Jul 07, 2007 - 04:15:23 CDT
MINOT - In a courtroom surprise, Moe Gibbs' attorneys called no witnesses before resting their case, allowing jurors to go home for the weekend with closing arguments in his murder trial scheduled Monday.Prosecutors also rested their case Friday, after calling 28 witnesses over six days.
"Members of the jury, that concludes the presentation of the evidence," Judge John Paulsen told jurors Friday morning, after attorney Jeff Bredahl said the defense was resting its case.
Gibbs, 34, a former Barnes County jailer, is charged with killing Valley City State University student Mindy Morgenstern, 22, of New Salem, last Sept. 16.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted.
The 14-member jury, made up of nine women and five men, will return Monday morning for closing arguments before two alternates are sent home and deliberations begin. Paulsen reminded them Friday that the defense is not required to call witnesses and that the burden of proof lies with the prosecution.
Gibbs is accused of strangling and stabbing Morgenstern in her off-campus Valley City apartment. The trial, which was moved to Minot, began June 19 with jury selection.
Jurors heard part of a videotaped interview of Gibbs before his arrest, in which investigators asked Gibbs how his DNA ended up under Morgenstern's fingernails. Gibbs repeatedly denied killing Morgenstern and said he could "care less about DNA," and would not have volunteered his DNA if he were involved in her death.
Jeremy Leopold, a former Cass County jail inmate, testified Thursday that Gibbs said, "I'd do it again," while two of them were watching a TV news report in jail about Gibbs' upcoming trial. Defense attorneys have questioned Leopold's credibility, citing a lengthy criminal history that includes a false statement to a police officer.
In his opening statements last week, Bredahl had talked about a DNA expert the defense hired and told jurors to pay attention to testimony and photographs of scratches on Gibbs' hands. Bredahl said former Barnes County Sheriff Randy McClaflin and other jailers would testify they saw no scratches or bandages during a meeting two days after Morgenstern was killed.
On Thursday, jurors watched the video of Gibbs' being interviewed when he told investigators he injured his hands on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15.
Prosecutors have said Gibbs got the scratches in a struggle with Morgenstern and pointed to the DNA evidence under her fingernails and on her shirt that matched Gibbs' DNA. The defense said DNA could have been transferred from the doorknob of the apartment building where both Gibbs and Morgenstern lived.
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