when i came past the living room, my oldest son said, mom, shea has been shot. i tried to do cpr, and i tried to get her to awaken to my responses. >> and was she responding to you? >> no, she wasn't. >> her 9-year-old daughter not responding because she had been shot in the neck. a bullet from an ak-47. prosecutors say now this man was the one who wielded that weapon. he has been charged with her murder. live testimony today as "in session" takes you "courtside."

good wednesday morning to all of you. i'm jack ford it is the prosecution side of this case playing out in miami, florida a 9-year-old girl playing in front of her home gets caught in the middle of a gun battle and takes a bullet to the neck. two people were charged, one has pled guilty, agreed to testify for the prosecution against the man who is now on trial, the prosecutor says he was the one that pulled an ak-47 and started firing. beth karas takes a closer look. >> it's not easy when you lose a loved one. >> david jenkins daughter was playing outside her home in a miami housing project when a gun battle erupted nearby. 9-year-old sherdavia was struck

by a bullet from an ak-47. her death causing outrage in a neighborhood already riddled with violence. >> i'm asking everyone, if you know something, please come forward. take back your community. take it back before it is too far gone and too late. >> two men were charged with second degree murder in the girl's death. prosecutors say leroy larose and damon darling were involved in the shootout and it was darling, they claim that fired the fatal shot. defense attorney jonathan meltz claims his client shot in self-defense. >> what are you supposed to do? if faced by a barrel of a gun, you can run, get shot in the back, beg for your life or meet force with force. >> larose pleaded guilty to second degree murder and agreed to testify against darryling in exchange for only seven years behind bars. darling could face a life sentence if convicted.

but for the parents of little sherdavia, that is of little consolation. >> why you took my baby? she didn't do nothing wrong. >> this tragedy playing out inside of this miami courthouse. they are not yet ready to start with testimony it should be momentarily. beth karas will fill us in on everything. good morning to you before we get to a recap of yesterday, let me ask to you set the stage. when do we expect testimony to get started? do we have any idea where it will be going for the prosecution today? >> well, we don't know exactly who will be called except the very first witness is the continuation from yesterday, witness number 5, arnold yen, a crime scene technician on cross examination. he was when court broke yesterday. i expect more police witnesses, and in the next day or two, today or tomorrow, probably leroy larose, the one-time co-defendant will testify along with the lead detective, romando

garcia. >> yesterday opening statements, give us an idea what did the prosecution have to say and what did the defense have to say about a defense here? >> well, each side spoke pretty briefly, 10, 12 minutes. monica gordo for the prosecution. monica gordo is a walking sound bite. she was very powerful to the jury. describing that traumatic day when little sherdavia jenkins basically died in her mother's lap in the threshold of her home. she sort of educated the jury a bit about why stand your ground defense, a type of self-defense does not apply in this case. which is that -- which is damon darling's defense, that he did not have a means to retreat to safety, that he actually provoked this situation which caused the shootout with leroy larose, and it was the bullet from the gun that darling was

wielding, an ak-47 that killed sherdavia jenkins. jonathan meltz in his opening statement said it was leroy larose who provoked the situation and that darling was s simply making a choice between life and death and he chose life. >> an interesting issue arose yesterday. i'm looking into the courtroom, i can see the defendant is there talking with his lawyers. we still have a bit of time to talk. they are standing because the judge is heading in, but the jurors are not there. let me ask you quickly about this issue, and it had to do with a detective involved on this case on a television show what was that about? >> yes, i don't think we heard the end of this issue either. the hearing was held after the jury left yesterday, the lawyers were to work on it overnight. a&e's show, "the first 48" featured this case. and it has aired several times in its hour-long show there were two different cases featured in the hour-long. this was half of one of those

shows it was called "innocence lost. "and romando garcia and a few other detectives are in this video talking about the first hours of this investigation, the whom point is the first 48 hours of a homicide investigation are critical and it is portrayed to the public that arrests were made in the first 48 hours, but we know that's not true. there's a lot of fiction in this, the prosecution conceded that saying, look, if the defense wants to cross examine my lead detective in this case about that show and his participation, because it was made during the pendancy of this case, he should not be allowed to ask him anything about what the narrator says. there's fiction in this. it's not reality except the big picture that these two men were charged with killing sherdavia and where it happened. she said it should be limit to the police interrogation which the first 48 had copies of.

