ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands — Prosecutors trying four American friends with the drowning death of Lois McMillen here last year continued to argue Friday that there is enough evidence for jurors to consider, and in doing so, shed some light on what their closing arguments might be if the case gets that far.

Recalling evidence put before the jury by 24 witnesses before they rested their case Tuesday, Senior Counsel Theodore Guerra and Senior Crown Counsel Terrence Williams told Justice Kenneth Benjamin that the prosecution presented ample circumstantial evidence to link the four defendants to the murder.

McMillen, 34, was found dead on the south coast of this small island in the eastern Caribbean on Jan. 15, 2000. That day, police arrested four men who knew McMillen on suspicion of murder after finding some of their shoes to be wet and sandy and discovering what they believed to be blood on the shirt of one of the accused. Five days later, the four were charged with murder.

Although it was established during the prosecution's case that the supposed blood stain on the shirt of defendant Michael Spicer could not be seen or detected during analysis, Williams argued Friday that the jury should be allowed to deliberate the murder charge against the 37-year-old Charlottesville, Va., resident because of circumstantial and physical evidence.

The circumstantial evidence, Williams said, includes statements from a witness that Spicer and his friends said they were going to meet someone on the night McMillen was killed and that they admit to being in the same neighborhood where the body was discovered the next day. Williams also pointed out that Spicer, who knew the victim casually for 20 years, never called McMillen's parents to offer condolences after learning of the killing.

Spicer, seated in the dock next to co-defendant William Labrador of New York, turned and glared at Williams when the prosecutor argued that his failure to call Josephine McMillen and Russell McMillen was tantamount to an admission that he had something to do with their daughter's death.

The physical evidence against Spicer, Williams said, was offered by an environmental geologist who testified for the prosecution that specks of sand taken from Spicer's sneakers came from somewhere along the rocky shoreline where McMillen's body was found. The witness, Kenneth Pye, could not say with certainty that the sand specks — a small fraction of .2 grams of sand analyzed from Spicer's footwear — came from the crime scene or how long he carried them.

Williams, nonetheless, said he is standing by his remark during his opening statement of April 2 that sand from under Spicer's shoe "matched" the crime scene. Spicer's lawyer, Joseph Archibald, argued earlier this week that the case should not go to the jury because prosecutors did not prove what they said they could prove.

Williams insisted that the prosecution's case is neither "thin" nor "meager." He described it as "fulsome of circumstance."

Benjamin, the judge, will have to rule when the motion to dismiss arguments are concluded Monday or Tuesday whether sufficient evidence was presented for the defense to answer through their own witnesses. The judge could throw out the murder indictments against any or all of the defendants. In addition to Spicer and Labrador, the prosecution also indicted for murder Alexander Benedetto, 35, of New York, and Evan George, 23, of Washington, D.C.

The prosecution has pointed the finger at Labrador as McMillen's killer but offered no theory as to the roles the others allegedly played in the sensational crime that has turned the international spotlight on this British territory located 60 miles east of Puerto Rico.

Benjamin asked numerous legal questions of Williams and Guerra and suggested at one point Friday that the prosecution might be trying to "ambush" the defense. The comment was made when Guerra argued that even if the murder charges were dismissed, jurors could still come back with guilty verdicts on underlying charges of accessory to murder after the fact.

Both Benjamin and Spicer's lawyer, Joseph Archibald, pointed out that the prosecution indicated on the first day of the 26-day-old trial that the government was only proceeding on the murder indictment.

Williams replied that Archibald, who holds the distinguished title of Queen's Counsel, and other defense lawyers should know that a jury can always return guilty verdicts on the crime of accessory to murder if the elements of the crime are proven during the presentation of a murder case. Benjamin shot back that he, for one, was caught by surprise.

"Isn't it a form of ambush?" Benjamin asked.

"No, my Lord, because this is the law," Williams replied. "... There is no ambush practically, as well as no ambush legally."

The defense lawyers were not heard on the issue and Benjamin did not say how he would instruct the jury on the point if the case gets that far.

Both Williams and Guerra continued to argue, as Guerra started to do Thursday when the defense finished its so-called "no-case submission," that juries should be allowed to deliberate even when a judge might deem evidence to be weak or unreliable.

No significant physical evidence was presented during the trial to link the defendants to McMillen or the crime scene on the night of the killing, but a prison informant with a shady past and long criminal record did testify that Labrador confessed to the murder in prison.

The witness, 59-year-old Jeffrey Plante of Texas, testified that Labrador admitted that he drowned McMillen after a violent argument over money. The defense says Plante made up the story and his description of the murder was contradicted by the testimony of prosecution witnesses.

Because Plante had something to say about all four defendants that, if believed, contradicted their police statements, the prosecution's argument is that the nine-member jury and not the judge should decide if Plante is lying. Among other things, Plante told the jury that Benedetto told Labrador in prison not to be so "pious" and that Labrador was "more guilty" than he.

"I submit it is sufficient evidence which your Lordship ought to put before the jury ... Let the jury decide what was meant by Mr. Benedetto when he was telling Mr. Labrador, 'Don't be so pious.' This is totally a jury question," Guerra said.

Benjamin is not expected to rule before Monday afternoon, possibly later. Williams has to finish his arguments and then the defense will get a chance to reply.

Benjamin, however, did read a court opinion in an unrelated case that a judge's role is to filter evidence going to the jury and to decide whether prosecutors present sufficient evidence to yield lawful verdicts.