Jury to decide fate of N.J. dad who threw toddler in river

Jury deliberations are to begin on Wednesday in the murder trial of a New Jersey father accused of murdering his 2-year-old daughter, Tierra Morgan-Glover, by throwing her into a creek while she was still strapped into a her car seat.

The lawyer for Arthur Morgan III does not deny that he committed the crime, but instead argues he had a fragile mental state at the time of the murder. His lawyer described Morgan Tuesday as a loving father who snapped in a jealous frenzy, and asked that he serve as little as five years in jail.

Prosecutors, however, called Morgan, 29, a premeditated killer who knew exactly what he was doing when he threw his defenseless daughter into the creek while in the throws of a jealous rage because the girl's mother, Imani Benton, would not get back together with him. Morgan is accused of weighing down his toddler's car seat with a tire-changing jack so it would sink in Nov. 2011.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr. said there's more than enough evidence to convict Morgan and denied a defense motion Tuesday to dismiss murder and other charges against him. If convicted of "knowing and purposeful" murder, he could get life in prison without parole, though a lesser conviction for manslaughter would see him released in just five years.

Morgan fled to California following the death, and was found there by a fugitive recovery task force.

Morgan declined to testify in the case, and his defense rested without presenting any witnesses.