(NewsNation) — A firearm forensic scientist was grilled by the defense team, and the person who performed the victim’s autopsy testified, in day eight of the trial for Kaitlin Armstrong, who is accused of shooting and killing professional cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson.
Wilson, who’d had a brief romantic relationship with Colin Strickland, another professional cyclist and Armstrong’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, was found unconscious with gunshot wounds at a friend’s house May 11, 2022 in Austin, Texas.
Armstrong has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Dr. Bernadette Derussy, the deputy medical examiner for Travis County, said Tuesday Wilson’s body had come to the office in a sealed body bag, and she had been wrapped in a trace evidence blanket.
The first injury Derussy said she noted was a gunshot wound to the right side of Wilson’s face. Derussy said Wilson also had a gunshot wound to the right temporal scalp and another one to the left side of her chest.
Firearm forensic scientist Steven Aston testified before Derussy on Tuesday. Aston, who was the last one to take the stand Monday, previously talked about how he processed the projectiles the Austin Police Department found the night Wilson died. During Monday’s testimony, Aston said the projectiles found at the scene where Wilson was killed came from the Sig Sauer 9mm owned by Armstrong.
The defense started out Tuesday by asking Aston about gun manufacturing. Aston admitted on the stand he doesn’t know how certain components of a gun are manufactured, causing the defense to ask how he can say certain characteristics are unique to a weapon.
During his testimony, Aston also said he couldn’t remember if he consulted any peers about the Armstrong case — there is no written documentation if there were second opinions. He said he also didn’t look at written literature for extra guidance. Defense attorneys revealed that these steps are part of The Association of Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners guidelines when one is faced with the possibility of an uncertain firearm origin.
It is very rare for additional analysts to disagree with the findings of the initial examiner, Aston said. If such an event were to happen, the verifier will show the examiner what they are looking at and the examiner is able to rebut.
“Doesn’t that sound less like peer review and more like peer collaboration?” the defense asked.
Aston replied that walking through the process is part of the industry standard and that none of his peers has ever disagreed with his findings.
“Being aware of our biases and how to mitigate the ability of letting those biases affect our opinions is a very big topic in firearm examination,” Aston said.
Also on Tuesday, Texas Department of Public Safety DNA Supervisor Samantha Perkins testified that it was highly likely that Armstrong’s DNA had been found on Wilson’s bike.
On Monday, day seven of the trial, Austin Police Department detective Daniel Portnoy testified that Armstrong’s iPhone was viewing pictures of Wilson 10 days before the professional cyclist died.
Portnoy said he extracted data from Strickland and Wilson’s phones but could not get a read on Armstrong’s because it had been factory reset the morning after Wilson’s killing. An extraction report from the police showed nearly 100 contacts blocked on Strickland’s phone, including Wilson. However, Christine Wall, which was Strickland’s name for Wilson in his phone, was not blocked, Portnoy said.
Also testifying Monday was Jill Zann, a woman who used to live in Armstrong’s sister’s building, and taught the two women gun safety rules and took them to a range.
This story is developing. Refresh for updates.
