ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A defense lawyer says an upstate New York woman didn't know her Indian servant was in the country illegally and treated her as a member of the family.
But in their closing statement Thursday, prosecutors say Annie George knew or should have known that Valsamma Mathai was in the country illegally.
A jury in the federal case will get the case Thursday afternoon.
Defense lawyer Mark Sacco says George was a traditional Indian wife and mother who deferred to her husband on all decisions and was cruelly punished if she didn't. When he died in a plane crash, Annie George was left with a pile of debt.
Mathai testified that she slept in a closet, worked long days without vacation, days off or sick time and wasn't allowed to leave.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.