McKINNEY (WBAP/KLIF News) — Closing arguments are finished, and now the trial for a man charged with kidnapping Christina Morris from the Shops of Legacy two years ago is in the hands of the jury.
The jury began deliberating around 2:00 pm Tuesday afternoon and was given until 10:00 pm until the judge sent them home. The jury was sequestered, and the judge took up their cell phones and electronic devices to make sure they don’t contact anybody before reaching a verdict.
Before receiving the case, the jury heard testimony from one more defense witness — a cell phone data expert — and additional testimony from a Plano detective who analyzed Enrique Arochi and Christina Morris’ cell phone records. Afterward, the gallery was sent outside, re-organized in the courtroom, and both sides made their closing arguments.
“Throughout the course of this trial and during my closing arguments, I’ve done my best to give you the facts like I see them, not provide spin, and not try to trick you,” State Prosecutor Zeke Fortenberry told the jury. “The defense has tried to trick you.”
Fortenberry told the jury his case rests on three solid pillars of evidence: Morris’ DNA in Arochi’s trunk, video surveillance footage, and cell phone data that pins them together after they’re last seen walking into a Shops of Legacy parking garage just before 4:00 a.m the night she went missing.
But defense attorney Keith Gore questioned each of the pillars, claiming the DNA was a result of sloppy police work, and the cell phone data is inconclusive and doesn’t necessarily prove Arochi should be convicted.
“I’m not afraid of an inch of this,” Gore told the jury. “The evidence is not there beyond a reasonable doubt, and I would ask for your verdict of ‘not guilty.’”
The jury will resume deliberations Wednesday morning between 8:00 and 9:00 am.
