Closing Arguments Expected In Carsner Capital Murder Trial
The jury in the capital murder trial of Laura Grisel Carsner could receive the case as soon as today.
Closing arguments are expected to begin in the double homicide trial at 8 a.m. Monday.
Carsner is accused of fatally shooting her mother and stepfather in the backyard of their Northeast El Paso home on Aug. 29, 2009. The slayings happened in the presence of Carsner’s daughter and her two young nephews, who were at the house eating hamburgers and swimming.
The chiropractor and Irvin High School graduate testified she didn’t intend to kill her parents that morning, but didn’t want her daughter to live with her parents because she claimed her stepfather sexually abused her for years.
Carsner’s daughter, now 10, was the last witness for the prosecution to testify Friday morning. Avoiding her mother’s gaze, she told the jury when she saw her mother enter the backyard that day, wearing all black, “I got scared. I knew something bad was going to happen because she had an evil grin on her face.”
Dr. James Schutte, a defense witness, was the last person to take the stand last week. The legal psychologist said he evaluated Carsner on three different occasions. Dr. Schutte testified her mental state was consistent with the kind of trauma suffered by victims of sexual abuse and that Carsner had a long history of mental illness and alcoholism long before the killings.
On cross-examination, the prosecution asked Schutte, “Carsner understood the difference between right and wrong at the time of the incident, correct?” He responded, “That is correct.”
The jury was dismissed for the weekend after both sides rested.
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