WOBURN, Mass., June 24 (UPI) -- Jury deliberations are under way in the Massachusetts trial of Neil Entwistle shortly after his defense argued that his wife killed their daughter and herself.
"Neil found Rachel and Lillian dead," attorney Elliot Weinstein said in his Monday closing arguments in Middlesex Superior Court, explaining that Entwistle had returned the gun to his in-laws' home and didn't report finding the bodies in order to protect his wife, Rachel. No witnesses were presented to back the allegation, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.
The theory that Rachel Entwistle, 27, had shot the couple's 9-month-old baby and then herself surfaced earlier in the trial. But until Monday, Entwistle's defense had never acknowledged that he saw the gun on the bed and had never admitted returning the weapon to his father-in-law's house, the Globe said.
Prosecutor Michael Fabbri reminded the jury during closing arguments that Weinstein's assertions weren't evidence in the trial and rejected the suggestion of a murder-suicide.
"Why would Rachel commit suicide?" he asked rhetorically. "Is there any evidence before you that suggests she had the desire or intent to commit suicide? She was back home. She had her family and ... what she thought was a loving husband."
