Jury Deliberations Begin
Closing arguments concluded Tuesday in the murder trial of Keith Turner.
Updated 6:15 PM PST, Tue, Nov 25, 2008
Closing arguments concluded Tuesday in the murder trial of Keith Turner, the man accused of strangling his wife and burying her body in the backyard of their Ramona home.
The jury is now in deliberations and must decide if it was murder, manslaughter or self-defense that caused Toby Turner's death.
The prosecutor gave his rebuttal argument Tuesday, saying that, although there is no physical evidence, Turner is guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt."
"There's direct evidence of the cause of death. That evidence doesn't come from Toby's skeleton, that direct evidence comes from the people who were there," said prosecutor Kurt Mechals. "Sean Turner was there and the defendant was there, along with Toby Turner and obviously she's not available to come in and tell you what happened, so the task falls to the other two."
Sean Turner, Keith Turner's stepson, testified earlier that he witnessed the killing. Both the defense and the prosecution have admitted that Sean Turner has problems with credibility.
"Sean saw the defendant standing on his mother's neck. That's not circumstantial evidence, that's direct evidence," said Mechals. "Now I absolutely recognize that Sean Turner has issues with credibility and we've known from the very beginning."
Defense attorney Tom Warwick said that Toby Turner was addicted to meth, that she was a woman whose friends and family could no longer support her, and whose husband was at a breaking point.
First Published: Nov 25, 2008 5:49 PM PST
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