FARGO - Jurors began deliberating today at about noon, following a morning of closing arguments in the Gene Kirkpatrick murder conspiracy trial.
Cass County State's Attorney Birch Burdick drew the jury's attention back to the interview Kirkpatrick gave police five days after Philip Gattuso was bloodily beaten to death with a hammer on Oct. 26, 2009.
In that interview, the 64-year-old from Jones, Okla., said he paid his handyman Michael Nakvinda $3,000 in connection with a murder-for-hire they had discussed to get rid of Gattuso, who'd been married to the daughter of Kirkpatrick before she died in March 2009. He also said he taped a video of Gattuso's home at the request of Nakvinda.
That corroborates allegations that Kirkpatrick and Nakvinda had reached at least an implied agreement, the prosecutor argued.
"Actions speak louder than words," Burdick said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Defense attorney Mack Martin pointed to 26 times he counted up in the Halloween night questioning in which Kirkpatrick denied having told Nakvinda to go ahead with plans the defense claims were merely the venting of a grieving father and grandfather.
"They never put their case together, and there's 26 reasons why," he said.
Nakvinda was convicted of murdering Gattuso in a jury trial in December.
Check back later this afternoon for an updated version of this story.
