(Court TV) —
A jury in Nezperce, Idaho, began deliberating Wednesday in the trial of a
man accused of fatally shooting his cancer-stricken uncle.
The five men
and seven women, two of whom are mother and son, began deliberations after
the defense rested its case and closing arguments were delivered in the
second-degree murder trial.
Idaho Deputy Attorney General Scott James
asked the 12 jurors to put aside their sympathy for Craig Perry, 57, and
convict him of murdering 83-year-old Robert Perry, who had been diagnosed
with terminal throat cancer.
"If sympathy is the victor in this battle
then justice is the loser," James said. "This is a good man who did the
wrong thing. But good people are held to the same standards as bad people in
a jury room."
James was brought in from the Idaho Attorney General's office in Boise to
assist Lewis County elected prosecutor Kimron Torgerson in the county's
first murder trial in 13 years. Nezperce has 523 residents, and the county a
little more than 3,000.
The state's case against the carpenter from
Pocatello, Idaho, relied heavily on forensic evidence to place Craig Perry
in the same room as his uncle when he died from two gunshot wounds to the
back of the head.
Blood spatter expert Rod Englert testified that the
pattern of blood found on the defendant's pants was consistent with
"blowback" blood — blood from the shooting itself — which would
indicate Perry was standing near his uncle when the gun was fired.
The
defense claimed Robert Perry had coughed up the blood onto his nephew's
pants, as he was prone to doing as his condition worsened.
"This isn't
a coincidence that earlier the defendant got some aspirated blood on his
pants, and it happened to line up that way," James said. "You see no blood
on the defendant, other than the small amount of high-velocity blood spatter
on his pants."
James pointed out the testimony of gunshot wound
pathologist Dr. Vincent Di Maio, who testified last week that it was
unlikely Perry could have shot himself from behind.
"He told you that
simply the fact that the shot is at the back of the head makes it less than
five percent likely that it could be a suicide," James said of Di Maio, who
is also the chief medical examiner of Bexar County, Texas, in San
Antonio.
"Then he told you the fact that there were two shots makes it
even more unusual," James said.
Defense attorney James Siebe told the
jury during his own closing argument that probability was not proof beyond a
reasonable doubt of Perry's guilt.
"There is no textbook on suicide.
Each and every circumstance is different," said Siebe, reminding the jury of
testimony that the 83-year-old talked of suicide several times before his
death.
Craig Perry testified on his own behalf
Wednesday, saying he was preparing a nebulizer for his uncle in the kitchen
of Robert Perry's mobile home when he heard gunshots coming from the
bedroom.
Three days before his death, Robert Perry went to the
emergency room coughing up blood. He was discharged and told there was no
need for him to come back — nothing more could be done for
him.
"He's afraid to go to sleep because he doesn't want to choke.
He's just supposed to sit and wait to drown in his own blood?" Siebe
said.
"He's an independent, proud man, old school. He gives his dog
away. You think that means he thinks he's going to get better?" the lawyer
continued.
Perry faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted. Jury
deliberations will continue Thursday.
