Jose Morales’ fate now lies with a jury of 12, who began deliberating Monday about whether Morales is guilty of killing his girlfriend in her Ansonia home over five years ago. The jury got the case around 4:10 p.m. at Milford Superior Court, following jury instructions and closing arguments. They deliberated for about 20 minutes before court dismissed for the day.

Morales is charged with murder and evidence tampering in the beating death of Christine Holloway on Dec. 1, 2019. Morales and Holloway had a 1-year-old daughter together, Vanessa Morales, who disappeared at the time of the crime and remains missing today.

In their final arguments to the jury, attorneys on both sides asked the jury to use common sense in coming to a verdict.

Defense attorney Ed Gavin replayed the 911 call made by Morales right before Holloway was killed. In it, Morales is heard with a slurred voice saying “Myrtle Ave.”—the street Holloway lived on—but failing to give a house number when asked.

“Who calls 911 before committing a homicide? No one,” Gavin said.

Gavin also stressed that to convict his client on a murder charge, the state needed to show intent.

“It’s not here,” Gavin stated. “There's no evidence there was any problem between Christine Holloway and Jose morales on that date.”

But Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Howard Stein pointed to text messages between the couple in the days before Holloway was found naked in her bathtub. Stein said the messages showed a jealous and abusive man.

“Therein lies the snapshot into Mr. Morales' life and motives that could cause him to fly into a rage and kill Christine Holloway. Clearly, he controlled and scrutinized her,” Stein argued.

Stein also said the brutal way Holloway died went to intent.

“I would suggest to you that the evidence supports the inference that a person who strikes another person in the head with a hammer not less than eight times, intended to cause catastrophic injury and death. There is no other rational conclusion,” Stein said.

Gavin countered that if Morales had killed Holloway, she would’ve has his DNA under her fingernails—which a DNA expert testified she didn’t. But Stein said all that shows is that Holloway didn’t fight back and maybe didn’t even know the first blow was coming.

Much of closing arguments focused on Morales’ version of events the night Holloway was killed. Morales testified that unknown intruders got into Holloway’s home while he was high and on PCP, killed Holloway and kidnapped Vanessa.

“Morales took the stand. He didn't have to testify. And he owned everything that he did,” Gavin said, regarding Morales’ testimony about disposing of evidence. “The fact that Morales readily admitted cleaning up does not mean that he committed the homicide.”

But Stein requested the jury consider whether that testimony was believable. He said Morales had over five years to get his account together and during that time, had access to all the police reports and evidence in the case.

“His direct—did it seem scripted? Did it seem rehearsed? Did you notice on direct how Mr. Morales accounted for his movements of this PCP-fueled weekend right down to the exact minute? Did you notice his demeanor? Did you find him to be flat, cold, matter of fact? Did he show any signs of emotion during the crime scene or autopsy photos,” Stein asked.

Stein pointed out that Morales spent nearly two weeks after the crime denying he was even with Holloway that weekend before telling police he was high on PCP.

“The only reason PCP is even in this case is because Jose Morales took the stand and self-servingly told you he smoked PCP,” Stein said, adding that no other witness or piece of evidence corroborated that.

Gavin disputed that.

“As soon as Morales' PCP clouded memory came back, he told the police what happened. This is not some manufactured story from five years later,” Gavin stated.

Stein also brought up something else for the jury to consider about Morales’ narrative.

“Why would you believe that home invaders that committed murder and kidnapped a child would leave behind a living witness? How does that make sense?” Stein emphasized.

He also asked the jury to think about why Morales didn’t ever call police and instead engaged in a “methodical cleanup” for the next 36 hours after the crime.

“The credible evidence indicates that the person who put the hole in the side of Christine Holloway’s head is the very same person who within hours later is at that Shell gas station,” Stein concluded.

Gavin had a different take on the evidence.

“Please, if it doesn't add up—and in this case, the one thing that's clear, it doesn't add up—then you have a basis for reasonable doubt. And if you have a basis for reasonable doubt, your obligation as a juror is to go ahead and render a verdict of not guilty,” Gavin said at the end of his closing argument.

The jury sat through nine days of evidence, including about two dozen witnesses and 200 exhibits. All of that can be reviewed or listened to again during their deliberations. Jurors return to the courthouse Tuesday morning to pick up deliberations.

The judge also instructed jurors that if all 12 unanimously find Morales not guilty of murder, they can consider convicting him of a lesser charge including manslaughter.