Focus on forensics

Prosecutors put physical evidence in the spotlight on Day Two of Roedel murder trial

Testimony in the murder trial of Lawrence Roedel on Tuesday focused on physical evidence from when his common-law wife, Dawn Thompson, was found dead at their Ferndale home.

Prosecutors say Roedel fired three shots from a .357-caliber gun Aug. 27; one was fatal. He says that she shot twice at him, he took the gun, and it accidentally fired, killing Thompson.

Medical examiner Dr. Gary Dale from the Montana State Crime Lab described the injuries Thompson suffered, saying the gunshot probably took a few minutes to kill her. She was shot through the upper back; the bullet traveled through two vertebrae and caused internal mayhem before exiting her body.

Travis Spinder, a firearms and toolmark examiner at the lab, conducted tests that he said showed that the gun probably was shot from more than five feet away from Thompson. The weapon has an internal safety device that makes it impossible to fire without pulling the trigger. It takes between 5 pounds and 15 pounds of pressure on the trigger to shoot the gun.

Other forensic scientists testified about the presence of gunpowder and gunpowder residue on Thompson's body, along with black smudges on her face that were present at the lab, but not at the crime scene. Gunshot residue is not gunpowder; it is residue from the components of primer used to shoot a bullet, Dale said.

Dale said he believes the smudges were from the device used to collect gunpowder from the skin, reacting with cosmetics on Thompson's face. The tacky device contains carbon and that is what he believes made the smudge marks, he said.

Dale wasn't sure if there was gunpowder on Thompson's clothing, he said.

Alice Ammen, who studies trace evidence, said she found 15 particles of unburned, lime-green gunpowder on Thompson's abdomen, along with three on her right palm and 12 on her face.

Spinder said he didn't find that troubling. Within the narrow confines of the stairway where Thompson was shot, he said, he would expect to find free-floating gunpowder after three shots were fired.

Roedel, 68, is being prosecuted by Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan and Deputy County Attorney Lori Adams.

He is represented by Whitefish attorney Jack Quatman.

The trial, held before District Judge Kitty Curtis in Kalispell, is expected to last until Thursday.