🔗 https://l.syracuse.com/zma1tn Prosecutors and defense attorneys presented their closing statements Wednesday to a jury that will decide whether three guards murdered inmate Robert Brooks last year in a state prison. The jury in the Utica courtroom started deliberations at 4 p.m. Wednesday and was scheduled to resume this morning. Tap the link above to read the full story. | syracuse.com

A grieving mother addressed a crowded Syracuse courtroom for the last time Tuesday as she spoke at the sentencing of a man who killed her 11-year-old daughter, Brexialee Torres Ortiz. Brenlee Ortiz told 21-year-old Dahviere Griswold she would likely never forgive him for his role in her daughter’s death. She said that she knows Brexialee would have forgiven him, but she can not find the same strength. https://l.syracuse.com/vvqdkz | syracuse.com

More than a dozen family members and loved ones — many wearing T-shirts that read “Maddie Baddie”— filed into a Syracuse courtroom Friday to face the drunk driver who killed 22-year-old Madison Faltisco. Before Joshua Schian was sentenced to state prison, Madison’s family addressed Schiano directly to express the pain he caused. https://l.syracuse.com/G0t6RA | syracuse.com