She Wanted It All - Kathryn Casey [177]
Back on his feet, DeGuerin stared at the jurors and demanded: “You must return a not guilty verdict if you believe she was absolutely innocent, if she was definitely not guilty, if she was probably not guilty, and if she might not be guilty… The state did not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt because they don’t have the evidence. All this other trash, this soap opera, does not prove Celeste is guilty.”
At 6:45 that evening the rest of the courthouse was dark and the crowds had thinned as Allison Wetzel rose to give the final closing argument. She began by thanking the jurors on behalf of the state of Texas, Steve’s family and his children.
“Gary Cobb ran out of time earlier,” she said. “He’d like you to look at the two date books and compare what Steve writes on the family one versus what is in Celeste’s own book. You’ll note there’s no mention of the trip to Europe in hers. That’s because she never planned to go.”
After DeGuerin’s highly emotional pleas, Wetzel wanted to be calm. The jury, she judged, had had enough. This was a different prosecutor from the one who’d given an opening statement, one more self-assured. If DeGuerin had once gotten under her skin, he was there no longer. “I wish we’d known in the beginning of the trial that Mr. DeGuerin was going to admit the relationship between the women was sexual,” she said. “It would have saved us a lot of time.”
Tracey had told Barbara Grant that Celeste insisted she be monogamous. “Monogamy isn’t just I want to play house,” Wetzel said. “It’s you-and-me-babe.”
Then she talked of the twins’ testimony: “Ninety percent of what Kristina and Jennifer told you is the same as what Christopher and Amy told you. The defendant looked forward to Steve’s death. She hated having sex with that old man.”
For the jury, Wetzel organized the evidence, drawing together the elements that pointed to Celeste’s involvement, everything from banning the teens from revealing Tracey’s name to the cell phone bills. Scoffing at the notion that the killing wasn’t about money, she held up the state’s financial chart, showing a sharp rise in Celeste’s spending, and then pointed out that the day Steve died, Celeste’s overriding concern was getting on his bank account. “That tells you something,” she said.
When it came to the cause of death, she quoted from Bayardo and Dr. Coscia, Steve’s surgeon, who’d said the symptoms matched pulmonary embolism. But for any juror not convinced, she held up a photo Justin had taken of Celeste’s hands after Steve died, with pockets of infection across her fingers. Wetzel’s implication was that if Steve died of an infection, it had come from Celeste.
“Celeste Beard gave Donna Goodson ten thousand dollars. That wasn’t just for brushing her hair, folks,” she said. “Even Dr. Gotway admits Celeste talked about hiring a hit man to get rid of Tracey. Who was their star witness? Katina Lofton, a ten-time felon who asks Celeste for money.”
Lofton, Wetzel said, thought Celeste was going to be her Santa Claus.
“When you’re rich like Celeste Beard, you can buy lawyers and witnesses. Maybe in some places special people get special treatment. But when it comes to the courtroom, that stops,” she said. “If you find Celeste Beard not guilty, you’re basically telling her money can buy anything. The defendant is guilty of capital murder. This defendant is guilty of injury to the elderly. I believe in this jury.”
Forty-eight days after it began, the trial of Celeste Beard Johnson ended. With that, the jury was led from the courtroom.
Deliberations were agony for both sides. Steve’s children spent much of their time in Halbert’s office, thinking back over all that had happened. At times they were seen outside the front doors, smoking quietly, looking tired and sad. They were all furious at DeGuerin for his final tactic—lying on the table with the pillow over his middle. To them, he