A State Examiner and Agent Testify in the Koula Trial
Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 -- 3:46 PM
-Testimony was herd from a state examiner and state agent in the Koula trial today.An expert testified that a bullet fragment extracted from Dennis Koula during his autopsy is consistent with rifles confiscated from a closet in his house and another one owned by his son.
William Newhouse, a state crime laboratory firearm examiner, said a .22-caliber gun fired two small fragments found during Merna Koula?s autopsy, but the pieces were too deformed to yield more specific results.
Investigators believe Eric used his father?s 50-year-old .22-caliber rifle to kill them, but the state Crime Laboratory couldn?t recover identifiable prints, and no test can determine when a gun has been fired.
Koula?s attorneys argue at least one professional killer and possibly two using different handguns shot his parents.
In the interrogation with retired state agent John Christopherson, Koula said the person responsible for killing his parents is ?having a hard time with their consciousness of what happened unless they have no emotions.?
Christopherson tried to encourage Koula to release information or confess by telling him cellphone records show him near his parents? house at the time of the killings, according to the interview.
He also tries to coax Koula into doing ?the right thing? and to relieve the ?burden on his shoulders.? Koula repeatedly denies involvement.
?I did not do it,? he said. ?I would not hurt my parents. I don?t never ever need to do that.?
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