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Jury deliberates in eye drop trial
The investigation spanned months and the trial has stretched more than two weeks.
WAUKESHA, Wis. - The jury heard closing arguments Monday, Nov. 13 in the Waukesha County eye drops homicide trial of Jessy Kurczewski – and the jury now has the case and has begun deliberations.
The investigation spanned months and the trial has stretched more than two weeks.
In their final message to the jury Monday morning, prosecutors used Kurczewski's own words against her.
Jessy Kurczewski
"I’ve never seen her drink it ever, ever and why would she drink eye drops?" Kurczewski was heard saying in police video. "That bottle of water right there had six Visine."
"How do you know that?" an investigator asked.
"Because that’s what she put in it," Kurczewski replied in the video.
"This would have been something she said on day one," said Abbey Nickolie, Deputy District Attorney.
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Eye drops trial: Defense closing argument, part 2
The defense team presented its closing argument in the eye drops homicide trial of Jessy Kurczewski.
For an hour, Nickolie connected all of the evidence presented in the state's case – reinforcing what Nickolie calls a pattern of "murder, greed and lies."
"This is someone who has profited over $144,000 dollars before death and over $80,000 after," Nickolie said.
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Prosecutors charged Kurczewski with homicide and two counts of felony theft. They said Kurczewski killed her friend, Lynn Hernan, with a fatal dose of tetrahydrozoline – the main ingredient in eye drops.
Hernan died in October 2018. Police thought it was a suicide until toxicology reports cam back – and Hernan's financial records were examined.
Lynn Hernan, Jessy Kurczewski
Investigators believe Kurczewski drained Hernan's bank accounts while she was alive and took money from her estate after Hernan's death.
"If you’re gonna charge somebody with first-degree intentional homicide and yet you don’t have the evidence to be able to test it," said Donna Kuchler, defense attorney.
CONTINUE READING: FOX6 News coverage of the Wisconsin eye drops homicide trial
When it was the defense's turn, Kuchler told the jury Hernan gifted Kurczewski money. Kuchler said Hernan was suicidal and overdosed on pills.
"There’s no indication in the record that anything was forced (EDIT) Anything to suggest that there’s any kind of forced ingestion and there isn’t," Kuchler said.
Jessy Kurczewski and defense team
If convicted on the homicide charge alone, Kurczewski could spend the rest of her life in prison.