From the cutting room floor: Cameron Brown murder retrial closing arguments - Part VII

Part VI

Continuing defense attorney Pat Harris' closing argument:

• Regarding Key-Marer: "I can't in my wildest dreams imagine what she's going through." The pain has "got to be overwhelming." But Key-Marer wants Brown convicted, she is biased and willing to say anything, even stretch the truth.
• Regarding Brown's threats to call the INS and have her deported - the INS never came. What did she do after? She invited him to a Christmas party after she supposedly got these calls.
• Videos showed Lauren skating, in the ocean and in a lake. They show she is not as timid as the prosecution wants to paint her out to be. (I'm told the videos, which I didn't see, show her getting her feet wet at the beach, but not going in and swimming).
• The idea that Lauren was a "girly girl" came from when she was 2 years old.
• An expert on family law court said this case was nothing unique and "mild" and "run of the mill."
• Leslie should have recorded all his interviews with Brown.
• That Brown or Lauren was always in front or always behind during the hike is wrong to assume. It wasn't a "military doing marches." If Lauren was behind at all, she was always very close to Brown. "It's a hike, it's not a march to see who can be in front and who cannot."
• It was never a 50 minute hike.
• Involuntary manslaughter conviction would mean Lauren's death was the result of a "misjudgment" or "misadeventure."
• Neither first or second degree murder apply to Brown. They both require intent, a desire to see someone hurt. "That's not what happened here. I think we've shown this was an accident."
• You have to make a choice between involuntary manslaughter and not guilty. Involuntary manslaughter means there was no intent to harm, but no mistake that inattention occurred here. This is not a murder case.
• "This man did not go up there and throw his daughter off the cliff."
• Brown married Patti for money, but he had no access to her money.
• Brown's mother would have paid what he owed in child support if Brown would've asked.
• Brown was able to make extra money working overtime - up to $400 to $500 a week.
• More child custody does not make a better deal financially, since you have to pay more expenses, like entertainment, gifts, school tuition, clothes, etc.
• The idea that Patti wanted Lauren was fabricated by the prosecution to explain the adoption issue.
• (Harris starts to talk softly, almost in a whisper here). In our culture, somebody's go to pay. A young child died. It's an "emotional, horrible" situation. We expect now that somebody's got to pay for it.
• We appeal to hate and revenge - the worst of human nature. Seen a glimpse of that in the discussions on the Internet about this case.
• I know there's a grieving mother, a beautiful young girl who died. I understand they "muddied" him up.
• Harris said he wanted to appeal to the good in the jurors. Look at the evidence, not the emotions, not the fact that a 4-year-old girl died.
• I really believe, when you look at the evidence, not innuendo, not speculation, not the nasty stuff - you'll find "there's no way - it's just not possible - that he picked her up and threw her over the cliff."

That's it. I'm done. Jury resumes deliberations tomorrow morning.