Carsner’s Sentencing Phase Begins Today
The woman convicted of shooting and killing her mother and stepfather could learn her sentence today.
A jury found Laura Grisel Carsner guilty of capital murder Monday.
Carsner was convicted of shooting and killing her mother and stepfather in the backyard of their Northeast El Paso home on Aug. 29, 2009.
The slayings occurred in the presence of Carsner’s daughter and her two young nephews, who were at the house eating hamburgers and swimming.
The prosecution took more than an hour on their closing arguments on Monday.
Prosecutor Denise Butterworth told the jury that Carsner knew perfectly well what she was going to do when she shot her mother and stepfather on Aug. 29, 2009.
Butterworth said Carsner grew resentful of her parents after they reported her to Child Protective Services in April of that year. Butterworth showed the jurors an email Carsner wrote to her cousin, saying she hated her mother with all her soul.
“She couldn’t be more full of hate for these two people,” Butterworth said. “At the time of the incident, she knows right from wrong.”
Butterworth argued that the doctors who testified that Carsner was mentally unstable did it only after the shooting, when she was preparing for the trial.
Using a toy gun and a ruler, prosecutors demonstrated how close Carsner was when, they said, Carsner shot her parents — two inches from the back of her stepfather and 10 inches from her mother’s face.
Butterworth also recalled the testimony of Carsner’s daughter.
“A 10-year-old was finally able to tell you that her grandparents were good. She came in here to tell you, ‘Watch out for my mom, she’s a liar, she’s tricky,'” Butterworth told jurors.
During the prosecution’s closing arguments, Carsner bit and fidgeted with her lips several times. She glanced at the jurors and then back at the prosecutor.
The defense, in its hour-long closing argument, argued that Child Protective Services and the state failed Carsner and her daughter for not investigating the alleged sexual abuse of the girl, now 10.
Defense attorney Joe Spencer told jurors Carsner went to the house to try and protect her daughter from Carsner’s stepfather, whom Carsner said she feared would sexually abuse her.
“If she had any intention (of murder), she would have gone in the middle of the night. She wouldn’t have bought a gun in her name,” Spencer argued.
The District Attorney’s office told ABC-7 a capital murder conviction comes with an automatic life sentence with no parole. There is a sentencing hearing scheduled Tuesday at 9 a.m. Stay with ABC-7 for the latest.
Link:UPDATE: Jury Deliberations Begin In Carsner Murder Trial Link:Closing Arguments Expected In Carsner Capital Murder Trial
