Did Carlos Bryant have murder on his mind when he entered his sister's apartment more than three years ago? Did he then intentionally stab her boyfriend, Robert Harrell Jr., in the chest?
Or was he merely defending himself, or his sister, in a struggle? Are there other doubts as to whether he sought blood that day?
That is now for the jury to decide, as final testimony and closing arguments on Tuesday wrapped up the murder trial of 24-year-old Bryant of Glassboro.
Revelations in the nearly two-week-old trial ranged from alleged Facebook threats made to the lone eyewitness to long-term domestic abuse sparking a sibling's rage.
Bryant was charged with first-degree murder, third-degree aggravated assault and weapons offenses in Harrell's death following a Dec. 18, 2007 struggle.
Harrell suffered four stab wounds. An autopsy revealed that one pierced his aorta Ð the body's largest artery Ð and caused the massive hemorrhaging that killed him.
Gloucester County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Brook had sought to prove Bryant made good on a threat to kill Harrell, the young man who'd repeatedly beaten his sister, Denishia Smith.
According to testimony, Bryant came to his sister's Monroe Township apartment the day of the killing to help his grandparents move in some furniture. He apparently didn't know Harrell would be there.
Two employees at the apartment complex testified that they'd made an agreement with Smith that the boyfriend was not welcome there. Nonetheless, Harrell answered the door when Bryant arrived that fateful day, and an argument ensued.
Bryant left, Brook asserted, only to retrieve a knife from his grandparents' car parked at the complex, and after a brief struggle with his sister, attacked Harrell and fatally stabbed him.
With testimony wrapping up Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Christine Allen-Jackson is scheduled this morning to give her charge Ð instructions on how the law should guide deliberations Ð to the jury. The deliberations and an eventual verdict, should the group reach one, follow.
In his closing argument, defense attorney Brian O'Malley said the prosecution had failed to prove his client had purposely killed Harrell.
"Murder is a difficult charge," O'Malley told the jury. "A young man is dead, and he should not have died. ... But that is not the issue. The issue is what happened.
"This is the most vital decision you could ever make regarding a fellow citizen," he later said of the stakes for Bryant.
"The murder count is ridiculous," he said of the first-degree charge. "This was a tragic death; it was not an intentional (killing)."
O'Malley in part questioned Smith's testimony, in which she'd said it appeared her brother was the attacker during the fight, and Harrell seemed to be making evasive and defensive motions.
Nonetheless, the attorney argued, Smith admitted she never saw a weapon in either man's hand. She'd also testified she didn't see the very beginning of the struggle and couldn't tell who truly attacked first.
O'Malley also said a knife blade found on the floor after the incident could have come from anywhere, including the apartment's kitchen, and no one knew who possessed it first.
He argued that the medical examiner who'd performed the autopsy on Harrell had admitted the fatal wound could have occurred as a result of the victim inadvertently thrusting himself upon the blade or running into it during the struggle.
O'Malley pointed out that investigators did not take DNA or blood samples from his client, nor did they test a small plastic bag of apparent white powder found in Harrell's possession after the incident.
While O'Malley didn't specifically the powder was cocaine, its presence could imply Harrell may have been under the influence, and that the prosecution had avoided that possibility.
O'Malley further questioned Smith's testimony, saying it may have been "colored" because members of the victim's family had allegedly threatened her in Facebook messages with harm, apparently in the event Bryant is acquitted.
Smith had admitted such threats were made. It was also claimed there were rumors from Harrell family members, mentioned in testimony, that Smith had actually conspired to have her boyfriend killed.
But Brook, for his part, was steadfast, even in conceding Harrell had been abusive.
"I know why Carlos Bryant killed (Harrell). ... Harrell used to beat his sister," Brook said. He added that while he never knew the victim, "I can tell you from what I know that I (wouldn't) like him. I know what I would want to do (about the abuse).
"But ... a crime occurs when want turns into action."
Brook continued that Bryant had apparently gone to his sister's apartment that December day "I would say for altruistic reasons ... to help his grandparents out."
But the encounter that took place quickly turned deadly. Brook recounted that after the initial argument with Harrell, the accused returned with a purpose.
He retrieved the knife, the prosecutor said, and it was then that he fulfilled a threat he'd made previously in a telephone conversation, in which he said of Harrell, "I'm going to kill him."
That went along with other statements Bryant allegedly made to Smith, in which he told her, "If I ever see him (Harrell), you're not going to be able to stop me."
"True to his word, (Bryant) was not to be dissuaded," Brook said. Harrell was behind Smith, he continued, not attacking the accused. But Bryant struggled with his sister, and the third time she tried to hold him back, he threw her to the floor, the prosecutor said in countering O'Malley's self-defense argument.
Brook asserted Harrell's stab wounds were defensive Ð one on back of the left forearm, just below the elbow, one on the left triceps, one to the left hip.
Then there was the fatal blow. Brook countered an argument made by O'Malley that if there was an intent to kill, Bryant would have more likely stabbed Harrell many more times than once, perhaps even "20 or 25 times."
"I'd agree that's pretty good evidence of intent, but when your equipment breaks, your day is done," Brook said, pointing out that the blade found at the scene had been broken from the handle. The handle, meanwhile, had been found outside the apartment.
Brook added that it would have taken lots of force to break the blade off during a stabbing, showing pretty lethal intent. And to him, it showed why Bryant would have left rather than inflicting more wounds.
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