ESCANABA – Jury deliberation has officially begun in the murder trial of Tavaris Jackson.

Following closing arguments from both the prosecution and defense Wednesday afternoon, the 12-member jury was sent to begin deliberating on a verdict. With the case now in the jury’s hands, there will be no further arguments from counsel. The jury will deliberate privately and could take any amount of time to reach a decision.

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

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 discovered on July 8, 2023, near O.B. Fuller Park in Ford River Township.

Under Michigan law, an open murder charge allows a jury to consider multiple possible verdicts, including first-degree or second-degree murder. First-degree murder generally involves a killing that is premeditated and deliberate, or that occurs during the commission of certain serious felonies. Second-degree murder involves an intentional killing that was not preplanned or premeditated but was carried out 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, also punishable by up to life imprisonment.

The story on both counsels’ closing arguments will be in Thursday’s edition of the Daily Press.