DENVER — Jurors will return on Friday to begin deliberating the fate of the man accused of leveling an apartment complex in Denver's Baker neighborhood in 2018.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys made their final arguments before the jury in the trial of 57-year-old Todd Perkins on Thursday to wrap up more than a week of testimony.
Perkins has been on trial since last Wednesday for an explosion that left behind a pile of rubble at what up until Aug. 14, 2018, was a seven-unit multiplex off North Santa Fe Drive and West 4th Avenue.
Prosecutors claim that Perkins intentionally caused the explosion, unscrewed a natural gas line and brought a gas can into one of the units.
In their closing statements, prosecutors pointed to prior threats Perkins made to the building owner. He sent, "I will get you as always" in a text message after he was fired, prosecutors said in court.
"He got fired. He got cheated out of money," the prosecutor argued. "He was underappreciated for his work and was about to get kicked out of his home."
They also pointed out that his DNA was found on a wrench and thermostat in the apartment where the explosion originated. However during its closing statements, the defense argued that Perkins' DNA could have been left there at anytime and that those are places one would expect to find his DNA since he was a handyman at the complex.
Defense attorneys also argued that investigators zeroed in on Perkins as a suspect from day one and failed to conduct testing that could have pointed to another potential suspect.
Attorneys argued there were no witnesses to who disconnected the pipes and said the pipe and knobs on a stove were not tested for DNA or fingerprints.
"Someone turned on a knob of stove," Colorado State Public Defender Victoria Eidsmo said. "We will never know who because it was not tested for DNA or fingerprints."
Earlier in the day, the judge granted a defense motion to acquit Perkins on one count of stalking.
All of the other charges against Perkins remain. They include attempted first-degree arson and attempted first-degree murder.
Prosecutors began laying out their case last week and on Thursday morning they wrangled with defense attorneys over jury instructions ahead of the defense beginning its case.
The defense called a latent fingerprint examiner from the Denver Police Department to the stand. Courtney Mohr testified that she looked at two lighters, a thermostat and a journal but only found a usable print on the journal. She said the print did not match a known fingerprint sample from Perkins.
Perkins declined to testify and the defense rested its case after calling just one witness.
Perkins is charged with numerous crimes, including attempted first-degree murder and first-degree arson for the explosion that left two people in critical condition and seven others injured. The jury will consider a total of 17 counts, and nine crimes of violence, which are sentence enhancers that would come into play if he's found guilty.
During the trial, and again during closing arguments prosecutors argued Perkins had recently been fired as the building’s handyman and was looking for revenge. His public defenders claimed that the man sitting stoically in the courtroom was a scapegoat who was unfairly targeted because he’s different.
“He doesn’t have the best manners,” Eidsmo said. “He’s short, uncouth, he’s rude, none of the tenants really like him, and when this building blows up, all the tenants point their fingers at Mr. Perkins.”
Perkins, who has pleaded not guilty, had been living in a trailer-turned-cabin behind the multiplex where the explosion occurred. He has been held in the Downtown Detention Center since his arrest in February 2019.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Local stories from 9NEWS