In August 2011, weeks before he was to testify against Hall, David Glasser and his roommate, Edward Frampton, and their friend Robert Chadwell, all of Pittsfield, disappeared.
Read Buffy Spencer's live coverage of the trial.
SPRINGFIELD - Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless told Hampden Superior Court jurors in his closing argument Friday all of the evidence together as a whole declares Caius Veiovis' guilt loudly and clearly.
"The evidence may not be overwhelming but it is compelling," he said in the Berkshire triple murder trial of Veiovis.
Defense lawyer James G. Reardon Jr. said, "In this case there simply are no facts."
"Of course we all have sympathy for the families of the victims. Your verdict must not be based on fear, sympathy, anger or emotion," he said.
Jurors deliberated for about 2½ hours Friday and will resume deliberations Monday.
Veiovis' co-defendants, Adam Lee Hall and David Chalue, were convicted earlier this year in separate trials of three counts of murder, three of kidnapping, and three of intimidation of a witness.
They are now serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.
In August 2011, weeks before he was to testify against Hall, David Glasser and his roommate, Edward Frampton, and their friend Robert Chadwell, all of Pittsfield, disappeared. Their dismembered bodies were found in Becket 10 days later.
Prosecutors said Hall, 36, of Peru; Chalue, 46, of North Adams, and Veiovis, 32, of Pittsfield, kidnapped the three victims from Frampton's Pittsfield home sometime in the early hours of Aug. 28, 2011, and fatally shot them.
Reardon told jurors they are not allowed to speculate as the prosecution wants them to.
He said the case as presented by the prosecution is a "maybe, might be, could be" case.
"Isn't part of the reason he's here is because of the way he looks," Reardon said pointing at his client and saying Veiovis gets profiled. Veiovis has 666 tattooed on his forehead, other tattoos on his face and neck, and six nob-like implants on his forehead.
"He's with Adam Hall and he looks this way. He has this stuff in his apartment," Reardon said "He shouldn't be judged by how he looks, how he lives his life."
Saying Veiovis unusual appearance gets him noticed, Reardon asked "is this the face you use for your conspiracy."
Capeless said, "Let us not forget that this case is about three men - David Glasser, Edward Frampton and Robert Chadwell."
There was the gruesome torture of David Glasser, Capeless said. "Being made to watch his dear friends being tortured and killed," he said.
"I suggest the defendant really enjoyed torturing them and cutting them up," Capeless said.
He said the kidnappings occurred in Berkshire County. "There is no reason to believe the killings did not happen there," Capeless said.
Reardon said to jurors: "First as you've now heard they have never found the scene of the murders. It is the state's obligation to find it."
The absence of evidence can't be the basis for a conviction, Reardon said. The state feels every time they couldn't find evidence it increases Veiovis' guilt, he said.
Capeless said the fact there is no DNA or other forensic evidence linking the victims to the defendants is is neither a surprise or an impediment. The killers took pains to avoid being connected to the crimes, he said.
The lack of forensic evidence is also not uncommon, he said. There is no requirement a murder scene be identified. There is no legal requirement a murder weapon be identified, Capeless said.
The case should not be about what Veiovis alone did. It is about what the three did together, what two did together, what one did even if it is not Veiovis, Capeless said.
Reardon said Veiovis asked Kayla Sewell to spend the night Aug. 27, the night before the men disappeared in the early morning hours.
"There was no evidence Veiovis was with Hall and Chalue when the killings happened. The state wants you to speculate Veiovis was with them," Reardon said.
No murder weapon has been found, he said.
"The state wants you to believe Veiovis hid or got rid of a weapon. They can't find a weapon, that's the fact," Reardon said.
"Don't allow the state to turn a lack of evidence into proof beyond a reasonable doubt," Reardon said.
Reardon said no witness said there were three men doing the killings.
"Dave Casey didn't say there were three men," he said.
The prosecution keeps saying "three men, three men," Reardon said.
Casey didn't say anything about Veiovis, he said.
"Nothing. Hall never mentioned 'Veiovis,' 'Trash,' or 'hornhead' to Casey," Reardon said.