ASHLAND -- The jury will get B. Whitney Uselton's case today.

Thursday was a short day in court. The defense rested its case without calling any more witnesses. Uselton did not take the stand.

Uselton, 20, of 1017 U.S. 250 N. is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of drug trafficking. If convicted on all counts, he faces 23 years in prison.

Rather than proceed with closing arguments, Ashland County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Runyan elected to send the jury home.

"It will take an hour or two for the court to prepare jury instructions with counsel," Runyan told the four-man, eight-woman jury. "Final argument generally takes three hours. Each side is given 90 minutes.

"The legal instructions can take another 30 minutes. By that time, it would be too late in the day to start your deliberations."

Prosecutors say Uselton sold Xanax to Adam Howell, 19, and Michael Roberts, 16, who died hours later in a one-car accident in April 2002. Howell was driving a car that slammed into a stone wall on U.S. 42 south of Ashland.

The jury will have to decide if Howell was under the influence of Xanax at the time of the crash. Witnesses for the state testified Howell took three 2-milligram Xanax pills and later had difficulty walking and speaking.

Deanna Roberts, Michael's twin sister, testified she tried to keep Howell and her brother from getting into a car because of Howell's condition.

James Ferguson, chief toxicologist for the Franklin County coroner's office, said a blood test revealed Howell had Xanax in his blood.

But two defense witnesses questioned Ferguson's testing technique. Cuyahoga County performed the autopsy on Howell and found Xanax in the urine but not in the blood. Both witnesses said a person had to have Xanax in the blood to be impaired.