Now it's the jury's turn.

The case against Fayette locksmith

Jim Watson, 39, on trial for the 1997 murder of his wife Beverley, 33,

was in the hands of a Fulton County jury as of press time Tuesday.

In closing arguments Tuesday

morning, lead defense attorney Lee Sexton told the jurors that prosecutors

showed no direct evidence proving that his client, Jim Watson, murdered

his wife.

Lead prosecutor Sheila Ross,

however, contended that Beverley Watson herself provided additional evidence

to the jury that her husband indeed had murdered her. Ross also charged

that Watson's two children were covering for their father.

Sexton said that the medical

examiner could not determine the cause of death of Beverley Watson, whose

remains were found in a wooded area in south Fulton County in March 1999.

The mother of two disappeared

from her southwest Fayette home on a cold January night in 1997, leaving

behind her purse, baggage, car keys and car, according to testimony in

the trial. Jim Watson claimed she left on foot after an argument and just

never came back.

Sexton also urged the jury

to discount the testimony of several of Beverley Watson's close friends

who testified that Beverley once told them if she ever disappeared without

the children that her husband would have killed her because he threatened

to do so and dump her body where it would never be found.

Sexton also reminded the jury

that if their "minds are wavering" they must come back with

a verdict of not guilty. "You cannot make the quantum leap from suspicion

to conviction unless the state can show some real evidence," Sexton

said.

But during her closing arguments,

Ross contended that it was important for the jury to note other witnesses'

accounts that Jim Watson stalked his wife by calling her repeatedly and

showing up unannounced at her various places of work.

"Right up until the last

moment of her life, he was stalking her," Ross said. Ross argued

that Watson stopped stalking his wife after he claimed she disappeared

because he had already killed her and he knew where she was. "He

doesn't need to stalk her anymore ... he knows she's dead."

Ross also noted that in Jim

Watson's testimony he admitted to grabbing his wife's arm to keep her

from taking the car to leave the couple's home because of the late hour

on the last night that he saw her.

Ross said it was not believable

that Jim Watson kept his wife from driving away but that he let her leave

the home on foot. "She never left the house that night," Ross

said. "The only evidence to that comes from him and he's a liar."

Ross also noted that it is

not reasonable to believe that Beverley walked away and never returned

to the couple's two children, Ashley and Todd.

Ross also pointed out that

Jim Watson could not remember details of the argument between the two

just before he claims she disappeared. "But he can remember that

he went to go play with his dogs," Ross said.

Ross pointed the jury to a

Fayette County 911 record in which Beverley Watson called police for help,

saying her husband had a gun and was trying to pull her out of her car.

Ross also referred to Beverley filing for divorce in 1994, claiming her

husband abused her.

Ross also referred to the testimony

of 75-year-old Cecile Winton whom Ross claimed was an impartial witness.

Winton had previously testified that she witnessed Jim Watson stalking

his wife at the home of her next-door neighbor Alyce Callaway, who was

also Beverley's mother.

"She saw it for her own

eyes ... one time that he pulled her out and choked her. And who did Cecile

Winton say was right there? The children. The children are covering for

him," Ross said of the defendant.

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