UPDATE: Jury Continues Deliberations In Suburban Hospital Murder Trial

Update, Dec. 14, 12:30 p.m.: The jury in the Suburban Hospital murder trial began deliberations around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and deliberations were ongoing into the lunch hour early Wednesday afternoon.

This post will be updated.

Update, 6:30 p.m.: A jury will begin deliberations Wednesday to determine whether or not Keith D. Little of Lanham is guilty of killing his supervisor at Suburban Hospital.

Little is charged with killing Roosevelt Brockington, Jr. in the hospital's basement boiler room, where both men worked, Jan. 1. Brockington was found stabbed more than 70 times.

The jury was instructed to consider verdicts of first-degree, premeditated murder; first-degree, felony murder and second-degree murder.

To convict Little of first-degree felony murder, the jury must decide the state has proven that Little killed Brockington while committing or attempting to commit a robbery, according to judge Marielsa A. Bernard. Little is not charged with robbery, but the jury heard testimony from a witness who heard Brockington's attacker demanding cash as she was on the phone with Brockington the morning of the murder.

Both felony murder and first-degree murder are punishable by life in prison. Second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

During closing arguments Tuesday afternoon, the prosecution argued that rage and anger had "stewed" in Little since 2009, when Brockington changed his hours and caused him to lose his second job at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt. Then came the negative performance review in November of 2010, which kept Little from receiving a raise for the second year in a row, according to prosecutor Robert Hill.

Little, Hill said, repeated over and over to his supervisor at the courthouse that he was going to "get" Brockington. "It was like a mantra," Hill said.

"He's already built up this anger and rage for Mr. Brockington," Hill said. "This has stewed inside him. He had to find the right time to pull this off. Jan. 1, 2011, was that time."

Prosecutors argued that Little's attempt to wash and hide evidence in the case -- gloves and a mask -- pointed to his guilt. A co-worker saw Little washing the mask and gloves in scalding hot, chemically-treated water in the boiler room Jan. 5, days after the murder.

A surveillance camera captured Little dumping the gloves and mask into a trash bin minutes later.

Hill argued to the jury that one of the gloves contained Brockington's blood, a topic that has become a center of controversy in the case.

Last week, Bernard disallowed testimony from forensic biologist and expert witness Erin Farr regarding her opinion that a brown stain on one of the gloves was Brockington's blood -- a move that Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said would

Farr testified this week that Brockington's DNA was found on the brown stain, but she did not refer to the stain as blood.

In closing arguments, Hill argued that Little attempted to wash and hide the gloves and mask within hours of being interviewed by police and submitting to DNA swabbing.

"He's thinking, 'I need to destroy this evidence before they find it, because if they do find it, they're going to find my DNA; they're going to find blood on that glove," Hill said.

The defense countered that there was no evidence presented at trial that the stain was blood and no connection between the gloves and mask found Jan. 5 and the Jan. 1 murder.

"After six days of testimony...the only person who says there's blood on the glove is the prosecutor," said Adam Harris, a public defender representing Little.

Harris argued that Little's supervisor at the federal courthouse never reported concerns about what Little was saying about Brockington to authorities or anyone at the hospital.

"Employees complain about bosses," Harris said. "Sometimes people badmouth people they're working for."

The hospital's basement boiler room was not as secure or hidden as the state sought to prove, Harris said, and there was an array of other people -- including employees and former employees -- that could have had access to the boiler room that day.

On Jan. 5, Harris argued, Little was going about his job by disposing of trash amid a tense atmosphere at work following the murder. "There is an atmosphere of paranoia, suspicion, and fear, and in that atmosphere of paranoia, innocent behavior can be misconstrued."

If Little were hiding evidence, Harris argued, he wouldn't have done so in front of another employee and within sight of a security camera.

Original Post, 12:55 p.m.: Closing arguments are expected to begin in the Suburban Hospital murder trial at 1 p.m. Tuesday, after which the jury will enter their deliberations.

Late Tuesday morning, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Marielsa A. Bernard instructed the jury to consider first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder and second-degree murder verdicts for defendant Keith D. Little, who is accused of killing his supervisor Roosevelt Brockington, Jr. at the hospital Jan. 1.

To convict Little of first-degree felony murder, Bernard said, the jury must decide the state has proven that Little killed Brockington while committing or attempting to commit a robbery. Little is not charged with robbery, but the jury heard testimony from a witness who heard Brockington's attacker demanding cash as she was on the phone with Brockington the morning of the murder.

Tuesday morning, the defense called Gus Sandonas, a neighbor of Suburban Hospital, to the stand. Sandonas recalled seeing a man wearing a ski mask, with an opening for the face, walking quickly and "with a purpose" away from the hospital at 10:30 the morning of the murder.

People often cut through his yard to and from the hospital, Sandonas said, but not usually so close -- he recalled the man passed within five or six feet of him after he had backed into his driveway with his five-year-old daughter in the car.

Sandonas said he didn't believe the man he saw was Little.

"It appeared to me his skin was lighter, he had more delicate features," Sandonas said.

Sandonas said the man appeared to be of Middle Eastern or Indian descent. "It didn't appear to me that he was an African-American," Sandonas said.

Upon cross examination by the state, Sandonas said the man he saw did have the same build as Little and that he saw the man's face, which was partiallly covered, only briefly.

Patch is reporting live from the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville. This post will be updated.