Thursday, 4:30 PM
Lawyers make closing arguments in Worthington murder trial
By Megan Tench, Globe Staff
BARNSTABLE — Christopher M. McCowen’s attorney says he is an innocent man put on trial for the rape and murder of Cape Cod fashion writer Christa Worthington because desperate and overzealous detectives botched the investigation.
Then, they manipulated the evidence to fit their theory that McCowen stabbed her after drinking, the lawyer told jurors Monday.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Robert George said Worthington was alive and well until a white man driving a dark car killed her. Worthington’s body was discovered at her Truro home on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2002.
But prosecutor Robert Welsh insisted no innocent man would have told investigators that he punched her in the face, stomped on her, and wiped her body down. The defense, Welsh told jurors, is trying to distract them from key evidence: the DNA report that links McCowen to Worthington and the incriminating statement that investigators say they took from McCowen.
Tuesday, jurors are to start deliberating McCowen’s fate, facing the task of sifting through three weeks of testimony that left many questions unanswered, raised issues about how the police handled the 39-month investigation, and introduced many characters, including some who were publicly accused of having killed Worthington. Charged with burglary, aggravated rape, and murder, McCowen faces life in prison if convicted.
