BATAVIA, NY -- Apply your common sense, jurors in the Scott Doll murder trial were told this morning.
That was the plea from Doll's attorney Paul Cambria and the message from District Attorney Lawrence Friedman.
But of course, the two experienced attorneys disagreed on where common sense would lead the jury.
For Cambria, it was toward acquittal and for Friedman it was toward conviction.
Around 2 this afternoon, after 45 minutes of instructions from Judge Robert C. Noonan, the 12 primary jurors were led to a private room where they are expected to deliberate in secret until they determine which trail of common sense leads to a verdict of guilt or innocence.
"I'm going to go through the evidence with you step-by-step," said Cambria to start his final presentation to the jury. "I'm going to show you that the evidence demonstrates, or fails to demonstrate, guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I'm guided by common sense and I think common sense always rules the day ... I'm asking you to look at the case as reasonable people would look at it."
Friedman opened his closing argument by characterizing the defense case as "speculation."
"I will ask you to return a verdict based on facts," Friedman said.
As he wound up his remarks, Friedman referenced "Occam's razor," a rule of logic that postulates that the simplest explanation is often the right explanation.
"Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is not an invitation to abandon common sense," Friedman said. "Common sense will lead you to the correct answer. Common sense will answer the question, 'who did this?'"
NOTE: Assuming the jury doesn't come back with a verdict some time soon, I will write a more in depth story about the closing arguments tonight.
