Magana's fate now rests with the jury of 12.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

The jury of six men and six women who soon will determine Roger Eugene Magana's fate cannot restore the luster to the tarnished Eugene police badge.

"The cops have to do that themselves," Lane County Deputy District Attorney Bob Lane said during closing arguments Friday.

But jurors can help right some of the wrongs allegedly committed by the 41-year-old former officer, he said.

"The only thing you can do for these women is to come back with a verdict that says, `We believe you, and we're going to hold the defendant to justice,' ' Lane said.

Lane and defense attorney Russell Barnett made their final statements Friday in Lane County Circuit Court, concluding a four-week trial that featured the testimony of 13 women who say Magana raped, assaulted or harassed them while he was a police officer.

The jury will begin deliberations Monday morning on 45 of the original 52 counts against the married father of two sons. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

During his 12-minute closing statement, Barnett told jurors that the prosecution had failed to prove its case to a "near moral certainty." He said investigators relied simply on the women's stories and their interpretations of circumstantial evidence to build their case.

He compared the prosecution's case to a house with judgments against it.

"The state's telling you, `No, no, no, there aren't any judgments - go ahead and buy it,' ' Barnett said. "Would you buy that house, or would you get title insurance? Ladies and gentlemen, there is no title insurance in this case."

He said finding Magana not guilty is not the same as finding him innocent. Instead, a not-guilty verdict simply would mean the state had failed to prove its case.

"You're not saying anything about what did or did not occur," he said. "You're not saying whether Mr. Magana's innocent."

He told a tale about a boy who ate the pie his mother left in a window to cool.

The boy told his father a stray dog had eaten it.

"His dad goes out to the barn and beats the dog to death with a shovel," Barnett said. "That's what it means to be convicted on circumstantial evidence."

The prosecution contended that its case is thorough, complete and irrefutable - and asked the jurors to look at the totality of the evidence against Magana.

In his closing statement that lasted nearly an hour, Lane said the evidence was so strong that it convinced a police department determined at first to prove Magana innocent that one of its own might be guilty of the allegations.

He said the defense failed to back up claims it made in opening statements earlier this month, when Barnett said the women were engaged in a "mob mentality."

At the time, Barnett said "mob" stood for motive (the potential for lucrative lawsuits), opportunity (an officer under investigation), and bias (the women's histories of arrests and jail time).

On Friday, Lane suggested a new meaning for the acronym, in which "M" stands for Magana, "O" for opportunity, and "you know what `B' stands for - that's what he wanted," Lane said, referring to a slang term for oral sex.

He pointed to results from a test that determined Magana's DNA was on a pair of pants, where one of the women said it would be.

He said Magana has claimed that the women were lying, when evidence shows that Magana's the real liar.

The judge sent the jury home with instructions not to talk or even think about the case until 8:30 a.m. Monday.

Magana's aunt, Gloria Vaneekhoven, said the family is hoping for the best.

She said the allegations are difficult to believe because her nephew is a kind, outgoing person who would "give you the shirt off his back."

"I hope he's innocent," she said in the hall outside the courtroom this week. "But if he's guilty, he has to pay the price."