Jury deliberations have begun in the kidnapping and arson case of Richard Shenkman, accused of holding his ex-wife hostage during a daylong standoff with police on July 7, 2009.

The jury of four men and two women heard closing arguments and received instructions from Judge Julia D. Dewey, who reviewed the criteria they must consider for each of the 10 counts Shenkman faces.

The state is prosecuting Shenkman on charges of first-degree kidnapping, violation of a protective order, carrying a pistol without a permit, two counts of second-degree threatening, first-degree threatening, third-degree assault, interfering with an officer, attempted assault of an officer and first-degree arson.

Though a verdict is possible today, one is not expected that quickly. The jury started deliberating a little after 2:30 p.m.

Defense attorney Hugh Keefe, who is pursuing an insanity defense, painted a picture of a man who "snapped" that day, who had been treated for mental illness for years prior to the incident and who crumbled, mentally, after a variety of stresses in his life.

"This was a major league snap that went on July 7," Keefe told the jury while detailing the elements to consider when determining whether a mental disease or defect is real. Keefe was describing the idea of "accumulated stressors."

But prosecutor Vicki Melchiorre sternly cautioned the jury against believing that Shenkman was ill, describing him instead as a man who "played the mental illness card" whenever it suited him. Shenkman only wanted to exact revenge upon his ex-wife, Nancy Tyler, and to avoid jail, Melchiorre said.

"A fear of going to jail is not psychotic," she said, "especially when you are a 60-year-old short, out-of-shape guy with an annoying disposition. That is not something that would make him popular in jail."