Leah Freeman Ore. murder cold case goes to jury 11 years after teen's death

(CBS/KCBY) COQUILLE, Ore. - The emotional murder case of Oregon teenager Leah Freeman is now in the hands of the jury  after closing arguments Monday afternoon that brought tears to the defendant's eyes and accused investigators of chasing the wrong man for almost 10 years.

PICTURES: Leah Freeman Cold Case Heats Up

In his closing argument, District Attorney Paul Frasier described the romantic relationship between 15-year-old Leah and then 18-year-old Nick McGuffin as volatile, and said that it was one fraught with "teenaged emotions" that "could erupt, and did erupt into violence. The pressure, the fighting...erupted into a catastrophe that ended the life of Leah Freeman," Frasier told the jury, according to CBS affiliate KCBY.

Leah was last seen the night of June 28, 2000 after leaving a friend's house. One of her shoes was found later that night; the other, splattered with blood, a week later. Then on August 3, Leah's badly decomposed body was found down an embankment off the side of a road. Because of the state of the remains, a cause of death was never determined.

Frasier says he believes that while Leah's parents and friends were frantically searching for her, McGuffin was frantically trying to cover up his crime, "and after that incident occurred there's some panic. What am I going to do?" Frasier said, KCBY reported.

An emotional McGuffin wiped away tears as his defense attorney, Shaun McCrea, began her closing argument by calling the a case a "tale of two star-crossed lovers, Prince Charming and Babydoll ..." noting the nicknames McGuffin and Freeman had for each other, according to The Oregonian.

"There wasn't anything going on between Nick McGuffin and Leah Freeman that would incite him to want to kill her that night. The evidence just isn't there. The evidence is that he was protective of her, he was defensive of her," McCrea told the jurors, according to KCBY. "[Their] relationship was good."

McCrea also attacked what she called a lack of evidence on the prosecution's side, saying "there is no DNA that connects Nick McGuffin, no blood in the car. Not one trace, not one iota, not one scintilla," the Oregonian reported.

"If you find Nick McGuffin guilty, the case is closed. [The State] needs to use this forensic evidence and keep comparing it until they find out who killed Leah,' McCrea continued according to the paper. "This is what we all want, justice for Leah."

In final statements to the jury, just before lunch Monday, Frasier paraphrased a Mississippi prosecutor when he asked them to "act boldly, to hold the defendant accountable for what he did to Leah Freeman," he said, according to the Oregonian. "It is right, it is just and Lord knows it is about time. It is never too late to do the right thing. The right thing is to find the defendant guilty."

The jury got the case Monday afternoon and was expected to resume deliberations Tuesday.

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
August 25, 2010 - Leah Freeman Update: Nicholas McGuffin Pleads Not Guilty, Says "I'm Not a Flight Risk"August 24, 2010 - Leah Freeman Cold Case: High School Sweetheart Nicholas McGuffin Arrested 10 Years After Her Death