The jury in the trial of Paul Pisasale has been told to judge the former Ipswich mayor on the law, rather than his morals.
After a week-long trial in Brisbane District Court, jurors have retired to consider whether Pisasale tried to extort a Sydney taxi driver.
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of extortion after he posed as a private investigator and allegedly dishonestly demanded up to $10,000 from Xin Li.
Pisasale testified that he demanded money from Xin because it was rightfully owed to Xin's former partner Yutian Li, a Singaporean woman the former politician befriended after receiving "sexual services" from her.
In summing up the trial, Judge Brad Farr instructed the jury not to find adversely against Yutian because she was an escort, nor Pisasale because he used escort services.
"This is a court of law, not a court of morals," he said.
The jury retired about midday on Tuesday.
Pisasale told the court his attempts to extract money from Xin were to reimburse Yutian, who had suffered financial losses when she uprooted her life to be with Xin only for their relationship to fail.
He also believed Xin owed her the cost of the private investigation fees to uncover that he was married during the relationship.
But the Crown says there was no evidence of an investigation and Xin owed Yutian nothing.
She and Pisasale were motivated by a desire to get money for her to stay in Australia, prosecutors argued.
The trial has heard Pisasale pretended to be a private investigator in a series of phone calls in which he told Xin he needed to pay between $5000 and $10,000.
Pisasale and Yutian have pleaded not guilty to two counts of extortion.
Ipswich lawyer Cameron James McKenzie has also pleaded not guilty to extortion over an allegation he wrote to Xin demanding money and threatening court action at the request of Pisasale.
The jury will resume deliberations on Wednesday.
Australian Associated Press
