After Scott Tobiassen shattered his roommate's skull with a metal pipe and killed him, he cut off the victim's head and carved the body into pieces using a power saw and an assortment of knives — including one for filleting fish.
On the first day of Tobiassen's murder trial Thursday, his attorney admitted his 51-year-old client is to blame both for Gerald Longo's brutal death in Greenacres on Aug. 13, 2013, and "desecration" of the victim's body with the tools later displayed for the Palm Beach County jury.
But the defense disputed Tobiassen intentionally murdered Longo, 48, saying he should be convicted of a lesser charge that doesn't carry an automatic sentence of life in prison.