darling was videotaped on the day he was arrested, which was three weeks after, not the first 48 in that "the first 48" episode there is a portion of tape, clearly from the police interrogation. it's the same room. it's the police interrogation. "the first 48" aired it but the defense never received it from the police. so "the first 48" are believed to be rolling and recording on a separate tape. for some reason they recorded something that the police didn't, that has jonathan meltz concerned. he did not know about this portion of the interrogation that has occurred un -- that it was tape recorded until he saw it on tv. so the judge will allow questioning about that. and it is the police interrogation. and what he saw is not -- the detective didn't do anything wrong. he lied -- he is lying to

darling when he says we know the other guy is trying to kill you, you shot in self-defense, i'm paraphra paraphrasing, you tell us what happened. then darling tells us what was happening, that he was firing in self-defense and wielding an ak-47. for some reason the police didn't record that or turn it over. that's a concern. that's what we will hear during the cross examination of garcia. >> raises an interesting issue. you and i both have been prosecutors. we know the rules allow investigators to essentially fabricate things when they're talking to suspects. how often has a detective walked into a room and said your buddy down the hall has just given you up. the first one to sign a statement here is going to be the one who gets the better deal. the reality is the buddy down the hall has not given anybody up or talked at all. courts have said that's okay. my question is, i don't know if we know the answer yet t seems like it would be a secucurious e to have a detective say to this

defendant to get him to talk we know you were shooting in self-defense, when that's entirely inconsistent with the prosecutor's argument that he was the initiator. he started this gunfight. raises some interesting issues in the court, does it not? >> yes, it does. i suspect that the detective will say we are allowed to say things that we don't believe in order to elicit. but he's eliciting the defense. darling is putting himself at the scene and an ak-47 in his hands. so that's pretty gfrmt. >> certainly a different issue. if i'm the defense attorney, i will argue, look, even the lead investigator believes he was operating in self-defense. gives the defense something to talk about stand by for a minute, if you will. looking inside the courtroom, they are in the midst of a sidebar conference. it's been a pretty prolonged one. it's a good time to fit our first break in here, this way when we come back hopefully they will be ready with live testimony and we can get you

back inside of the courtroom. (pouring rain)

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when is the next time you looked up? >> when i heard gunshots. >> where was the man with dreads at that point. >> going away from us. >> where did your friend go. >> in her house. >> where did you go. >> my house. >> what about shea? >> she tried to run, but she didn't make it. >> so some very troubling testimony from the sister of the victim in this case. they were playing together out in front of her home. as she said, her sister didn't make it. she took a bullet in the neck fired by a man carrying an ak-47. they're about to get the jury inside of the courtroom here in florida gives us a chance to introduce our guests, some of our favorites, jennifer barringer, criminal defense attorney, focuses on forensics work, part of phil spector's defense team. and criminal defense attorney, paul martin, also a former prosecutor, well-known criminal defense attorney in new york. handled a number of high-profile cases. inside of the courtroom, jurors have been brought in, this after an interesting exchange where

the judge came out on the bench without the jurors there saying her rules of protocol had been violated that somebody in the courtroom had gone against the conduct rules and ordered that person removed from the courtroom. that person apparently was affiliated in some fashion, we don't know if it was a direct family or friend of the defendant. she was escorted out and told she was not allowed back inside of the courtroom. let's go back live inside of the courtroom. >> all right. very well. we are ready to proceed. i believe the next witness or is it the same witness we will recall from yesterday? >> yes, judge, it's the continuation of crime scene technician arnold yen. >> very well. >> crime scene technician being

called back to the stand. an important witness for the prosecution. began his testimony yesterday. going back to the chair. one of the things he did importantly was establish various locations within the shooting area, lines of sight and also shooting lines. obviously important to the prosecution as they try to establish that it was this defendant carrying the ak-47 that fired the bullet that struck and killed the victim. >> it's my understanding that you brought some items with you here today? >> yes, i did. >> can i direct your attention to -- would you have your property receipts? how would you best be able to identify your items? with my property receipts i have here. >> okay. yesterday you testified to the jury about specific items that you had collected from the scene. is that right? >> that is correct. >> some of the items included a baseball hat. >> yes, sir. >> some of the items included a stool, a bench, a chair, things like that. >> that is correct.

