Jury deliberates the fate of accused killer Michael Mosley | Crime

TROY- After more than three weeks of testimony in a double murder trial, a Rensselaer County jury has the case, charged with deciding whether Michael Mosley of Averill Park brutally beat and stabbed a Troy couple in 2002.

The jury deliberated just under an hour before being advised by the judge to go home at 4:30, get a good night sleep and start fresh in the morning. This was after hours of hearing closing arguments by attorneys trying to prove the guilt or innocence of Michael Mosley.

"In this case it was science that finally cracked the question of who, who did this to Arica Schneider and Sam Holley," Assistant District Attorney Christa Book told the jury.

She said that the only person who left physical evidence at a gruesome crime scene nine years ago was Mosley. Book presented evidence that his DNA on a bed sheet and a palm print on a wall are proof, saying Mosley brutally beat and repeatedly stabbed Sam Holley and his girlfriend Arica Schneider.

"The only conclusion that can be drawn from all of this is that the defendant is guilty," Book told jurors Wednesday.

Prosecutors have suggested that Mosley tried to buy crack and was refused, flying into a rage and killing the couple.

But defense attorney Terry Kindlon says Mosley had gone clean prior to the murders and considered Holley a friend. Kindlon said he had no motive to kill the couple.

"Sitting like an 800-pound guerilla in the room, is that there's no motive. None. Not any. Why on earth would Mike do this? I may be able to say unkind things about Frost, but Mike likes him," defense attorney Terry Kindlon said in his closing argument.

Mosley earlier testified he had stopped by the apartment after the murders to give Holley a ride, stumbling on the bodies and fleeing, too afraid to tell anyone. The defense said Mosley left behind blood from his bleeding hand that he had cut the day before when snowboarding with his son.

"He showed up after it occurred, he doesn't know who committed it he had no part in it. He witnessed dead bodies, stayed for a few minutes and then left," Kindlon told jurors.

Deliberations resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Mosley faces life in prison without parole if convicted.