VISTA, Calif. — Closing arguments began Monday in the case against a Solana Beach woman charged with murdering her stepfather, after finding her nude photos on his computer.
Prosecutors in North County court argued Jade Janks, 39, made a plan to drug and suffocate her stepfather, Tom Merriman, 64, after finding the nude photos while cleaning his house in December 2020.
Deputy District Attorney Jorge Del Portillo told the jury of eight women and four men that Janks picked up Merriman from a hospital, bought him whiskey, and gave him sleeping pills until he passed out before suffocating him in the back of her SUV.
“She puts on a glove on her left hand, a glove on her right hand, hands on Tom's neck, and just squeezes the life out of him,” Del Portillo said.
The case hinges on a series of text messages Janks sent to friends on December 31, 2020, the date Merriman died. One of them read, “I just dosed the hell out of him.”
Previously, on the witness stand in her own defense, Janks admitted she dumped Merriman’s body by his house, underneath a pile of trash and did not tell police.
“Is it reasonable she didn't plan it, given the text messages? Is it reasonable that she didn't dose him, when she said ‘I dosed him," Del Portillo asked.
Defense attorney Marc Carlos began his closing argument by focusing on the hundreds of nude photos found by Janks, eight days before Merriman died of acute intoxication from sleeping pills.
“They were cached in body parts, ‘Jade shower,’ ‘Jade’ and then the body part. So, imagine just for a second what that’s like, imagine what is going through your mind when you see that; the devastation, the betrayal,” said Carlos.
The defense attorney also argued Merriman could have overdosed by his own accord.
“He's a prescription drug abuser. He was an alcoholic. He had heart problems. He was a mess,” he said.
During more than an hour of closing argument, Carlos only mentioned the text messages once.
“There are texts which are all subject to interpretation, which all can go either way,” Carlos told the jury.
He also argued there was no evidence of strangulation on Merriman’s body.
“So, they want you to believe that this woman, Jade Janks, stood over her stepfather, grabbed him by the throat and strangled him, lightly, without leaving marks,” said Carlos.
Closing arguments will wrap up Tuesday morning with rebuttal from the prosecution.
The jury has the option of finding Janks not guilty, guilty of first or second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, or involuntary manslaughter. Any verdict must be unanimous.
WATCH RELATED: Solana Beach woman accused of killing stepdad testifies about finding nude photos of herself (Dec. 2022).