>> also the other items were actually trace analysis swabs that you -- that you did at the scene or different scenes in this case. >> that is correct. >> and you did it from a honda? a honda accord, i guess? >> a silver accord, yes. >> you also did if from the hat? >> yes. >> and you did it from the furniture we just described? >> is correct. >> okay. with you here today you brought that hat is that correct. >> that is correct. >> could you bring that up to the bench there for -- okay. and with the assistance, we may need some items to open this up. you have your gloves with you in your pocket? >> yes. i'm sorry, it's unmarked. let me bring it to the clerk's attention to mark it. >> there is no objection. >> all right. admitted without objection.

i will show you what's defense exhibit g. >> here he go, m mr. yen. it is already in evidence. you can proceed and open it.

>> judge, permission to publish? >> yes. >> at this point, could you show the jury? and from yesterday, mr. yen, is that the same hat that you documented in the photograph of july 1, 2006, defense exhibit a? >> yes. that's correct. right here. >> thank you, sir. would you mind bringing up your next item that you brought with you? >> the item i was scheduled to

bring with me were dna swabs. >> okay. >> and there's multiple swabs from different areas. >> right. in going through my case file, the dna swabs were submitted to the county lab. >> okay. so all you have is your property receipt from those swabs? >> yes, sir. >> let's break it down one last time. can you identify the property receipt you have from the first swab you took? correct me if i'm wrong, i guess there's no way between yesterday and today that you could have gone to the lab and got the swabs back to bring to the jury? >> no, sir. >> you want to go down the list

of all the -- what's the easiest way to do it? >> there's swabs from the honda accord. >> yes. >> is that correct? >> yes. >> was a property receipt you prepared for that? >> property receipt number -- if you look at the upper right hand middle, 06009517. >> very good. i have that. and this was the property receipt containing dna swabs from the steering wheel of the honda accord. >> yes, sir. >> from the gear stick of the honda accord. >> that's correct. >> number three from the front seat. >> yes. >> number four would be from the front door interior handle. >> correct. >> number five would be from the passenger side front seat. >> correct. >> number six would be from the driver's side front door. >> that is correct. >> that's 6 of 6. >> 6 of 6, yes, sir this property receipt was created back on july 1, 2006 as you collected this evidence.

>> correct. >> actually -- >> july 7th, i'm sorry. >> we bought caught that at same time, because you actually viewed the honda a few days after the incident. >> that's correct. >> so july 7, 2006. >> correct. >> okay. i'd like to actually introduce the property receipt since the swabs are not here. any objection? >> no objection. >> judge, i will use my copy so he doesn't have to dig out -- it will be defense exhibit h. judge, may i publish? >> yes, i can.

>> working through a lot of the documents here that will be reviewed. some from the defense side, some from the prosecution side. giving you the sense of investigator yen here, a crime scene investigator, very important. among other things, not only does the defense say somebody else was there with an ak-47 but even the prosecution's primary witness, he will roy larose, the other defendant who pled guilty and agreed to testify also puts

a third man with an ak-47 on the scene. now, that witness does not tell you it was the third man who was shooting, he says it was this defendant, damon darling, who was shooting, but the prosecution has to deal with that. this witness on the stand now did that yesterday by testifying about not only the line of sight for eyewitnesss, but the line for the shooting. and making sure that the direction of the shooting came from where this defendant was, also tying in the various spent cartridges that were found on the ground where this defendant had been. obviously a significant witness here for the prosecution. the defense is spending a great deal of time with him. while they are sorting out some documents, we will fit in another break. as we go away, we want to know what you would say if you had the jury box seats and were in the jury for this trial. here's the question today, did the testimony yesterday of the victim's family members, the mother, the sister, help the prosecution? so far 79% of you are voting yes. 21% of you don't think so we'll

update those results throughout the course of the day.

