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ABINGDON -- William Morva's fate is now in the hands of jurors, who must decide whether to find him guilty of capital murder -- a crime punishable either by life in prison or by death -- or the lesser offense of second-degree murder.

Tony Anderson, one of Morva's three defense attorneys, conceded during his closing statement Monday afternoon in Washington County Circuit Court that it would be "foolish" not to admit that the prosecution had proved some of the seven crimes with which Morva is charged.

But, he said, the prosecution couldn't prove that the August 2006 killings of Derrick McFarland and Montgomery County sheriff's Cpl. Eric Sutphin were premeditated, an element that must be shown beyond a reasonable doubt to find a defendant guilty of capital murder or even first-degree murder.

It will become clear today whether jurors believed Anderson or Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch, who argued that there was obvious premeditation in the killings of the two men.

"When we walk into a court of law, we don't check our common sense at the door," Finch told jurors just before they were released for the day.

Prosecutors wrapped up their case against Morva before lunchtime Monday, calling the last four of 25 witnesses who have testified.

The defense called only one witness, a Christiansburg gastroenterologist who diagnosed Morva with moderate to severe irritable bowel syndrome.

Morva's attorneys said the defendant chose not to testify at this phase of the trial.

Asked by Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs if that was his decision, Morva said it was. Then he stood and asked, "May I add one thing?"

Told he could, Morva said, "I had desires to testify for myself, but upon instructions from my attorneys I won't."

Morva seemed focused on the table in front of him, moving only for a moment to take a long drink of water, as Finch presented a dramatic closing statement.

Finch began with the words: "Everything will be OK." That, Deputy Russell Quesenberry has testified, is what Sutphin said to him as Quesenberry woke up on a gurney after apparently being beaten unconscious at Montgomery Regional Hospital the morning of Aug. 20, 2006.

"What Eric Sutphin didn't know," Finch said, "was that everything would not be OK."

Morva is accused of beating Quesenberry, who had escorted him to the hospital for treatment, taking his loaded pistol and using it to shoot security guard McFarland at the hospital and Sutphin the next morning on the Huckleberry Trail.

"The evidence in this case is overwhelming," Finch said, calling Sutphin's killing "execution-style" and saying Sutphin and McFarland "never had a chance."

Earlier in the day, jurors heard from three witnesses -- a forensic pathologist, a DNA expert and a firearms expert -- who testified that Morva's DNA was on the handle and trigger of the gun that was taken from Quesenberry and later found with Morva, and that the bullets that killed McFarland and Sutphin came from that gun.

Dr. Gregory Wanger, the medical examiner who performed autopsies on the two men, said each died instantly. McFarland was shot in the face; Sutphin was shot in the back of the head.

In his closing statement, Anderson said it's important that Morva didn't kill Quesenberry.

"He hadn't adopted an intent to kill anyone," he told jurors.

Morva hadn't planned on finding McFarland in the hospital's hallway as he escaped, Anderson said, and there's no proof that he intended to kill Sutphin. Morva could have shot the pistol in an attempt to avoid detection, he said.

Finch, however, said a letter Morva wrote to his mother on Sept. 14, 2005, proved "murder was in his heart."

In the letter, which was written just a month after Morva was jailed on attempted robbery charges and which Montgomery County sheriff's investigator Brad Roop read aloud in court Monday, Morva wrote that he was very sick and thought he could die.

"I will kick an unarmed guard in the neck and make him drop," it read, "then I will stomp him until he is as dead as I'll be."

Morva's attorneys have said he thought he was going to die in jail from health problems.

Jurors heard more about one of those problems Monday, when gastroenterologist Dr. Mark Ringold took the witness stand.

Ringold said Morva told him it took up to four hours for him to have a bowel movement, and that he often suffered from severe stomach pain and had lost 25 pounds in seven months at the jail.

In the letter to his mother, Elizabeth Morva, William Morva wrote that he didn't have access to a bathroom at the overcrowded jail and was so "backed up" that it caused him to pass out.

Elizabeth Morva is expected to testify in the sentencing phase of the trial.