Closing arguments given in missing Ariz. baby case

By Jacques Billeaud

Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, Oct. 16 2012 5:06 p.m. MDT

FILE - This March 17, 2010 file photo shows Elizabeth Johnson, mother of missing baby Gabriel, listens at a hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. A prosecutor says Johnson, an Arizona woman charged in the disappearance of her baby more than two years ago had run off to another state with the boy as a way to retaliate against his father for ending their tumultuous relationship.

Ross D. Franklin, Pool, File, Associated Press

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Summary

An attorney for an Arizona woman charged in the disappearance of her baby more than two years ago told jurors they're probably angry at his client but shouldn't be swayed by their emotions.

PHOENIX — An attorney for an Arizona woman charged in the disappearance of her baby more than two years ago told jurors they're probably angry at his client but shouldn't be swayed by their emotions.

Defense attorney Marc Victor told the jury during his closing arguments Tuesday that the case is not "about whether or not you like Elizabeth Johnson."

Victor says the jury like will convict the 26-year-old Johnson on a custodial interference charge because she violated a judge's custody order. But he says prosecutors haven't proved their case on the other two charges against her — kidnapping and conspiracy to commit custodial inference.

Johnson has pleaded in the December 2009 disappearance of her then-8-month-old son, Gabriel.

Prosecutors presented their closing arguments earlier in the day.

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