Missing 'Baby Gabriel' case: Jury deliberations could begin Tuesday afternoon

PHOENIX - Jury deliberations could begin Tuesday afternoon in a trial that has captured national headlines involving a missing Tempe boy and his defiant mother.

Elizabeth Johnson, charged with criminal wrongdoing in her son's disappearance, was in court Monday morning to see if a judge would drop a kidnapping charge against her in the missing "Baby Gabriel" case.

Late Monday evening Judge Joseph Kreamer denied the motion to dismiss the charge.

Johnson's attorney, Marc Victor, filed the motion claiming, among other things, that Arizona doesn't have jurisdiction in the kidnapping charge because Gabriel was last seen in Texas.

The trial continues at 10 a.m. Tuesday with jury instructions followed by closing arguments. The court said any other issues will also be addressed at that time.

Prosecutors finished presenting their case against Elizabeth Johnson earlier this month.

Defense attorneys will not present evidence and Johnson will not testify according to Victor.

Johnson pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial inference in the December 2009 disappearance of her then-8-month-old son, Gabriel.

Authorities say Johnson told the boy's father that she killed Gabriel and dumped him in a trash bin in San Antonio, Texas.

She later recanted and told police that she gave the baby to a couple at a San Antonio park, but she never provided names.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations Tuesday afternoon.

ABC15 will have a crew in the courtroom and will be streaming the closing arguments and verdict live on ABC15.com and ABC15 Mobile.

Police don't know if the boy is still alive.

They searched a Texas landfill, but no body was found.