Noor Salman has spent the past year and a half in protective custody, but soon, a jury will decide whether she can walk out of Orlando federal court a free woman — or potentially spend the rest of her life in prison.

After the defense rested its case Tuesday, the widow of Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen was escorted out of court as she gave a short wave to her family sitting a few rows back.

Her uncle, Al Salman, spoke to reporters outside.

“Just to give her hope, I want her to feel a little happiness...” he said.

Her family seemed optimistic with how the defense presented its case — and the testimony of clinical psychologist Dr. Bruce Frumpkin.

Frumpkin told jurors that Noor Salman has a below-average IQ of 84 and is at a greater risk of giving a false confession.

This goes to the heart of defense arguments that say in the hours after the Pulse shooting, Salman was coerced and manipulated into giving false statements to please the FBI.

“Those 11 hours with the FBI changed her life. She thought she was helping them,” Salman family spokeswoman Susan Clary said.

Despite her statements, defense witnesses said cellphone and internet records prove neither Salman nor her husband were ever at Pulse or the Pulse website in the days before the attack.

Prosecutors, for their part, contend Salman was well aware of the attack her husband was about to carry out.

They showed jurors not only the graphic video of the attack from inside the club — but also text messages, purported cover stories and receipts detailing days of spending almost $30,000 on jewelry, clothes, firearms and ammunition.

Attorney David Haas, who is not a part of the trial, thinks this will be a main point of the prosecution’s closing argument Wednesday.

“Those financial transactions are really what I think you’re going to see the government focus on, and how that was so out of the normal for a couple who earned less than $30,000 a year,” Haas said.

Defense attorneys are likely to argue to jurors that the government has failed to prove its argument that Salman not only knew, but helped, her husband plan the Pulse attack, and then lied about it to the FBI.

“For the defense, you’re going to see the biggest argument is going to be what the government did not have,” Haas said.

Salman is charged with obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting. The jury can decide to find Salman guilty on both charges, just one of the charges, or not guilty at all. Either way, the 12-person jury must be unanimous in its decision.

Closing arguments are expected to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Earlier testimony

The week started off with some revealing information after the defense filed a motion on Sunday that stated the evidence collected on the day of the Pulse shooting showed that Seddique Mateen, father of Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen, may have been involved in the promotion of violent activities by providing funds to unknown sources in Afghanistan and Turkey.

According to the defense motion, the email also claimed that an anonymous tip made Nov. 1, 2012, showed that Seddique Mateen was trying to raise up to $100,000 through a donation drive to contribute toward an attack against the government of Pakistan.

The defense said the omission of the evidence has prevented them from properly defending Salman, who is charged with aiding and abetting her husband and obstruction of justice, in this case, as well as violating Salman's constitutional right to due process and a fair trial.

It came after an FBI special agent testified that Seddique Mateen worked as a FBI informant from 2005 to 2016.

It was also revealed that the Pulse gunman himself was considered being a FBI informant at one point.

The jury also heard from Salman's family and friends, who described her as a kind, peaceful person.

Noor Salman’s uncle, Al, told Spectrum News 13 Monday that Noor is a peaceful and kind woman, devoted to her son and did not deserve to have spent the past year and a half living life daily in solitary protective custody.

"We have high hope when they get to see who Noor really is, they'll let her go," said Al Salman.

Prosecutors last week rested their case in Orlando federal court as they doubled down on their arguments that Salman knew her husband was going to attack Pulse nightclub in June 2016.

The government highlighted Salman's statement to FBI agents that she scouted Pulse nightclub with her husband before the attack.