Deliberations in murder trial to begin Tuesday

Jurors will begin deliberating Tuesday and decide whether to convict 28-year-old Lafayette Cosby for the April 2004 murder of Robert Martin, 28, at a south Lawrence apartment complex.

Attorneys wrapped up their closing arguments Friday afternoon.

James McCabria, an assistant Douglas County district attorney, told jurors that several witnesses testified this week that Cosby walked up and shot Martin three times during an early-morning party without provocation.

But Cosby’s defense attorney, Greg Robinson, said jurors don’t have enough evidence to find that Cosby intended to kill Martin. Robinson argued that Martin could have been reaching for something during the altercation and that someone could have removed evidence from the apartment before police were able to investigate the crime scene.

This is Cosby’s second trial after a jury convicted him in November 2004 of first-degree murder, but a Kansas Supreme Court ruling late last year granted him a new trial. A majority of justices said errors were committed by District Judge Jack Murphy and the district attorney’s office at the time.