It took us 25 years to prove him for the cheap rug liar he is. The wife was a tiny little thing with very little upper body strength, right-hand dominant. The weapon was an enormous .45 Dirty Harry type thing, with an extremely heavy double-action trigger (I couldn't fire the thing using both hands, and I am considered an extremely strong shooter for my size and gender). The fatal wound was in her left upper chest (if you picture her left breast as a clock, with you looking straight at it, the wound was about at 3 o'clock). The weapon was lying on the floor next to the right side of the bed, and her right arm was trailing over the edge of the bed, so that it was supposed to look like she'd fired and then her hand and arm were pulled down by gravity.
When we re-opened the case, we noted: there were NO prints on the gun. There was no GSR on her hands. The bullet had been fired at least 12" away from her chest. Perform the above exercise again: Make your right hand into a gun. Point it straight at the 3 o'clock point on your left breast, not deviating up, down, left or right - it was a straight through-and-through. Now move your hand back so that the muzzle is at least 12" away from that point. Don't dislocate your elbow in the process.
Please miss I have a question about the position of the wound. I might be picturing it wrong, was the wound in the middle of the chest or near her left hand side?
Sorry for the late reply on this one - I had to go back and check the photos! Which is a good thing, because I apparently can't tell time when it's a human body clock...
If you are looking straight at a woman and you picture her breasts as clock faces, the wound was where the "9" (not 3, my bad) would be on the left br...uh, clock face.
It is definitely possible to shoot yourself in that location with a weapon in your right hand. What made it impossible in this case, however, were the following facts:
1. It was not a contact wound (the muzzle of the gun was not in contact with her skin when the gun was fired) and the stippling (pattern of deposit of gunpowder, soot and other schmutz secondary to firing) made it clear that the weapon had been no closer to her skin than 10" when fired and more probably was at least 12" away. Pretend your right hand is a gun, with your index finger forming the barrel. Place the tip of your index finger at that "9" position on your left breast. Now move your arm and hand away from your body so that the tip of your finger is at least 10" away from that spot on your chest. Write me if you manage to do so without dislocating your elbow.
2. There were no fingerprints on the gun, not even the victim's. If, as the scene had been staged to look, she had shot herself and the gun had fallen from her hand to the floor, there would be at least partial prints or smudges from her hands on it.
3. There was no gunshot residue on her hands or arms - the chemicals that are inevitably deposited on you when you fire a gun, from the burning gunpowder, escaping gases, and so on. If she had fired any sort of firearm within about 48 hours of her death, traces of GSR would have been found.
3. The gun was so large and had such a heavy trigger that a witness was able to testify that the wife could not fire it even when using both hands (ex-friend of the husband's who used to go shooting with them). This witness also testified that the wife was petrified of guns and would not willingly handle or even go near one, and that when her husband made her shoot one she would be so scared she would burst into tears.
4. The victim's sister testified that the victim did not know how to open the gun safe where the husband's weapons were kept.
So, he gets to do double forever in Leavenworth (first degree murder and conspiracy to commit same). I believe the rocks are lovely there this time of year.
