Bethany McKee trial closing arguments complete, verdict to be issued Aug. 29

JOLIET, Ill. (WLS) -- Closing arguments were completed Tuesday in the trial of Bethany McKee, who is accused in the murder of two men in a Joliet house.

The fate of McKee is now in the hands of a Will County judge after McKee waved her rights to testify on her own behalf and to a jury trial. McKee is the first among four people to stand trial in the murders of Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover.

The trial has been emotional for the relatives of Rankins and Glover, who left the Will County Courthouse Tuesday following a six day trial.

"They took the best thing that ever happened to me," said Nicole Jones, the mother of Eric Glover. "They took the best person that we had and they destroyed my family."

"Did she make mistakes? Absolutely. Did I make mistakes at 18 or 40? Absolutely. But not murder," said Bill McKee, the father of Bethany.

In closing arguments of McKee's trial, Prosecutor Dan Walsh said:

"When this defendant attached herself to a group of people bent on robbery, she is accountable under the law and guilty of first degree murder. This was a plan the four of them had in place to rob Terrance Rankins."

McKee's defense attorney Chuck Bretz argued that she made poor choices after the crime, but that does not make her guilty of murder.

Bretz argued:

"The moral obligation is not sufficient to make her criminally liable."

"She was not present. No one puts her there."

"She has no specific intent for anyone to be robbed, murdered or killed."

Prosecutor John Connor had the final opportunity to argue before the judge, saying it was McKee who lured Rankins to the Joliet house last January, knowing her co-defendants planned to kill to rob and kill him.

Conner argued:

"Her choices are what killed Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover."

A Will County judge will issue his verdict Aug. 29.