EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — The fate of Letecia Stauch, the Colorado woman accused of murdering her 11-year-old stepson Gannon, is now in the hands of a jury.
After deliberation on Friday, the jury was dismissed for the weekend and will return on Monday.
FOX31 was in the courtroom on Friday, alongside family members, for the closing arguments.
Around 1 p.m. prosecution wrapped up the state’s rebuttal. Gannon’s father could be heard crying in the courtroom, with the emotion visible on his biological mother’s face as they heard their son’s name one final time in the courtroom.
“Gannon has been in a box back here for the whole trial, this is what the trial should be about,” state prosecutor Dave Young said.
After three years of waiting and five weeks of testimony in the trial, family and countless followers of this case heard the final arguments Friday.
Stauch is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. Her attorneys say she did murder Gannon, but wasn’t sane at the time. The defense had a doctor testify that Stauch appeared to show symptoms of dissociative identity disorder in a sanity evaluation performed last November. The defense argued that Staunch’s psychosis stems from trauma from being abused by a child.
“We’re not saying to set her free, to let her go, we’re not saying don’t hold her responsible,” defense attorney Josh Tolini said to the jury. “We’re saying to consider the mental illness she suffers and send her to CMHHIP,” Tolini said, referring to the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo.
The state reiterated Friday that multiple doctors, who evaluated Letecia and testified in the trial, did not find Stauch to have dissociative identity disorder. The state argued that the evidence shows Stauch calculated every step of the way. Prosecutors argued that web searches on her phone, searches about hating her stepson, searching how long it takes a body to decompose and looking up face transplants shows she knew right from wrong.
Prosecutors stated that the way Stauch transported Gannon’s body across the country in a suitcase and dumped it in Florida furthers their argument Stauch’s actions were calculated, not insane.
“There are people who are truly, legally insane, ladies and gentlemen. They don’t act like that,” Young said to the jury, adding, “If they don’t have the capacity to know right from wrong, they won’t hide the body. They act like nothing had happened.”
Both sides argued Friday that the brutal manner of Gannon’s death — how he was stabbed 18 times, the blunt force trauma to his head and then how he was shot at three times — prove the opposing arguments.
“There’s no rational basis for the murder besides psychosis,” Tolini said. “This is not premeditated murder, this is a psychotic break. That is the only thing that makes sense.”
“Why do all the things she did if she didn’t know what she was doing was wrong?” District Attorney Michael Allen said. “It is not psychosis, it’s all about Letecia. Gannon deserves justice — Gannon Jacob Stauch, 11 years old.”
As of Friday, there are five alternates left in the case and 12 jurors who were sent to deliberate around 1 p.m. The jury was dismissed after 5 p.m. Friday and will return on Monday at 9 a.m.
Following the verdict, the district attorney will address the media. Family members are invited to speak as well.