FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -
Jurors will begin deliberations Tuesday morning in the trial of a man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend and his unborn child.
Stephanie Rabsatt, 17, was less than a month away from having her baby when she was found shot to death in a parked car. Police believe the baby was targeted, too, because Rabsatt was shot in the head and stomach.
Prosecutors said Edward Babbs, 19, pulled the trigger that October night in 2009 because he didn't want the baby and was angry that Rabsatt didn't terminate the pregnancy.
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The grisly scene was discovered in the parking lot of a Winn-Dixie store on Countyline Road in Miramar. Detectives believe Rabsatt was killed between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.
Prosecutors said Babbs’ whereabouts during that timeframe are unclear, and his own friends testified during the trial that he asked them to hide a gun and tell police he was with them.
But defense attorneys said there's very little evidence to convict Babbs. They said neither his fingerprints nor his DNA were found in the car, his clothes were never tested for gunshot residue and the cellphone records don't add up.
"At the time that 10:53 p.m. call is being placed, as the state points out to look at the cell towers to see where she was, I ask you to look at the phone records for Babbs at the same time, because if they were in the car together, reasonably they should be bonding off the same cell tower and they're not," defense attorney Jerome Stone told jurors.
Closing arguments wrapped up Monday afternoon. The jurors will begin their deliberations Tuesday morning. Babbs is facing two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole. Prosecutors could not seek the death penalty because Babbs was 17 at the time of the killing.
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