Entwistle Verdict Watch

They have waited almost 2-1/2 years for justice; I guess I can wait a little longer too.

With juror instructions running until 3:30 EST, Judge Diane Kottmyer appointed Juror #4 as the foreperson and then adjourned court for the day. The jury begins deliberations this morning.

Yesterday, after listening to another taped phone call between Sgt. Manning and Neil Entwistle, Michael Fabbri rested the case for the prosecution.

Elliot Weinstein then took to his feet and announced the defense rests! Well, what did they really have to work with?

During closing arguments – the defense went first – Weinstein claimed, "Everything Neil did after finding the bodies was because he loved them.”

Yup, you heard that right! He didn’t call 911, he didn’t call Priscilla and Joe, he fled to England – because he loved them!

Weinstein, standing at the podium reading his closing, showed little emotion or conviction. His closing was based solely on Rachel killing Lillian and then herself.

Fabbri listened to the entire defense closing with an incredulous look on his face.

Weinstein’s theory is that Rachel positioned Lillian against her so that the baby would be over her heart. When she didn’t kill herself with that shot, shot again and hit herself in the forehead.

Entwistle on the other hand, was portrayed as the loving, caring husband and father. In this first-time floated theory, Weinstein said, “He was protecting Rachel’s honor. He wasn’t going to tell Manning he returned the gun to Carver. Neil, committed to not betraying Rachel’s memory.”

It’s an age-old tactic, but how sad for Rachel’s family and friends to endure listening to the “smear the victim” fairy tale woven by the defense.

Michael Fabbri, animatedly laid out, point-by-point, all the red herrings in the defense’s closing. He dramatically picked up the .22 caliber handgun and physically tried to enact how Rachel might have shot herself in the head…much as ritanita did in her entry on Saturday. Pretty much impossible.

He implored the jury to pay particular attention to the notepad found on the defendant that states Entwistle was willing to sell his story, “to the highest bidder.”

The photos, the tapes, and the weapon…it’s all in the jury’s hands now.

Lilly waits, Rachel waits, Priscilla & Joe wait…we all wait for justice.