Abney, an Oregon resident, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted premeditated murder, torture, mayhem, robbery and auto theft in connection with the May attack at the victim's Vista apartment.
During closing arguments Thursday, Deputy Public Defender Scott Cadzow told jurors there was no question the victim was assaulted, but Abney was innocent of attempted murder and mayhem charges.
"I wouldn't ask you (the jury) to let Abney go, but I would ask you to acquit Mr. Abney on the charges he did not commit."
Abney had a monthlong Internet romance with the victim and had been staying with her for a week before the attack, authorities said. As he was preparing to return home, and the pair hugged goodbye, Abney allegedly threw the woman on a bed, attacked her with a hammer and tried to slit her throat after she blacked out.
After the attack, Abney allegedly stole the woman's purse and drove her car to Lindbergh Field. Police officers arrested him on an Alaska Airlines flight shortly before takeoff.
The victim testified that she was struck in the hand during the assault while trying to protect herself. Cadzow said if Abney intended to disfigure her ---- which the mayhem charge is based on ---- then her hand wound would have been worse than bruising and a four-stitch laceration.
"If he had taken the hammer and hit her ... she probably wouldn't have any fingers left," Cadzow said.
Cadzow also pointed out that neither the hammer nor two kitchen knives found in the victim's car were tested for fingerprints or whether the red streaks on the hammer were blood stains belonging to the victim.
However ---- in her closing arguments ---- Deputy District Attorney Christine Trevino said Abney had to consider his actions as he choked the woman into unconsciousness twice and struck her with a claw hammer. Prosecutors also allege that Abney tried to slit her throat with a kitchen knife.
Trevino showed jury members pictures of the cuts to her neck, as well as head wounds that prosecutors allege came from the hammer and hemorrhaging in her eyes associated with being choked.
"The only thing he screwed up was he couldn't kill her," Trevino said. "He thought she was dead, and she should have been ---- but she lucked out."
While Trevino told the jury that prosecutors don't have to prove a motive in this case, evidence shows Abney had no money and had not paid for anything during the visit.
When police arrested him, Abney had the victim's purse and $50, the same amount missing from the purse, Trevino said.
Cadzow said that evidence bolsters his argument that Abney intended to rob the victim ---- not kill her.
"That (evidence) makes him a robber or a car thief, but that does not make him a murderer," Cadzow said.
Both attorneys told jurors to leave their personal opinions about people meeting in Internet chat rooms out of their deliberations.
North County Times staff writer Scott Marshall contributed to this story.
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