HOUSTON – A Harris County judge said she will read her verdict Tuesday morning in the case of a woman accused of murdering a Houston boy.
Mona Nelson is accused of abducting 12-year-old Jonathan Foster on December 24, 2010, and killing him. Foster's burned body was found days later wrapped in carpet in a ditch.
Nelson is charged with capital murder. On Monday, both sides gave closing arguments. Nelson's defense attorney argued that prosecutors lacked key evidence tying Nelson to the crimes.
"There is absolutely no evidence at all, nothing, nothing to link Mona Nelson to kidnapping that child," said Allen Tanner. "To convict this woman and send her to prison for the rest of her life without parole on this evidence I think would be a huge mistake."
In their closing, prosecutors described in detail the way they believe Nelson committed the crime.
"She burned him with this torch at her house on that rug with these tanks," said Connie Spence.
Prosecutors also argued Nelson's DNA was found on the little boy's sweatshirt and video showed Nelson dumping the body.
"The evidence leads to one person only and that is Mona Nelson," said Spence.
Nelson requested her fate be decided by a judge, not a jury. She is not facing the death penalty because prosecutors are not seeking it.
Nelson has maintained her innocence.