when i came past the living room, my oldest son said, mom,

shea's been shot. and i didn't see anyone until i saw her coming in through the front door. she collapsed on the front. i tried to do cpr. >> and was she responding to you? >> no, she wasn't. >> that's some of the testimony from yesterday, the mother of the victim testifying in the vile of this man, david darling, the defendant, one of the other co-defendants has already pled guilty. he has indicated it was this man who started that shootout in that residential area, that housing project in miami. the defendant watching and listening. investigator arnold yen back on the witness stand of the miami-dade police department. he is continuing his cross examination here. defense attorney jonathan meltz going slowly as they are tracking down those documents here. this witness, as i mentioned before, very, very important because he offers up for these sdwr

jurors various locations that the prosecution hopes will show this defendant is the one who started the shooting and the one who had the ak-47 that shot the bullet and went into the neck and killed the victim, 9-year-old sherdavia jenkins. let's go back into the courtroom and see if they're ready to continue cross examination. >> mr. yen, the dna swabs on this exhibit, defense exhibit i, same reasoning you don't have them with you today. >> that's correct. >> because they went to the lab and there's no process for you to get them back from yesterday to today. >> that's correct. >> and that completes the evidence that you brought here with you? >> yes. >> mr. yen, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> thank you. >> any redistrict? >> yes, your honor.

>> all right so a wrap-up of the cross examination there. again, asking about locations of items, also some of the items shown on the photographs. monica gordo, one of the two prosecutors in this case. she has indicated she has some redirect examination, wants to clear up some things here. she is gathering up some of the photographs they have been using, also the bigger blow-ups of photographs, diagrams and sketches that the prosecution used during the course of their initial questioning of this witness. looks like they're ready to go. let's watch.

>> i would seek to introduce state's 3q, 3p, 3n, 3m, 3l. >> no objection. >> okay. i want to talk briefly about the silver honda that you processed. you mentioned, of course, just

recently that the processing of the swabs that you took, and yesterday i believe you mentioned that there were also bullet holes in the car. >> that is correct. >> okay. >> did you do anything with reference to those bullet holes? >> this is kathleen hogue, the other prosecutor handling the case. a series of questions to this witness about processing evidence at the scene. >> i will show you now what's state exhibit's 68, 67, 66, 65. do you recognize those photos? >> yes, i do. >> what are they photos of. >> these are the photos of the silver honda accord with the bullet holes and dowell rods inside of them. >> with the court's permission, may the witness step down? >> yes. >> all right.

okay? >> yeah. >> all right. looking at state's exhibit 65, the silver honda, do you see any bullet holes in this, or is this just a picture of -- this is just a picture of the vehicle as i see it from one side to the other. >> okay. >> could you just walk this down?

then on state's 68, do you see evidence of what appeared to you to be bullet holes or bullet strikes? >> yes, i do. >> would you mark them, walk them down and publish them to the jury? does the bullet go through the car. >> this one on the door is a strike mark. the one lower went through the wheel well. >> and that's shown in state's exhibit 67, correct? >> that's correct. >> so shgsso, holding up both o photos, would you show -- could you please tell the jury what that is? you have a dowel going through it. >> correct.

now, were you able to determine the directionality of the projectile? >> yes, on this particular one, below the wheel well, it's coming in the direction of this side of the wheel well. >> did you recover a projectile? >> no, i didn't. >> and then in state's exhibit 66, do you see -- this is also another bullet hole in the front fender. >> and do you have -- would you publish this? is there a dowel in that one also? >> that's correct. >> can you determine the directionality? >> again, inward.

