Jury to resume deliberation in Letecia Stauch murder trial of stepson Gannon on Monday

UPDATE: Jury convicts Letecia Stauch in murder of stepson Gannon​

Jury deliberations will resume Monday at 9 a.m. in the trial of Letecia Stauch. She is charged with murdering her 11-year-old stepson Gannon, as well as child abuse resulting in death and tampering with evidence.

On Friday, after five weeks of trial, it came down to one final plea to the jury from each side.

District Attorney Mike Allen, who is prosecuting the case, told jurors "You don't have to prove motive, but we did anyway... this defendant hated Gannon."

Defense Attorney Josh Tolini acknowledged that Letecia Stauch killed her stepson Gannon, "The fact and we are not disputing it, ladies and gentlemen, it was her, but she was not in her right mind when she did it."

They argued that after a troubled childhood, Letecia Stauch was suffering from a multiple personality disorder with different people living inside her. The prosecution disagreed.

Allen in his rebuttal said, "That freaking out that she is supposedly doing, that's acting... it's not psychosis, it's all about Letecia."

She reported him missing in January 2020. A large manhunt failed to turn up any sign of the boy until he was discovered in Northwest Florida inside a suitcase in March of that same year.

Tolini insisted his client was insane, "The only thing that makes sense is a psychotic break there is no other rational explanation to understand why this happened."

Prosecutors wanted to leave the jurors with the sound of Letecia and Gannon talking about an incident with a candle, "Gannon this is the last time I want to ask you are you sure you didn't do it on purpose? Yes."

If the verdict is guilty, Stauch will be sentenced to life in prison. If not guilty by reason of insanity, she will be sent to the state mental hospital for treatment.