Compromising position just before alleged murder in Friant

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A compromising position and a violent death. The wife caught in the middle describes what she saw from the bed where investigators say her husband committed murder.

Sheriff's deputies found David Ketcheside dead in his bed last July. Dustin Baize was at the scene and arrested for murder.

Ketcheside and Baize were once friends. Even on July 24 of last year, they were together, smoking some of Ketcheside's marijuana and hanging out, along with Baize's wife, Kara. But on July 25, prosecutors say Baize murdered Ketcheside by bashing him over the head with the victim's favorite guitar. One of the first sheriff's deputies on the scene says Baize admitted he was mad at Ketcheside.

"He said David took something precious from him so he was going to take something precious from David," said Fresno County sheriff's deputy John Robinson.

Investigators say Baize said he found Ketcheside and his wife sleeping together early in the morning. His wife says it wasn't sexual -- not that night at least. But she admits a brief affair with Ketcheside.

"In the very end of the friendship, we had slept together one time," said Kara Baize. "And it was to nobody's knowledge. Nobody knew about it."

Deputies say Dustin Baize told them he only wanted to smash Ketcheside's guitar, but he slipped and fell and the guitar hit Ketcheside in the head. Kara Baize says she didn't see any of that, but she woke up to a loud noise and started crying immediately.

"Then I looked to my left and I saw Dave lying right next to me on his back with his eyes closed," she said. "And I looked to my right and I saw my husband carrying the electric guitar."

A judge decided Thursday there's enough evidence for Baize to stand trial for murder. His attorney said in court he was exploring a heat of passion argument that could reduce the charge to manslaughter.