SHAWANO, Wis. (AP) — The pressure of debt and divorce led a former Wausau police officer to try to kill his wife, a prosecutor told a jury Friday.

Chueng Lee had insurance on his estranged wife that he would have collected if she died, Assistant State Attorney General Dennis Krueger said in opening statements before the trial recessed until Monday.
Lee's attorney, James Connell, said Lee will testify in his own defense.

Lee, 46, of Weston is accused of forcing his estranged wife into a vehicle and deliberately crashing it into a Shawano County bridge last September. The woman suffered a broken hip, a broken arm and a broken leg in the crash that wrecked a Toyota pickup, court records said.

Lee was charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, false imprisonment and aggravated battery. He faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted on the charges.

A jury of nine women and five men was selected Friday for the trial in Shawano County Circuit Court, which is expected to last two weeks.

Lee, who had 15 years on the Wausau police force at the time of his arrest, initially told investigators the crash happened after he swerved to miss a deer, according to court records.

The criminal complaint said Lee threatened to kill Chao Lee, 40, at her Weston home Sept. 18 before she got into his pickup for what he said was a drive to a casino.

She said her husband told her, "You want to die in the house so all the kids will be scared or you rather die someplace else?" the complaint said.

Chao Lee, who filed for divorce in March 2007, told investigators that she got into her husband's truck because of those threats. She tried to fasten her seat belt several times, but he repeatedly removed it before crashing into the concrete bridge near Bowler, the complaint said.

In his opening statement, Krueger said Lee had taken a new wife during a trip to Laos in April 2007.

By killing Chao Lee, collecting on the life insurance and using his retirement built up through his job, Lee could eliminate his debt and "live like a king in Laos," Krueger said.

Chao and Chueng Lee were divorced or separated in 1993 and 2006 before Hmong clan leaders helped them reconcile, Krueger said.

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