ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The lawyer for a soldier accused of killing his then-14-year-old girlfriend’s mother after the woman objected to their age difference says only the daughter is to blame.

The (Allentown) Morning Call (http://bit.ly/2axKg5s ) reports 22-year-old Army Spc. Caleb Barnes’ murder trial began Tuesday.

Barnes’ lawyer told the jury Jamie Silvonek wanted her mother dead. He calls her a liar and manipulator.

But prosecutors say it was Barnes who wielded the knife when Cheryl Silvonek was fatally stabbed in 2015.

Jamie Silvonek, who’s now 15, has pleaded guilty and is serving 35 years to life. She’s agreed to testify against Barnes.

Investigators have said they recovered deleted text messages between her and Barnes in which the teen was plotting her mother’s killing, including one that read: “I want her gone.”

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Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com