UPDATE: 3/11/13 10:55 PM: Jurors did not reach a verdict after deliberating into the evening. Deliberations are set to resume at 9 AM on Tuesday. The jurors are being sequestered at a local hotel.
UPDATE: 3/11/13 5:17 PM: Jurors are in a lunch (now dinner) break in the trial of Richard Beasley. Both sides wrapped up closing arguments, and Judge Lynne Callahan says after the break, jurors will deliberate until as late as 9 PM this evening...or until a verdict is reached, if earlier than that. Stay with AkronNewsNow.com for more throughout the evening...
UPDATE: 3/11/13 3:40 PM: Ohio Assistant Attorney General Paul Scarsella is handling the prosecution's return. He's telling the jury that evidence "runs in a straight line", but not here (with the defense's presentation). Says the evidence does go in a straight line, pointing to Richard Beasley and Brogan Rafferty "as the Craigslist killers".
UPDATE: 3/11/13 2:48 PM: Defense attorney James Burdon is asking why Scott Davis, Don Walters and others are "more credible" than Richard Beasley. He calls the "North Coast Motorcycle Club" "violent and deadly" and says Beasley was in danger because he was a police informant.
UPDATE: 3/11/13 1:57 PM: Defense attorney James Burdon has begun his closing arguments. Burdon told the jury that they aren't there to "endorse the prosecution's charge", and need to look at all witness testimony, physical evidence, and analyze to see if "they lead you to the truth beyond a reasonable doubt."
UPDATE: 3/11/13 1:48 PM: Assistant Summit County prosecutor Jonathan Baumoel says Richard Beasley had "a thirst for blood...a thirst for death", and says the killing of Timothy Kerns so close to the shooting of Scott Davis "quenched that thirst" temporarily.
UPDATE: 3/11/13 1:11 PM: Assistant Summit County prosecutor Jonathan Baumoel has begun about an hour of closing arguments, going over evidence he says points out Richard Beasley as the "mastermind" behind the three deaths and one attempted murder with which he has been charged.
"It's Richard Beasley's show," Baumoel tells jurors, saying that "whatever it took, Richard Beasley would not go back to jail."
UPDATE: 3/11/13 12:30 PM: Judge Lynne Callahan has finished reading 128 pages of jury instructions, a task which took over 90 minutes.
After a short break, closing statements are scheduled to begin. Ohio assistant Attorney General Paul Scarsella is set to open the prosecution's case against Richard Beasley, who faces 26 counts, including 9 aggravated murder counts for the deaths of three men...Akron's Ralph Geiger, Massillon's Timothy Kerns and Virginia's David Pauley.
Beasley is also facing attempted murder counts in the shooting of Scott Davis, who prosecutors say is the only surviving victim.
He also faces numerous other charges, including charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery and identity theft.
The jury is expected to get the case after this afternoon's closing statements.
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(ORIGINAL ANN COVERAGE) Closing arguments will be heard today in the trial of "Craigslist" killing suspect Richard Beasley.
The jury in the Beasley case has heard from prosecution witnesses in the courtroom of Summit County Common Pleas judge Lynne Callahan.
They've seeking to connect him with three murders of would-be job seekers answering a "Craigslist" ad, and the attempted murder of a fourth man. Scott Davis testified in Beasley's trial.
They've also heard Beasley himself, proclaiming his innocence and pointing the finger at others he said were upset that he was a police informant.
He also disputed the assertion that he was the aggressor in the encounter with Davis at a farm in Caldwell, a small town in southeast Ohio.
That's the same farm that bogus "Craigslist" ads offered a farm caretaker job that didn't exist.
Prosecutors say those ads lured the three murder victims to their eventual death, along with Davis suffering gunshot wounds to his arm.
If convicted, Beasley faces the death penalty.
