By AP/KWMU
East St. Louis, Ill. – The trial of Katie Wolfmeyer will begin today with opening arguments.
Wolfmeyer is the 19-year-old accused of conspiring with former Blues player Mike Danton in a murder-for-hire plot.
Prosecutors say Wolfmeyer helped Danton hire a hit man and drove with him to Danton's apartment, where the crime was to have taken place. Prosecutors have also said Danton's agent David Frost was the intended target, though Frost denies that charge.
But Wolfmeyer's lawyers say she was a young woman smitten with a professional athlete. They argue Danton misled and manipulated her.
A judge ruled last week that Danton cannot be forced to testify in Wolfmeyer's trial. Danton pleaded guilty to a charge related to the plot earlier this summer; he's scheduled to be sentenced September 16th.