The jury on Tavaris Jackson's murder trial began deliberations Wednesday afternoon following closing arguments from the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and Jackson’s defense team. In this photo, Michigan Assistant Attorney General LaDonna Logan presented a slideshow that stated "The Tall Tales of Tavaris Jackson" during her closing argument. (Sophie Vogelmann | Daily Press)

ESCANABA – The public can expect to soon hear a verdict in the murder trial of Tavaris Jackson, accused of killing 22-year-old Harley Corwin in July 2023.

The 12-member jury began deliberations Wednesday afternoon following closing arguments from the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and Jackson’s defense team.

Jury deliberation is the process in which jurors meet in private to review evidence, discuss the case and apply the judge’s instructions on the law before determining whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty.

Michigan Assistant Attorney General LaDonna Logan began the prosecution’s closing argument by reflecting on the testimony jurors had heard throughout the trial.

“Over the course of this week and last week, you’ve heard from a lot of different people,” Logan said. “Each witness had important pieces to the final puzzle. This is the time where we put those pieces together, and they create a very clear picture.”

Logan outlined the timeline of events for the jury, beginning on July 3, 2023, when Corwin went missing. Her body was discovered near O.B. Fuller Park in Ford River Township on July 8.

“She was a mother, a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister and a friend,” Logan said.

The AAG highlighted forensic evidence, aiming to link Jackson to the crime. Some evidence included blood found on Jackson’s sandals and a pair of gloves recovered from his vehicle that matched Corwin’s DNA.

Digital evidence was also presented, including cell phone records, Life360 data and surveillance footage, which showed Jackson and Corwin together on July 3 and tracked their movements toward Fuller Park.

Logan addressed possible motives, including an investigation into Jackson for an alleged assault on Corwin in February 2023.

“Harley was actively pursuing charges for her February 2023 assault case,” Logan said. “She had sent a message to Detective Chouinard as late as June 22nd, 2023, about information that she was following up, that the defendant wanted her to make a post on Facebook exonerating him, which she did, but then she immediately took it down.”

Logan added, “We also know that Harley was carrying a baby that Tavaris Jackson did not want. And finally, Harley Corwin was interfering with Mr. Jackson’s relationship with Chloe Benavides.”

She pointed to inconsistencies in Jackson’s statements to law enforcement and argued he tried to conceal his actions by continuing to use Corwin’s phone after her death to pose as her.

At one point in the trial, a witness testified that Jackson told her, “Everyone is expendable,” which Logan referenced in her closing.

“On July 3, 2023, Harley Corwin became expendable to Tavaris Jackson for the reasons we talked about as his motives,” Logan said.

Defense Attorney Diane Kay-Hougaboom delivered her closing argument next.

“I don’t want you to think for a second that the defense takes lightly what happened,” Kay-Hougaboom said. “The death of Harley Corwin, and especially her unborn child, was absolutely awful. But we want to be clear. Mr. Jackson had nothing to do with it, and the people can’t prove that Mr. Jackson had anything to do with it.”

She argued that the time frame for Jackson to commit the crime without leaving evidence in certain places in his truck was very short. Photos of Jackson’s back were taken on Corwin’s phone at 2:04 p.m. and 3:10 p.m. on July 3, while Life360 data shows Corwin’s phone back on the road at 3:40 p.m.

“The prosecution is arguing to you that during that half-hour period, Mr. Jackson somehow managed to kill Ms. Corwin, cover her body up and then to do this in a way when which there is no blood that gets in the cab of his truck, no evidence of grass or leaves or debris seen in the cab of his truck, that there is no evidence of any gunshot residue in his truck.”

Kay-Hougaboom also pointed to how law enforcement handled the investigation into Jackson after Corwin’s death, saying “We know that, in this case, that the policing was bad.”

Additionally, she raised concerns about gloves worn by officers during the search of Jackson’s house.

“When the search warrant is executed on Mr. Jackson’s house, at least one officer of that search warrant is wearing gloves that have touched God knows what,” said Kay-Hougaboom.

She noted that Jackson’s home was left unsecured after the search, and a trash bag was reportedly missing upon law enforcement’s later return.

“We know for a fact that it wasn’t Mr. Jackson who came into that house because Mr. Jackson was in police custody,” Kay-Hougaboom said. “So that leads us to the question of what the heck happened in Mr. Jackson’s house. And we don’t know because the police didn’t do a darn thing to find out.”

Jackson, 35, faces one count of open murder – a felony punishable by up to life in prison – in the death of his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Harley Corwin, whose body was found on July 8, 2023, near O.B. Fuller Park.

Under Michigan law, an open murder charge allows the jury to consider multiple verdicts, including first-degree or second-degree murder. First-degree murder generally involves premeditated or deliberate killings, or those occurring during certain felonies. Second-degree murder involves intentional killing without preplanning but with malice.

Jackson also faces one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, a two-year felony, and one count of assault resulting in the death of a fetus, which can carry up to life imprisonment.

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Sophie Vogelmann can be reached at 906-786-2021 or svogelmann@dailypress.net.