DOVER, N.H. – The one thing prosecutors and defense lawyers agree on in the case of a former Rochester man accused of killing a 21-month-old girl is that credibility is the key.

Prosecutors say Chad Evans is a liar and is using the child’s baby sitter, Jefferey Marshall, as a scapegoat. The defense says Marshall is the liar and police rushed to judgment in suspecting Evans in the Nov. 9, 2000, death of Kassidy Bortner.

The jury deliberated for three hours Tuesday and seven hours Wednesday in Strafford County Superior Court, asking the judge several questions. Neither defense lawyers nor prosecutors would comment on what the questions were.

Deliberations were to resume Thursday.

Evans, 30, faces life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

“They got dealt a hand that just stinks,” Evans’ lawyer, Mark Sisti, said of the state case during closing arguments Tuesday. “A building is only as strong as the foundation it is built on, and this case crumbles from day one.”

Sisti blamed Marshall for the murder and said police did not thoroughly investigate him. Kassidy died at Marshall’s Kittery, Maine, home.

Prosecutors say Kassidy was subjected to months of systematic abuse at the hands of Evans that included the girl being thrown into a closet door.

The reason, prosecutors say: Evans was frustrated by the girl’s crying.