>> now, with regard to exhibit 66, is this the front or the back of the car? >> this is the front of the car. >> so as far as the directionality of the bullet hole, is it coming from the front -- from inside the front of the car? >> exactly. it's coming from out to in, inside. if you notice the other part of the dowel rod is right here. if you can see that. it went right through the fender. >> and that would be as if whoev whoever -- the muzzle of the firearm would have been in front of the car -- >> outward, going in. >> going in.

okay. same thing, the bullet hole in the back. is this coming from front to back of the car? >> yes. from this direction through the body of the door here and into the wheel well. >> and you do not know yourself -- you can have a seat. when or how these bullet holes were made. >> no, ma'am. that's correct. i do not. >> now, as far as the dna swabs that were just discussed on the property receipts from all the projectiles and all the casings, you swabbed them, all of them? >> yes. >> okay. >> but i believe you testified yesterday, i want to make sure i have it correct. even though the crime lab does not test these because the heat from firing the project tile basically destroys whatever evidence is on the surface.

>> that is correct, yes. >> but it's part of your protocol that you swab them. >> yes, i do. >> okay. >> now, i want to talk about your protocol for a second. the -- your duties as a crime scene technician don't include locating witnesses or interviewing witnesses. >> that is correct it does not. >> unlike your counterparts on tv with "csi" you don't drive a ferrari, right? >> no you are not dressed in an armani suit. you don't interview witnesses. >> that is correct. >> i believe, just to recap, you testified that your job is basically to photograph. >> yes. >> to document. >> correct. >> to collect the evidence. >> that's correct. >> and if necessary process it for fingerprints or dna. >> that's correct. >> okay. in fact, you work at the direction -- you are on the scene actually to assist the detectives. >> that's correct. >> you work at their direction. >> yes. which is what you testified to

yesterday. >> yes. >> and, as a matter of fact, i think it was sergeant altar williams was on the scene initially directing you? >> he is the first one i made contact with on the scene. >> you have taken direction from detective rolando garcia on this case? >> that's correct, yes. >> when you don't have someone to direct you, then you fall back on protocol. >> yes. >> i think you explained yesterday, just correct me if i'm right or wrong, would err on the side of doing rather than not doing. >> that's correct. >> talk about the strike mark fors for a second. you said you don't know what type of weapon would have caused these strike marks. >> that's correct. >> in fact, you don't know if they're associated with this particular shooting incident. >> correct. >> but they're located on the same building that the victim lived in. >> and within the crime scene,

yes.

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lot of people in the streets. they were pointing to the house where the victim was. when i approached the door she was laying in the doorway bleeding from her neck. li lifeless in her mother's lap. >> description by an investigator of that tragic scene that she came upon after a 9-year-old girl was shot after she was caught in the middle of a shootout out in front of her own home. inside the courtroom, investigator arnold yen still answering questions from prosecutor kathleen hogue. the questions focusing on what his function was here to document the crime scene. the prosecution trying to suggest he was not a detective involved with questioning people or assessing evidence, he was chronicling evidence. specifically some things that were not done in terms of dna tests, swabs taken from chairs on a building, those types of

things, the prosecution trying to show what this witness's function was. the defense was trying to suggest perhaps the investigation was not a complete and accurate one. >> is there -- describe some of the debris in the area. >> in this particular shot, the debris is here. this shot was taken from -- if i may. there's a space, like a long space between here and the grass. this shot was taken from here going that way. it showing the red vehicle with the bullet hole, degree, garbage.

>> state's exhibit 64, this appears to be a longer shot, which includes the chairs and other debris. if you could just point that out. >> that's correct. this particular shot was taken more from this side going this way showing the chairs, again, and the cars out there, and the debris. all the debris, one, two three, and the car here. i'm sorry, can you hear me? >> just two last ones. these are all from different vantage points of the same chair on the porch but show debris across the sidewalk as well as debris on the front side.

>> correct. >> this particular one, if i may borrow, you will notice the poles -- this is further back. this is close from northwest 13th avenue going westbound. once again the car is all the way down here. >> and one last photo which shows the other side of the sidewalk or the -- the street. >> this is north on 65 terrace, this shot is shooting from north to south.

as you can see, the vehicle is out of the picture, it's all the way down towards the end of it. >> you may take a seat, sir. the point being that there's a lot of debris in these photographs including soda bottles, cans, bicycle tires. did you not impound any of those items nor swab any of those items, which possibly could have been touched by someone associated with the shooting. >> correct. >> okay. so you sort of pick and choose to some extent what you're going to -- >> with the assistance of the detective, yes. >> now, i want to briefly talk about the search of the apartment at 1303 northwest 65th street. i will have you up with the crime scene sketch in a moment.

