Tom Mintier: Pearl trial wraps up

CNN's Tom Mintier

(CNN) -- Prosecutors in Pakistan said Wednesday they would seek the death penalty for four men accused of kidnapping and killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The judge has retired to consider a verdict in the case.

Shortly after the trial wrapped up in Islamabad, CNN Correspondent Tom Mintier discussed the latest developments with CNN anchor Carol Costello.

MINTIER: This case was supposed to only last for seven days. It ended up going on for 12 weeks. [On Wednesday], the final summation by the prosecutor ended the case. The defense attorney -- one of the defense attorneys finished [Wednesday] morning -- and then the prosecution finished [Wednesday] afternoon.

The defense said that much of the evidence against the four defendants was indeed fabricated, saying that the confessions were not admissible in court because they were coerced under torture and saying the laptop computer that was seized by police did not match the one that this one individual owned, that the serial number was not correct. So there were a lot of alleged loopholes pointed out during the trial by the defense.

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The prosecution has asked for the death penalty for all four defendants in this case. The judge has indicated that everyone is going to come back on Monday, when he will probably render a verdict in this case. This is not a case that was heard by a jury but by a judge. And the judge has told everyone to come back on Monday, that he will probably issue his verdict then.

In Pakistan, this charge of kidnapping, murder and terrorist activity does indeed carry the death penalty. But it was just announced [Wednesday] afternoon by the chief prosecutor that the government is indeed seeking the death penalty against all four defendants.

COSTELLO: Any guess on what that verdict might be?

MINTIER: There is really no way to tell, and anyone who would guess might guess wrong. So there has been speculation about how this trial has been going. But when I talked to a lot of people after the prosecution and defense had basically finished presenting their cases, everyone is saying, "We have to wait and see what the judge does."

So speculation, you know, if you listen to what the defense said in their basic defense of their clients, the case looks like it's full of holes. But when you look at what the prosecution presented, fairly solid evidence of a computer with e-mails on it, belonging to one of the defendants that had been sent to journalists and news organizations demanding better treatment for the Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners being held by the U.S. military in Cuba.

So the evidence is indeed strong -- not so much eyewitness testimony. The only person who saw Daniel Pearl was a taxi driver, who did testify before the court that he did take him to a restaurant in Karachi, but as far as anyone seeing the defendants meet with Daniel Pearl, that wasn't presented in court.