Jurors deliberating in Benton case

Jurors today are continuing to deliberate over the fate of Ashley Benton, the 17-year-old girl accused of murdering an MS-13 gang member during a gang fight at a Montrose-area last last summer. Jurors got the case yesterday after closing arguments during which prosecutors and defense attorneys again brought out baseball bats and knives, some of the weapons used in the fight, and summed up seven days' worth of evidence from the trial. "Gabriel Granillo has an appointment with death," defense attorney Kent Schaffer told jurors. "It was either his or someone else's." But it doesn't matter who the victim was, prosecutor Mia Magness said, "saint or sinner."

During closing arguments, Schaffer tried to poke holes in statements from several gang members who testified for the prosecution, pointing out that one of the MS-13 members told 36 lies on the stand. "There are people older than me that haven't told 36 lies in their whole life," Schaffer said. "You don't think I wish I could have picked my witnesses?" Magness said, noting that gang members will testify in any trial over a gang killing. The crux of the case is whether or not Benton stabbed Granillo in self-defense, as she claims. Schaffer repeatedly swung a baseball bat in front of the jury, as Benton claims Granillo did to her: "He showed up with a bat in hand and he showed up in front of Ashley Benton to hurt her or kill her. It didn't matter to him," Schaffer said. "He swung the bat. She felt it go past her face. It's the classic self-defense. I ask you to find her not guilty." Magness noted that Benton, in her own statements, said Granillo was running away when she stabbed him. "Five times -- five times she says, 'He was running. He turned to run. He was trying to get away,'" she said. "At the moment he abandons the encounter, her right to use deadly force terminates. Period."

Schaffer, in response, said that Benton misspoke each time she said Granillo was running away, claiming she actually meant that he was turning away from her after swinging the bat. "Listen to the context," he told jurors. "Listen to the tape." Magness also encouraged the jury to review the tape of Benton's statements to police: "She doesn't sound scared, nervous or in fear to me," Magness said. "Evaluate it for tone and demeanor." (According to the Chronicle, Benton spoke in an animated voice and laughed occasionally while recounting details of the events leading up to the stabbing.)

If she's convicted, Benton could be sentenced to life in prison.