Jury deliberations enter day three in Scott trial

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
A month after being summoned to jury duty at the Franklin County Courthouse, a group of six men and six women are meeting behind closed doors to determine the fate of a Russellville woman accused of killing her six year-old son.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors wrapped up closing arguments Monday afternoon in the capital murder trial of Christie Michelle Scott.
Scott, 30, is accused of setting fire to her family's home at 180 Signore Drive last August. Her son, Mason Scott, who had just entered the first grade at Russellville's West Elementary School, was killed during the fire.
If convicted, Scott would be sentenced to life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
Prosecutors believe Scott set fire to an unoccupied bed in Mason's room where his younger brother usually slept. Four year-old Noah Scott was asleep in his mother's room when the fire began.
Defense attorneys have argued that the fire was an accident. There has been no exact cause determined.
District Attorney Joey Rushing said that although the case is built on circumstantial evidence, there is plenty there for jurors to convict Scott.
"I want you to focus on her actions before, during and after the fire," Rushing told jurors as he recalled testimony from the case.
"It was a crime that happened because Mrs. Scott wanted to collect $175,000 in insurance," he said. "She wanted to be free of the burden of raising an autistic child.
Rushing spoke of different conversations Scott had with people immediately after the fire, including whether or not she tried entering the family's garage while the house was on fire. A neighbor said she never tried entering a code on the garage door opener, while Scott insists she did so repeatedly.
He also questioned why she took out additional life insurance on Mason one day before the fire, but apparently had indiscrepancies on some of the answers on her enrollment forms.
Defense attorney Robert Tuten said the fire was accidental, but local investigators got caught in a "tornado of rumors" following the fire and began a "quest for conviction."
"This was a bad investigation," he said. "They lost sight of investigating the facts and began investigating all the rumors around town."
Tuten played segments from a taped interview with four year-old Noah Riley Scott taken about 10 days after the fire. He told jurors that the prosecution was using Noah's statements to build a case against Scott.
Rushing countered by saying the tapes used of Noah Scott were entered into evidence by the defense team, not prosecutors.
In closing statements, Tuten said that Scott is innocent.
"She did not commit a crime. She did not commit arson, she did not commit murder. Christie did not kill Mason," he said.
He used an example often used in law school. Tuten said that if a person goes to bed and wakes up to find snow in the yard with rabbit tracks in it, a person can only conclude that a rabbit had been in the yard.
"But, it doesn't tell you which rabbit," he said.
Rushing countered Tuten's argument in his statements to jurors.
"Christie Scott was the only rabbit in that house that night."
Jurors began deliberating late Monday and continued throughout the day Tuesday.
They will meet again today to resume their deliberations.
If convicted, Scott could become only the second person, and first female, in Franklin County to receive the death penalty.