While she said jurors might not agree with how Larry handled the situation, Sabatini said, “There is no playbook for heartbreak.”
She argued Larry’s sadness over the state of his marriage was also the impetus behind a series of internet searches he made for poison hemlock, a plant that Bowles suggested Larry may have used to poison May. Sabatini said instead that Larry sought the plant to commit suicide and she noted Larry made several other searches for various painless forms of death.
The defense attorney conceded Larry’s requests to spell casters were odd, but she noted none of the spell requests sought for May to die and likened the communications to sharing intrusive thoughts with the only people who were validating his experiences.
She also argued there was no direct evidence of Larry ever physically abusing or financially controlling May, nor did Larry exert control over his wife as the prosecution claimed, as May was able to carry on an affair for a year without Larry being able to stop it.
In her rebuttal argument, Bowles argued the only reasonable conclusion was that Larry murdered May, as he was the only person who wished her harm, the only one with a motive, and the only person who could not be found on Jan. 8.