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Michael Blagg Murder Trial: Jury Begins Deliberations

GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4) - A jury in Jefferson County has begun deliberations in the second murder trial of Michael Blagg.

They were sent home on Monday evening after not yet coming to a verdict.

The defense has rested its case on Friday and closing arguments in the retrial were delivered on Monday.

Defense attorneys claim it was not Blagg who killed his wife, but rather a serial pedophile and killer who had entered the house.

Michael Blagg
Michael Blagg with Jennifer and Abby (credit: CBS)

Blagg's family has stood by him all these years. Blagg sat without emotion as his attorney told the jury, "The monster that did this robbed Michael, Jennifer, and Abby of their lives."

Prosecutors say the couple had been fighting over Blagg's use of pornography.

They asked why Blagg came home and called 911 before searching for his wife and daughter.

Michael Blagg
Michael Blagg in April 9, 2004, at the Mesa County Justice Center in Grand Junction. (credit: Lyn Alweis/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

They say he staged the home to look like a robbery.

"He stood over his wife's head, covered it and shot her in the face," the prosecution argued.

They claim Blagg shot his wife in the head and took her body to a trash compactor where he worked. Jennifer Blagg's body was found in a landfill several months later.

MICHAEL BLAGG 6PKG_frame_251
(credit: CBS)

Their young daughter Abby also disappeared at the same time. Her body has never been found, but investigators Abby is presumed dead.

Blagg was found guilty of murdering his wife Jennifer in Grand Junction in 2004, but a judge threw out his original conviction because a juror lied on her jury questionnaire by not revealing her connection to domestic violence.

The case was moved to Golden in an attempt to find an impartial jury due to all the publicity on the western slope.

 

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