The fate of 50-year-old Robert George Arvizu accused of murdering his Newlywed bride is now in the hands of the jury.
Closing arguments in the week-long murder trial wrapped up Friday morning with the continuation of defense arguments made by Arvizu’s lawyer C. Edward Mack which began late Thursday afternoon.
Jurors who have listened to testimony since July 20 inside a 4th floor courtroom at San Fernando Superior Court began deliberating about 10:30 a.m.
Much of the evidence presented and questioned in the case centered on the evening of May 23, 2015, the last day anyone recalled seeing Arvizu’s wife Courtney alive.
The body of 25-year-old Courtney Arvizu, was found inside her husband’s Newhall apartment on 9th Street between Newhall Avenue and Chestnut Street, shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Sunday May 24, 2015.
She had been punched in the face and then smothered to death, according to evidence presented by Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer.
“Her marriage to the defendant started with violence and ended with violence,” Kramer said during her closing arguments delivered Thursday.
Kramer was referring to an incident of domestic violence during with Courtney was strangled, an incident investigated by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department in March 2015, a day after the couple was married.
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