Prosecutors hope to wrap up their presentation in the murder trail of Juan Barron and Jamai Barron sometime today.
The two defendants are accused in the Jan. 24, 2016 shooting and stabbing deaths of Joshua Hoover, of Snyder, and Benjamin Bruns, of Victoria, at the defendants’ residence in the 2100 block of Ave. Z.
The fourth day of testimony in 132nd District Court began this morning with defense attorneys Bruce Patton, who represents Juan Barron, and Catherine Bernhard and Anne-Marie Gillespie, who represent Jamai Barron, cross-examining Texas Ranger Phil Vandygriff.
Vandygriff, who assisted the Snyder Police Department in its investigation, had testified Wednesday afternoon that he had conducted trajectory tests on a stray .45-caliber round that had been found in the back of the stove in the defendants’ residence and had recovered three additional rounds in the ground on the south side of the house.
Those rounds, plus bullet slugs removed from Hoover and Bruns during their autopsies, were admitted into evidence before the trial recessed for the day Wednesday.
Patton, a Dallas attorney, began his cross-examination of Vandygriff this morning and almost immediately drew a sharp rebuke from District Judge Ernie Armstrong.
Patton asked Vandygriff if he knew that Juan Barron was on trial for murder and could spend the rest of his life in prison when Armstrong interrupted.
“This is the time to examine the witness, not to make a statement to the jury,” Armstrong told Patton. “If you have questions for the witness, ask them. If not, I will allow someone else to ask questions.”
Patton then passed the witness to Bernhard, who asked Vandygriff about his trajectory tests and examination of a pair of black masks the defendants said Hoover and Bruns were wearing during the time of the shootings.
Vandygriff said he placed the masks around a styrofoam dummy head to compare the blood stains to statements provided earlier by both defendants. Under questioning from Bernhard, he said the wound marks were consistent with the Barrrons’ statements.
Bernhard also asked Vandygriff if it was unusual for discrepancies to crop up in witness statements, an issue District Attorney Ben Smith raised during his opening statement Tuesday.
“You expect some discrepancies,” Vandygriff said. “If their statements had been identical, that would have caught my interest.”
Wednesday afternoon’s witnesses included Snyder Police Department Det. Mike Counts, who concluded three days on the witness stand mainly answering questions pertaining to his January 2016 interviews with the defendants.
At one point during cross-examination, Patton asked for a mistrial because Armstrong had overruled his request for an instruction to the jury. Armstrong denied the mistrial request.
Patton later said he requested the mistrial simply as a procedural matter to preserve the record just in case his client is convicted and an appeal is necessary.
“I didn’t expect the judge to grant my request for mistrial,” he said. “But if I hadn’t requested the mistrial, I would not have been able to bring up the issue on appeal.”
Also testifying was William Todsen, a forensic scientist with the Department of Public Safety crime lab in Abilene, who tested a white powdery substance that was found inside a lock box on property adjacent to the Barrons’ residence in November 2016. Also in the lock box was Jamai Barron’s wallet, Texas driver’s license, Social Security card, other personal items and a weigh scale.
Todsen said that testing confirmed that the powdery substance was 1.94 grams of cocaine.
Smith planned to call two more witness today before resting his case, at which time defense attorneys would present their evidence.
Image
Body