From Monday: Todt trial begins; prosecutor: "You're going to return a return a verdict of guilty"
From Tuesday: Jury views Anthony Todt's interview with detectives, detailing killings
From Wednesday: Anthony Todt takes witness stand: "My wife killed her kids"
By Thursday around lunchtime, a jury in the murder case of Anthony Todt had heard closing statements from attorneys, been read their instructions and began deliberating the case, in which Todt is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife and three children, and with animal cruelty in the death of the family dog.
In addition to a not guilty verdict, jurors will be able to convict on charges of first-degree murder or the lesser charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter.
In the prosecution’s closing remarks, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pinelle said Todt “shattered” what was the start of a normal December, by killing the family, living with their bodies in the Celebration home, and keeping out-of-state family members at arm’s reach.
“The defendant wanted control. He was controlling the family with what information he gave after they were dead — that they couldn’t talk because they were sick with the flu,” Pinelle said. “He was intentionally deceptive with his family so he could finish what he started.”
She reminded the jury of how Todt described how he went into the rooms of children Zoe, Aleksander and Tyler, and ended their lives, and how he later killed his wife Megan, in an interview with detectives shown to jurors on Tuesday.
“It is all consistent with the evidence … they didn’t die of the stab wounds, they died of suffocation,” she said. “Really look at the defendant’s interview, they describe how these murders happen. The defendant is very meticulous … and rather nonchalantly explains how he killed them.”
Defense attorney Alisha Smith reminded the jurors of the definition of “reasonable doubt,” and said it is present in much of what prosecutors presented.
“There are gaps, there are holes, there is reasonable doubt,” she said. “What the state wants (a conviction) and what the evidence has shown are two different things.”
Neither the medical examiner or a toxicologist could establish the level of Benadryl was the direct cause of death, she said.
“Even though we have an unnatural death, we can’t establish what the cause of death actually was,” Smith noted.
The knife found at the scene contained blood and DNA from every family member, but Smith maintained that state’s witnesses did not establish when or how the DNA got there. No blood evidence was found in the home outside of the home’s master bedroom, yet middle son Tyler — “the quick one” — was reportedly killed downstairs.
“There’s no blood, no trail of blood from the downstairs. That doesn’t make sense,” Smith said.
She also noted that Todt told detectives the children were stabbed, then suffocated, and then they died, while medical experts said they couldn’t establish the stab wounds weren’t fatal.
“If you conclude the defendant’s out of court statement was not freely made, you must disregard it. The state can’t pick and choose when they want you to believe his statement.”
The jury has began its deliberation. The News-Gazette and AroundOsceola.com will bring you the verdict when it is rendered.
