LUMBERTON — The fate of accused killer Myron Britt is now in the jury's hands as the panel of six women and six men began deliberations Monday afternoon.

After two hours the jurors were sent home and asked to report back to the courthouse at 9:15 a.m. today.

Both sides in the capital murder trial of Britt concluded their closing arguments Monday morning and at 12:58 p.m. the jury was handed a one-page verdict form that triggers the beginning of deliberations.

It appeared, however, that the only thing the jurors immediately decided was that they were hungry as a note came out to Judge Gregory Weeks about two minutes later asking for a lunch break. The judge excused the jurors until 2:30 p.m.

The trial of Britt on a charge of first-degree murder entered its fourth week on Monday.

In his closing argument, District Attorney Johnson Britt said the Aug. 23, 2003, killing of Nancy Melton Britt was a "cold-blooded, calculated, murder" perpetrated by her husband Myron and that he did it for the money.

Nancy Britt was in Lumberton to care for her disabled sister while a third sister was out of town. She was shot once and died crumpled at the end of hallway of her childhood home on Rowland Avenue.

Johnson Britt said the evidence shows the dire financial straits Myron Britt had gotten himself into, and that he killed his wife in order to get nearly $900,000 in insurance money.

"He needed the money and she was the avenue to obtain it," the district attorney said.

Defense attorneys James Parrish and Sue Berry said the state failed to show any financial crisis existed in the Britt household, and instead said the records showed Myron Britt's home construction business was on solid ground in 2003.

Berry said the Britts had normal debts that most couples experience,. She noted that Myron Britt had $34,000 in the bank when Nancy was killed, and there was a $30,000 line of credit available to him that he hadn't tapped into.

"Where is this economic catastrophe?" Parrish said in his closing. "He didn't get the insurance, folks."

The reason the prosecution alleged a financial motive in this case "is because they have nothing else," said Parrish. "This theory of economic disaster was a sham."

Johnson Britt said the Britt's upscale two-story brick home was Myron's "cash cow" that he refinanced "year after year after year" until the last refinancing in December 2002 when the cash cow went dry. Evidence showed how the Britts refinanced the home more than a half-dozen times from 1995 to 2002.

With the cash cow dry, Myron had to look for another source, Johnson Britt said, so he turned to Farm Bureau Insurance in the spring of 2003 to secure a fourth insurance policy on his wife in the amount of $400,000.

Johnson Britt said insurance agent Raymond Davis testified he didn't do a financial needs analysis, which is often done with clients. That was because "Myron was dead set on certain amounts," Johnson Britt said. Myron Britt called Davis and wanted price quotes for coverage in the neighborhood of $300,000 to $400,000.

A policy on Nancy's life was issued that spring, and an identical $400,000 policy was issued on Myron, but Johnson Britt said that was "simply a cover" so Myron could avoid suspicion.

In the Britt household, everything on the surface may have looked great but "churning below the surface was the amount of debt that they were accumulating," said Johnson Britt.

The district attorney said anyone who believes the Britts weren't struggling financially needs only to look at their income tax return for 1999. To illustrate, he held up the tattered pages with precise holes cut out where numbers had once been.

"It's a punch card," said Johnson Britt. Documents seized from Britt's home showed tax records had been altered in part to help secure the last loan through the December 2002 refinancing.

"He couldn't have afforded the loan unless he doctored the tax return," Johnson Britt said.

Berry reminded the jurors that when they were selected they each promised they would set aside any bias or prejudice in hearing the case.

"Nobody said check your reason and good common sense at the door," said Berry, adding that those will be the two most important tools the jurors will bring to their task.

"The truth in this case is that Myron Britt is not guilty," Berry said.

The murder weapon has never been found, but Johnson Britt believes Myron used his father's old .25-caliber handgun to shoot his wife. The gun had a history of going off on its own, and one discharge in 2001 left a bullet lodged into the kitchen baseboard of Myron Britt's childhood home in Lumberton.

The defense team tried to discredit the findings of two state firearms experts who said the bullet used to kill Nancy was fired from the same gun that fired the bullet into the kitchen wall.

Berry said the state's examiners were rushed and made mistakes. "They did it really fast, ladies and gentlemen, and they did it wrong," she told the jury.

Parrish said the police investigation "got off on the wrong foot from the beginning."

He said police trampled and contaminated the crime scene, let potential witnesses go without identifying them, and made no adequate follow-ups on information that didn't point to Myron Britt.

Johnson Britt reminded the jury that Myron didn't admit having his father's handgun until he was confronted with the fact that his brother Dickie told police he'd given him the gun about a month before Nancy was killed.

And Johnson Britt noted the conversation Dickie had with Myron, about a week after Nancy's murder, during which he encouraged Myron to come forward with the gun and Myron said he'd have to think about it.

"What's there to think about? If you didn't commit the crime then why not turn over the gun?" Johnson Britt said.

"Myron Britt almost pulled off the perfect crime, except he got sloppy," said Johnson Britt.

Nancy died from one .25-caliber bullet to her abdomen — a rare Winchester .25-caliber expanding point bullet. Police testified they recovered an unfired Winchester .25-caliber expanding point bullet from underneath the driver's seat of Myron Britt's Ford Explorer.

This is the second trial for Myron Britt. The first in 2006 ended with a hung jury.

If Britt is convicted, he could face the death penalty.