GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A jury is deliberating in the case of a man accused of killing his best friend.

Tori Lang, 18, was found dead in a Gwinnett County park in 2021.

Now, a jury has to determine if Lang’s death was a murder or was it suicide.

Earlier this year, a different jury couldn’t decide and there was a mistrial.

Defense Attorney Lawrence Lewis conceded Austin Ford was there at the park when his friend, Tori Lang, died from a single gunshot wound to the head, but he insists it wasn’t murder it was suicide.

“We just need to determine who pulled the trigger,” Lawrence Lewis said.

He also conceded that Ford lied to police for months after the death. Lying, he said, wasn’t murder.

“You can write on any document that you have in the back that Austin Ford lied, but you can never write guilty on the verdict form because he lied, because him lying got nothing to do with the murder,” Lawrence Lewis said.

Gwinnett County police Lang dead in a picnic area inside Yellow River Park in 2021. Not long after, DeKalb County police recovered her burned-out car discovered not far from the park.

After many months of investigation, police finally charged Ford with murder and assault.

“The state’s interest in this case is finding the truth,” prosecutor Norris Lewis said.

Norris Lewis argued that the evidence showed it wasn’t suicide and that Ford is the one who pulled the trigger.

He said Ford’s lies alone should be suspicious.

“The defendant lied for eight to nine months. To police, to Tori’s family, to police, to Tori’s family, to police over and over again,” Norris Lewis said.

Earlier this year, a jury convicted Ford of concealing a death and theft but couldn’t decide on the murder charge.

A jury is now deliberating Ford’s fate.

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