Onyeri's defense attorney reads fictional 'Uncle Chimene' letter to close trial

The fate of Chimene Onyeri is now in the hands of a jury.  

After a month-long trial of the man accused of running a racketeering enterprise and shooting Travis County Judge Julie Kocurek, both sides gave their closing arguments today.

Prosecutor Greg Sofer began his closing arguments Wednesday morning with a short video showing photos of Judge Julie Kocurek’s car with a broken window and blood all over the seats – along with a frantic 911 call from her son, screaming that his mother had been shot.

Sofer followed that up by saying according to Onyeri’s own testimony in the moments after the incident he was quote "elated."  Just to recap, Onyeri has admitted to firing shots into Kocurek’s vehicle but claims he didn’t realize she was in the car until later.

The prosecution told the jury Onyeri manipulates people, had a lot of money with no legitimate job, bought a lot of nice things.  He wore disguises like burkas when committing crimes, stole license plates, skimmed ATM’s and employed others to help him just like a business.

Sofer told the jury Onyeri believed Judge Kocurek was a threat to all of that and wanted to eliminate the person sending him to prison.

And others helped him because the gravy train would stop if Onyeri was locked up.

Defense Attorney Victor Arana took a unique approach for his closing arguments: donning a costume and reading a fictionalized speech from Onyeri’s future nephew at a graduation ceremony in 2045.

In the fictional speech, the Defense referred to "Uncle Chimene’s" various trips to Austin to spy on Kocurek, saying he eventually saw a different side of the Judge.

“Now he saw her as a mother, as a wife.” 

The Defense read that Onyeri no longer wanted to hurt Kocurek, just teach her a lesson. Like in the Carrie Underwood song "Before he cheats."

When "Uncle Chimene" found out Kocurek had been in the car he was shocked…"This was absolutely not what he’d intended to do.”

There are 17 counts including mail fraud, tampering with witnesses but the first charge is the racketeering enterprise conspiracy and if the jury finds Onyeri guilty on that charge, they then have to check a box "yes" or "no" if they feel Onyeri is guilty of the attempted murder of Judge Kocurek.