Fla. jury deliberates in fatal shooting of 8-year-old girl

(CBS/WSTP) CLEARWATER, Fla. - Jurors are deliberating in the case of a Florida 8-year-old who was killed in the midst of a 2009 gang shooting.

CBS affiliate WSTP reports that prosecutors delivered their dramatic closing arguments Tuesday. Prosecutor Doneene Dresback-Loar stood in front of the jury holding the assault rifle supposedly fired into the home where Paris Whitehead Hamilton was killed.

She urged the jury to use common sense, and see the clear connection between the bullet casings, fingerprints and a getaway car. Dresback-Loar asked jurors to reject the idea that the three accused men were somehow acting in self-defense.

She said, "They were not defending themselves. You're not defending yourself when you fire 56 rounds into a house."

21-year-olds Dondae Davis, Duong Ngueyn and Stephen Harper are accused of killing Whitehead-Hamilton after trying to kill a rival gang member dubbed "Monster."

The Tampa Bay Times says Dresback-Loar detailed the men's failed plan to kill their rival. The prosecution said the three accused, and a fourth, were part of a neighborhood gang called The Bethel Heights Boys and were upset that someone from the 8-Hype gang had shot in their direction.

In April 2009, they drove to a house where they thought "Monster" was, and Nguyen got out and used assault rifles to fire 56 rounds into the house. The alleged gang target was unharmed, but the 8-year-old girl was struck by a bullet and killed.

The prosecution's star witness was a fourth suspect in the crime, Mario Walls, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of 2nd-degree murder and testified against the other three men involved.

WSTP reports that in the closing arguments by the defense, lawyers attacked Walls' motive and credibility. They said that without his testimony, which they believe is unreliable, the physical evidence against their clients is very weak.

One of them called Walls' testimony a "rotten piece of meat in the state's stew."

The jury spent two hours deliberating the case before Tuesday night, and is resuming discussions Wednesday.