Jurors are deliberating if a woman should be found guilty of murder after her elderly mother was found dead.

Channel 2's Ross Cavitt reported from the Marietta courthouse where Melissa Blue’s lawyer pleaded with jurors to find her not guilty.

"This is just cold-blooded; this is just horrible that no human being should go through this suffering,” said prosecutor Jesse Evans. “Arguably it would have been more humane had she put a bullet through Evelyn's head."

In 2011, Evelyn Blue, 80, essentially wasted away in a hotel room, according to officials. The room was kept locked and no one, not even hotel staff, went in for weeks.

The victim's bed sores and untreated wounds were severe and her bones were protruding.

"And as her mom is laying in that bed decomposing, she is laying in that bed next to her,” said Defense Attorney Bryan Lumpkin. “Bad person? Or sick person?"

Prosecutors say Melissa Blue knew right from wrong, but the defense team disputes that and urged jurors to find her not guilty by reason of insanity.

"A bad person chooses to do bad things. A sick person has no choice," said Lumpkin.

Stay tuned to Channel 2 Action News at 6 for updates on this story.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. (center) is flanked by GOP whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (left) and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, as Thune speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate passed the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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