The trial was moved to Auburn in an attempt to find a jury unfamiliar with the case.
AUBURN – A prosecution witness linked a Down East woman Wednesday to the .22-caliber rifle used to kill her boyfriend.
But Kevin McDonald of the Maine State Crime Laboratory in Augusta acknowledged that the fingerprints proved only that murder defendant Katrina Bridges had touched the gun.
“That doesn’t mean she shot it,” said defense attorney Jeffrey Toothaker during cross-examination of McDonald.
Bridges, 22, is accused murdering her boyfriend, Christopher Ingraham Jr., 23, in the early morning of Jan. 3, 2001, at the couple’s Jonesboro home.
Bridges allegedly told others that Ingraham had been abusive toward her.
She was convicted in September 2001 and sentenced to 47 years in prison.
But the Maine Supreme Judicial Court threw out Bridges’ conviction and ordered a retrial, saying that statements she made to police should not have been heard at her first trial.
The justices ruled that police should have read Bridges her constitutional rights before questioning her shortly after the shooting.
The trial, which began Monday, was moved from Machias to Auburn in an attempt to find a jury unfamiliar with the case.
Both the prosecution and defense rested Wednesday. They are expected to present closing arguments to the 14-member jury Thursday. The case could go to the Superior Court jury by the afternoon.
On Wednesday, defense witnesses told jurors that one of the inmates from the Windham Correctional Facility who had testified against Bridges earlier in the trial had made it well known that she “couldn’t stand” Bridges. Bridges had been held at the prison.
According to the inmates at the Windham Correctional Facility, there was bad blood between Jayme Gibson and Bridges.
Gibson had testified for the state Tuesday, saying that Bridges had confessed to her that she had shot Ingraham.
She made it “well known she couldn’t stand” Bridges, inmate Barbara Warren testified. The inmates said Bridges and Gibson had arguments at least once or twice a week.
“She hates her,” said inmate Stacy Garrison of Gibson.
Garrison shared a room with Bridges at the facility. She testified that Gibson wanted to get back at Bridges and was lying when she told the jury that she considered Bridges to be like a little sister.
The four inmates were the only witnesses called by the defense before it rested.
The trial is scheduled to resume at Androscoggin County Courthouse Thursday morning.
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