Prosecutor Lydia Wardell told jurors that the straight, level trajectory of Roten's bullet proves the shooting was no accident. (Court TV)

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The fate of Jessy Joe Roten, the skinhead accused of murdering a biracial girl, is now in the hands of a jury.

A snapshot shown to jurors showed Jessy Roten and friends giving the Nazi salut. (Court TV)

With Roten admitting that he fatally shot six-year-old Ashley Mance, a conviction seems certain. However, the panel, which begin deliberating Thursday afternoon, must decide whether he committed murder or manslaughter and whether the act was a hate crime. If convicted of second-degree murder and a hate crime, the 19-year-old would face life in prison.

Read a background report on the case

In closing arguments, the prosecution and defense sparred over the role Roten's racist beliefs played in Ashley's fatal shooting. The defense contends Roten's gun went off accidental, and it was simply a horrible coincidence that the bullet struck the home of the mixed-race Mance family.

Roten's prejudice "is repugnant, it's disgusting, it's wrong. But was that what caused this crime? From the evidence, I suggest to you no, it wasn't," said defense attorney Wesley Blankner.

Yahaira Carattini, the mother of Ashley Mance, listens to closing arguments. (Court TV)

But prosecutor Lydia Wardell urged the panel to evaluate Roten's views in light of forensic evidence from the April 3, 1999 shooting. A single bullet fired from Roten's semi-automatic rifle pierced an exterior wall of the Mance home and passed through the bedroom where four children were sleeping. Ashley bled to death, her twin sister, Aleesha, was critically injured and their stepsister, Jailene Jones, was nicked. A fourth sibling was uninjured.

Wardell told jurors that Roten walked by ten other homes before "setting up" his gun outside the home of the only biracial couple in his neighborhood.

Terry Mance, the state's first witness, listened as prosecutor Bill Loughery addressed the jury. (Court TV)

"He shot that rifle in a straight line, a steady level shot," the prosecutor said.

She pointed to photographs showing Roten covered in racist tattoos, saying "Jessy Roten chose to live the lifestyle of a skinhead. He chose to believe in white supremacy values."

She added, "He doesn't get to check them at the door when he walks into this courtroom."

Roten's lawyer, Blankner, argued that Roten, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, was a confused teenager whose heart was never fully committed to skinhead beliefs. He pointed to Roten's good relationship with Austin Armstrong, his boss at a pipe manufacturing company. Armstrong, a black man married to a white woman, testified Wednesday that Roten never showed a hint of racial prejudice.

Prosecutor Bill Loughery (Court TV)

"That was the way Jessy Roten dealt with people in real life," said Blankner.

Urging a manslaughter conviction, Blankner reassured the jury that whether they convicted on murder or manslaughter, Roten would go to prison for a long time.

"He did a reckless dangerous, bone headed, stupid, stupid thing and he's going to pay for it," Blankner said.

But in rebuttal arguments, prosecutor Bill Loughery scoffed at Blankner's suggestion.

Lawyers are prohibited from telling jurors about possible prison sentences in closings, but Loughery said, if the punishment for manslaughter is terrible, "the punishment for second-degree murder is more terrible."

"Even if you don't think he intended to shoot that house, it's second degree murder to walk around the neighborhood shooting that gun off," Loughery said.

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