Lawyers in the death penalty trial for Joshua Drucker made their final arguments to the jury Monday morning.
A Cobb County jury is expected to begin deliberations this afternoon.
Jurors are tasked with deciding whether Drucker's shooting of Andrew Robertson, 40, and Lora Nikolova, 25, on April 5, 2004, constituted a murder, a voluntary manslaughter, or in the case of Nikolova, an accident.
In a videotaped statement played during the trial, Drucker indicated to detectives that he killed Robertson -- a former friend -- for revenge. He said Robertson had given Drucker's sister drugs that she overdosed on about 14 months before the slayings. Drucker's sister suffered permanent brain damage as a result and is now confined to a wheelchair.
Drucker, 33, of McDonough and a female friend allegedly went to Robertson's home near Marietta on the night of the slaying under the pretense of visiting him.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Ann Harris said that Drucker shot Robertson in the kitchen not long after their arrival. He gunned down Robertson's girlfriend, Nikolova, when she ran up to Drucker, hit him with her fists and screamed, "You killed him!" according to prosecutors.
Defense attorneys say Robertson's slaying didn't fit the legal definition of murder. Defense attorneys asked the jury to consider finding him guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, because Drucker's anger over his sister's condition was a clear provocation that excited "a sudden, violent and irreversible passion."
The difference in punishment is that a murder conviction for Drucker would result in a life sentence, life without parole or the death penalty; whereas the maximum penalty for voluntary manslaughter is 20 years in prison.
Defense attorneys said Nikolova's killing was not a crime but an accident caused by two accidental discharges of Drucker's handgun.
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