For the first time in her murder trial, Michele Anderson's defense attorney stood up and addressed the jury.
Michele Anderson is accused of six counts of aggravated first-degree murder for killing her family in Carnation on Christmas Eve 2007.
When Anderson decided not to testify yesterday, the defense rested without calling any witnesses.
The defense never gave an opening statement, but did give a closing argument on Wednesday.
Anderson refuses to talk to her attorneys. It has been an adversarial relationship for months which made it nearly impossible for them to defend her.
When it came to closing arguments, defense attorney Colleen O'Connor told the jury to really focus on Anderson's confession.
She said Anderson's mood changes during the recorded confession.
"Michele is timid. Her voice starts off normal and trails off. She becomes increasingly apologetic. She is rambling, she is crying," described O'Connor.
O'Connor said the murders were not about money.
"Yes, she talks about money but money isn't the issue. Her crazy delusional state of mind is what is propelling her thought processes," said O'Connor.
She said Anderson was worried about her safety, and that is why she was armed when she went to her parents' house on Christmas Eve. O'Connor told the jury the shootings weren't premeditated. "This wasn't some spread out activity," said O'Connor, "This was bang, bang, bang, bang."
Instead of first-degree murder, O'Connor asked the jury to find Anderson guilty of second-degree murder for killing her dad, brother and sister-in-law. She asked them to find Anderson not guilty of murdering her mother, niece and nephew.
The prosecution was quick to respond and said Anderson was motivated by greed. "She mentions money as a motive more than 35 times," said Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott O'Toole,
"She is the reason the slaughter occurred."
O'Toole made the case for premeditation -- he said Anderson chose Christmas Eve when her family would be together, armed herself, drove to the house, fired the first shot, cleaned up after killing her parents, and dragged their bodies outside.
"This was a case of pure premeditated cold blood murder as you will ever see."
The jury deliberated for an hour on Wednesday. They will resume deliberations Thursday morning.
The trial lasted more than five weeks. If convicted, Anderson will be sentenced to life in prison.
Cox Media Group
