The state needs to absolutely crush the closing arguments and remind jurors of the important things they heard.
Not to imply that we are anywhere close to closing arguments of course
Griffin is cross-examining Greer now. He establishes that Greer can't tell the jury that any of the weapons presented in court were used to kill Maggie or Paul
Griffin establishes that Buster’s .300 Blackout rifle was malfunctioning with Greer tested it. The gun wouldn’t automatically load the next cartridge after each shot. So Greer had to manually load it. That means the gun could not fire rapidly.
That's exactly what Griffin is trying to show here. They don't have the murder weapon.
Griffin gets frustrated that Greer isn’t answering his questions directly. Even on yes or no questions, Greer is instead turning to the jury and providing lengthy explanations in complete sentences. It has been confusing at times.
Griffin asks Greer if every single .300 Blackout in the world leaves its own signature tool mark on the shell casings it ejects. Greer doesn’t really answer. “It’s hard to say,” he said. But says he can still support his analysis.
Griffin is attacking the state's assertion that the shell casings around Maggie's body matches older shell casings on Moselle. Griffin has supposed different .300 Blackout rifles can leave the same mark.
I believe Griffin is more concerned about what the jury knows than what "everybody knows.”
This is how Greer answered questions in the pre-trial hearing as well. He is clearly well drilled.
We are deep in the weeds with Greer's testimony and my mentions reflect that.
Griffin now moves on to challenging the field of firearms identification in general. He says it is subjective, up to the interpretation of the person reviewing the tiny tool marks on shell casings and looking for matching marks.
Griffin: You agree that your chosen field is part art, as well as part science? Greer: It’s an applied science.
Griffin asks Greer if he is 100 percent certain the shell casings near Maggie's body were fired from the same gun as the older shell casings ejected elsewhere on the Moselle property. Greer declines to say 100 percent. But he says that is his conclusion.
Griffin steps down. Prosecutor David Fernandez is up on redirect now. Then Griffin will get to re-cross Greer. And then hopefully we can all go home and purge this from our memories.
After that cross-examination, Fernandez gives Greer a chance to defend his field. Greer says firearms identification analysis has been around since the early 1900s. It is widely accepted.
The jury was just excused and told to return at 11:30 a.m. Monday.
