PHOENIX (AP) - A jury is set to begin its second day of deliberations in the trial of an Arizona woman charged with murder in the 2011 disappearance of her 5-year-old daughter.
Authorities suspect Jerice Hunter beat and kept her daughter Jhessye Shockley in a bedroom closet at the family’s suburban Phoenix home depriving her of food and water until she died.
Hunter has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and child abuse.
Prosecutor Blaine Gadow says Hunter stuffed Jhessye’s remains in a suitcase and threw her in a trash bin in a neighboring city.
Hunter’s lawyers say there’s no proof that Jhessye is dead after authorities sifted through a landfill for 96 days and found no remains.
The jury is expected to resume deliberations Wednesday morning.
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