Glen Hanson, professor in the University of Utah's Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, testified as a prosecution witness and stated that psilocybin is a less potent hallucingen than LSD.

Both Golding and Hanson agreed that psilocybin is not generally associated with violent behavior. Golding testified that psilocybin is typically not used to enhance sexual experiences, but Hanson said there are examples of people using it to heighten sensory experiences.

Defense attorney Brian Gardner told jurors they need to understand the full context of what happened that fatal night. Gardner said there was no evidence Dutson did what he did so he could commit rape. Gardner said Dutson was so high he had reached an obvious "hallucinatory paranoid and irrational" level of fear.

The victim's death was horrible and tragic, according to Gardner, but Dutson did not intend to kill her. He urged the jury not to convict Dutson of murder and aggravated sexual assault, but instead find him guilty of the lesser charges of manslaughter and sexual battery.

Prosecutor Kimberley McKinnon Crandall strongly disagreed, noting that Dutson was demanding sex from his girlfriend in front of other people and playing a game with the gun, pointing it at her and then putting it down as she repeatedly ducked behind people to get out of his line of fire.

Even after he shot her, he almost completely undressed her and took off most of his own clothes, Crandall said, reminding the jurors of earlier testimony.

"We all make choices in life," Crandall said. Dutson, she said, chose to do drugs, pulled out a loaded gun, aimed at his girlfriend and then pulled the trigger.

"This case is about the fact that Kara is dead and it is because of the actions of the defendant," she said, showing a framed photograph of the girl to the jurors.

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E-mail: lindat@desnews.com