Closing arguments are set to begin Thursday morning at 9 at the Greene County Courthouse in Springfield in the trial of an Ash Grove man charged with abducting and killing Hailey Owens.
Craig Wood is charged in Greene County with first degree murder and four other felonies
Prosecutors rested their case on Wednesday, and Craig Wood did not take the witness stand.
The 49-year-old Wood is charged with first degree murder, child kidnapping, rape, sodomy and armed criminal action.
Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson is seeking the death penalty against Wood.
Reporter Daniel Shedd at Missourinet Springfield television partner KOLR-10 reports prosecutors and defense attorneys argued in court Wednesday over how autopsy photos should be shown to the jury.
Shedd reports jurors wiped away tears, as they were handed blue folders containing photos taken of Owens’ body at the 2014 crime scene.
Prosecutors also called forensic pathologist Dr. Carl Stacy of the University of Missouri to the stand on Wednesday. Dr. Stacy testifies that Hailey Owens died from a gunshot wound to the head.
KOLR-10 notes Craig Wood was a paraprofessional and a coach at Springfield’s Pleasant View Elementary and Middle School
The jury was selected last week in western Missouri’s Platte County, because of extensive news media coverage in the Ozarks.
The jury was transported to Springfield for the trial and is sequestered.
The jury is expected to get the case Thursday morning.
