Computer-generated songs written by Caleb Flynn for his alleged mistress were played in court during his murder trial, prompting visible discomfort among those in the gallery.
The two ballads, which used the same lyrics but different generated vocals and musical tracks, were played consecutively during Thursday’s hearing. People in the courtroom were seen rolling their eyes, shaking their heads and raising their eyebrows, while Flynn repeatedly dabbed his forehead with a napkin.
Flynn’s lyrics described Alleigha Botner as his “love at first sight”, saying that when they first met, “the room disappeared”. They also referred to the more than 15-year age gap between them.
“They whisper about numbers … the years in between. Said love has a limit, said love’s not that clean. But age never mattered … when it was you and me,” the lyrics said.
Botner, now 24, was 21 when she met Flynn while working as an intern at his church in Ohio. Other lyrics described their relationship as one that was “always my love, my once in a lifetime”.
The songs’ bridge included a reference to their third anniversary, an “oath that we lost” and an “almost forever that came at a cost”.
The courtroom playback followed the reading of text messages exchanged between Flynn and Botner about Ashley Flynn, his wife. Botner became tearful as she read her message: “I want to kill her, Caleb.”
She then read Flynn’s alleged response: “That makes two of us.”
Prosecutors accuse Flynn of shooting Ashley twice in the back of the head before staging the scene to resemble a burglary that had gone wrong. His legal team has argued that there is no evidence connecting him to his wife’s killing.
