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Jury deliberations begin tomorrow in the case of a Landover man accused of killing a Gaithersburg woman and leaving her body by a trash bin outside her apartment in April.

Shawn M. Henderson, 26, faces a possible sentence of life in prison without parole in the shooting death of Lindsay Marie Harvey, 25, a DNA analyst at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville. Henderson, who did not testify, is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Harvey was shot once in the head and died instantly, testified assistant State Medical Examiner Ana Rubio on Thursday. Soot found on Harvey's skull showed that the gun had been placed behind her left ear, Rubio testified.

"He needed money and he was going to get it. And he made that clear to everyone that he talked to," said Montgomery County Assistant State's Attorney Sherri Koch in her closing argument Thursday. "For $40, he murdered Lindsay Marie Harvey."

Koch cited testimony that Henderson loaded and unloaded a .40 caliber, semi-automatic handgun and asked six young men if they needed someone robbed. She pointed to testimony from Anthony Moore, 16, of Gaithersburg, who faces trial in the case next month. Moore testified that he saw Henderson walk past a woman leaving her car and circle back. He heard the woman scream and then heard a gunshot.

Koch reminded jurors that a forensics expert testified that DNA found on a disassembled gun hidden in Henderson's apartment could be matched to Henderson, but not the co-defendants, Moore and Aaron Shepherd, 20. Shepherd was acquitted last month of murder and robbery, but found guilty of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Henderson's uncle and live-in girlfriend testified that Henderson admitted to the killing.

Henderson's attorney, Brian Shefferman, said that Shepherd, who is Henderson's cousin, is to blame for Harvey's murder. Shefferman said that Henderson was "an outsider" and that Moore and others who saw him that night are covering for Shepherd.

The defense, which called for a mistrial on Wednesday, twice called for an acquittal on Thursday, saying that prosecutors had not brought enough evidence. All motions were overruled.