Jeffrey Acker’s fate is in a jury’s hands.
Final arguments concluded about noon and, after receiving the judge’s instructions, the jury was to begin deliberating at 2 p.m.
Since Tuesday, defense and prosecuting attorneys have brought forward evidence and witnesses to tell the story of the baseball bat bludgeoning death of Carolyn Patterson in her Vanceboro home three summers ago and what, exactly, was Acker’s involvement in it.
Up until closing arguments, there was no doubt that Acker was the one who killed her on the evening of August 23. The defendant left a note about it on the table and then proceeded to tell dozens of people – from a 911 operator to patrons at an Oriental tiki bar to numerous law enforcement people that he did just that. The question under consideration was, “Why?”