Nicole Finn's attitude toward her children is disputed in closing arguments

LEE ROOD   | The Des Moines Register

Nicole Finn shook her head at times listening to closing arguments in her murder trial.

She looked hurt and furrowed her brows.

But she never cried — not even when a prosecutor pointed straight at her, saying she carried out a plan to kill and torment three children she adopted.

“Beyond a reasonable doubt?” prosecutor Nan Horvat said in some of her last remarks Wednesday before a Polk County jury began to deliberate murder and kidnapping charges. “We’ve proved this beyond all doubt.”

Jurors halted their work for the day at 4:20 p.m.; they will return at 9 a.m. Thursday. 

Finn’s family was absent Wednesday as Horvat and public defender Jennifer Larson closed out the trial after eight days of testimony. The courtroom gallery was packed with teachers, social workers, police and county attorney’s employees: people who wanted justice for Mikayla Finn and Jaden Finn — and Natalie Finn, who died Oct. 24, 2016, of emaciation.