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CRYSTAL FALLS -- The jury in an Iron County murder trial has gone home for the night.

They spent their first day deliberating the fate of David Levack, the 45-year-old Kingsford man accused of strangling 81-year-old Joyce Johnson

The jury began deliberating Thursday morning but not until they heard closing arguments made by the prosecutor and defense attorney.

“I'm going to ask you to return a verdict, guilty of murder in the first degree,” says Powell.

Prosecutor Melissa Powell argues although most of the evidence is circumstantial, it all encompasses one common denominator...David Levack.    

Powell says the case is a jigsaw puzzle; the jury just needs to use their common sense to put the pieces together. Johnson was found dead in her home the same morning she was scheduled to testify against Levack in a stolen property trial.

“This wasn't a robbery. This was a personal crime of somebody who has something very personal against Joyce Johnson,” Powell says.

Defense attorney Dan Jaspen disagreed that if it is a puzzle, there are too many pieces missing to finish it.

“The example Powell gave you of the jigsaw puzzle is not apt. There are too many pieces missing to finish it,” says Jaspen.  

Jaspen continued that there is no evidence placing David Levack in Joyce Johnson’s home. He says his client could have easily been framed by someone who knew all fingers would point to Levack.

“The lab reports, the DNA analysis, the fingerprint and footprint analysis...nothing puts David Levack in that house,” Jaspen says.

The jury began deliberation Thursday morning at about 11:30 a.m. once the prosecutor and defense attorney finished their closing statements. No verdict has been reached yet, but the jury will return Friday morning at 9 a.m. to begin day two of deliberation.