TACOMA, Wash. -- The fate of Judge Michael Hecht is now in the hands of a jury.

In closing arguments Tuesday, Assistant State Attorney General John Hillman told jurors the evidence showed that Hecht paid prostitutes for sex, then threatened to kill one of them shortly after he was elected last August.

But defense attorney Wayne Fricke claimed the case was nothing more than an opportunity for drug addicts and street people to conspire to sue Hecht by lying about their relationship with him.

Fricke called the young male prostitutes "scammers," and told the jury that their stories were inconsistent with physical evidence presented by Hecht.

Fricke stressed that Hecht was unable to have sex with the men because of physical and medical abnormalities, including long term erectile dysfunction.

Hecht refused comment on the case as he left the courthouse when jury deliberations began just after noon.