt at taking his own life shows he later understood what he had done.

“He didn’t realize what he was doing; the evidence supports third-degree murder,” Lampman said.

Ross, during his closing argument, called Ashton’s murder “willful, deliberate and premeditated,” as Shaw purchased the Gerber folding knife at the now closed Kmart in Wilkes-Barre Township that he used hours later to stab Ashton at least 27 times to her neck, head and hands.

“This was specific intent to kill with malice,” Ross argued in seeking a first-degree murder conviction.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross, who performed Ashton’s autopsy, testified she sustained at least 27 stab wounds, including defensive wounds to both her hands.

Allyson Miller, a forensic scientist at the Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Laboratory in Greensburg, testified the Gerber folding knife contained DNA profiles of Ashton and Shaw.

Ross further argued a hand written note from Shaw apologized for killing Ashton and asked Ashton’s family for forgiveness.

The Gerber folding knife and note were found in Shaw’s apartment by East Orange, N.J., police conducting a welfare check on him on May 4, 2018, when Shaw was found with self-inflicted slash wounds to his neck.

Evidence recovered from Shaw’s apartment and his vehicle, including a Kmart receipt for the knife, led investigators to obtain surveillance footage from Kmart.

Prosecutors played footage of Shaw inside Kmart inspecting the knives for sale before selecting the Gerber folding knife on May 1, 2018.

After a motions hearing in 2019 on the efforts of Lampman, Vough barred prosecutors from introducing evidence, including the knife and note, during Shaw’s trial as he initially ruled East Orange police entered his apartment without a search warrant despite conducting a welfare check.

Prosecutors appealed resulting in the Pennsylvania Superior Court ordering Vough to conduct a suppression hearing.

Vough reversed his initially ruling and declared prosecutors could use the evidence as the evidence would had been found during the course of the investigation, known as the inevitable discovery doctrine.

County Detective James P. Noone and Wilkes-Barre Township police detective Michael Anditis, now retired, testified Shaw was a “person of interest” when Ashton’s body was found during a welfare check on May 2, 2018.

After prosecutors rested their case, Shaw was quizzed about testifying in his own defense. After opting not to testify, Shaw was quizzed again about deciding to have a non-jury trial.

Shaw briefly said he wanted Vough to preside over his trial as Vough previously ruled in his favor about the evidence.

Vough said he will issue a verdict Wednesday morning.

A first-degree murder conviction carries a sentence of life in prison while a third degree murder conviction could result in a sentence of up to 40 years.