The gated community where Kalmring was killed still shows Wiens name on the outer gate.
(SHANNON QUESNEL / iNFOnews.ca)
July 10, 2013 - 2:08 PM
When police found the body of Lynn Kalmring in her Penticton home she was holding a bloodied knife in her left hand. Kalmring died from a close range gunshot to the head in the early hours of August 16, 2011.
In the trial for Keith Gregory Wiens, who is charged with second-degree murder, the Crown is asking the jury to consider whether the victim was actually holding the knife when shot.
Jury members heard testimony this week from the first doctor at the crime scene, who explained gunshot trauma to the brain and nervous system would have caused Kalmring to drop whatever was in her hands.
Forensic expert Sgt. Diane Cockle also testified the blood stains found on the victim's left hand could not have been there if she were holding a knife. She also concluded a number of blood stains came from a prior event and the blade of the knife was covered in contact stains.
Today, defence lawyer Ian McKay suggested those stains could have come from the gunshot wound itself, trickling down the handle of the knife.
But during the cross-examination Cockle insisted that was impossible. The stains came from contact with another surface, she said.
“The blood stains occurred prior to the knife being in the hand,” she said. If the knife was in her hand, it would have shielded parts of the hand from the blood spatter of the gunshot.
McKay also suggested Cockle's briefing on the investigation and police theories compromised her ability to perform an objective analysis, the findings from which she provided in a May 2012 report.
Cockle received an email from another officer who told her the defence would likely claim self-defence. While McKay says this would have biased her analysis, Cockle argued she was simply informed about the facts of the case.
The defence expects to conclude its case by Wednesday next week, after which the jury will deliberate.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Julie Whittet at jwhittet@infotelnews.ca or call (250)718-0428.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013