UPDATE 4/26/18: Jacob Looney has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, plus 5 years probation for the August 2015 stabbing of his ex-girlfriend and her mother in St. Lucie County.
UPDATE: Jury finds Jacob Looney guilty on all 6 counts as charged in the indictment.
EARLIER STORY:
Prosecutor Stephen Gosnell told the jury Jacob Looney wouldn't accept that his former girlfriend Arielle Prieto broke up with him.
Even after her mom, got a restraining order, Gosnell said Looney showed up to their house in the middle of the night, broke in and stabbed both Arielle and her mother.
“You remember Arielle describing how it happened,” said Gosnell. “He comes up to her after she engages him because he’s beating her mother. He comes to her and she thought she was getting punched because it was such force. But he’s not punching. He’s stabbing her.”
A jury in St. Lucie County has begun deliberations on the attempted murder case of Jacob Looney.
He’s the now 20-year-old on trial for the 2015 stabbing that almost killed his ex-girlfriend and her mother.
There is no telling how long the jury will deliberate. However, we know the jurors have to want to wrap up Thursday night because many of them told the judge they can't come back to court Friday.
After three days of testimony, in closing arguments, the State hammered home the evidence.
Looney’s defense attorney Arthur Brandt spent its time trying to paint doubt on this story. Brandt claimed Looney was acting in self defense and suggested it was the victims who started it all.
“If there's no break in, if there’s no choking, then we have reason to believe that it was the Prieto’s who were the aggressors and Jacob was acting in self-defense. He’s invited in. You saw the instruction on burglary, one of them is if he’s invited in it’s not a burglary,” said Brandt.
While Looney is facing multiple charges including attempted first degree murder, the jury has the ability to selected several lesser charges.
Meaning it could take them a while to consider all the options.