>> correct. >> there are two types of searches done on a residence. when you go out to a crime scene you can't just go into a residence and conduct a search, can you? >> no. >> you have to get some sort of permission to do. >> consent or a search warrant. >> and consent is usually a written consent form, correct. >> signed by the occupant who lives inside that particular dwelling. >> okay. or with the assistance of the state attorney's office the police obtain a search warrant. >> that's correct. >> so back on the date of this incident, you were actually directed to an apartment at 1303 northwest 65th street because there had been a consent search conducted on that particular apartment. >> that is correct. >> okay. there was also a consent search done on the victim's apartment. is that correct? >> i believe so, yes. >> didn't have to get a warrant to go in there? >> no, sir. no, ma'am. >> and you were simply directed

by -- >> to which one? >> 1303? >> 1303? i believe it was detective silver who requested my service up there with the warrant to photograph the weapon. >> okay. >> and that was a consent search? >> yes, ma'am. >> and you were simply told to photograph the weapon. >> yes. >> you had -- and that weapon was a shotgun, not an assault rifle. >> that's correct. >> you don't know why that particular apartment was chosen to have a search done on it. >> no, ma'am. >> okay. you were simply told to go and photograph what they had. >> yes. >> okay. it's not your job to find out why. again, with the detective leads, their recommendation, that's what we do, assist them. >> now, that particular apartme apartment -- you may step down. that is where the -- that is

located near to where the -- all the casings and projectiles and this part of the shooting scene, correct? >> yes, that is correct. >> okay. now, i want to talk about the scope of the search. you said yesterday that there was an area that had been cordoned off with crime scene tape. >> yes. >> that was the inner area involving the victim's apartment and where all the casings were found. that's correct? >> correct. >> that's your primary shooting -- i would say scene, since there's two of them, correct? >> yes. >> all right. but apart from that area, okay, surrounded by crime scene tape, you, as part of your protocol, expand your search out from

that, correct? >> that's correct. >> okay. in fact, that's how you found the project tile in the vehicle that was located down at the very end of the block. >> the victim, i believe, came to be and stated that the owner -- the owner of the vehicle came to me and said there was a bullet hole in her vehicle. that's how i documented it. i also extended the scene all the way down to that vehicle. >> right, at that point. >> yes. >> because you found now, you know, a projectile there. >> yes. >> so you actually moved the crime scene tape down to there. >> correct. >> okay. so you discussed yesterday that you also expanded the search in other directions. >> yes. >> okay. out from the victim's building. >> correct. >> okay. as well as down the street from where all of the casings were found. >> that is correct. >> okay. and did you search all the way down to 67th street? >> yes. >> for projectiles?

>> projectile or any other ballistic evidence, casings. come down? >> if could reorient us again just to -- >> can everyone is see? the casings and everything were right here. the dumb ter is behichbd tdumps the building here. i angle came out to this area. this entire area all the way down and across, i searched these buildings for any strike marks proshjectiles, bullets, nothing was found. >> what street is this here? >> i believe this is 66th and this is 67th street. >> so how far down did you go? >> i extended it beyond here all the way down. >> okay.

all right. you may have a seat. one moment, your honor. >> looks like the prosecutor is close to wrapping up the redirect examination of the witness. they're taking a pause, looking at some of the documents. we will take a pause of our own. we have been watching what's going on inside that courtroom, now we want to see how the case is playing out in the court of public opinion, your minds out. there e-mail us with your thoughts, observations, even questions by logging on to cnn.com/crime, click on "courtside," let us know what you have to say. !d!d!d!d!d!d!d!e x@

prosecutors say he is the man that started the gun bat that carried the ak-47, and it was one of his bullets that took the life of the 9-year-old. live testimony inside on "courtside." welcome back to "courtside" i'm jack ford. continuing live coverage of the murder trial taking place in miami, florida. beth karas joining us outside the courthouse here. we go to her quickly at top of the hour. we talked at beginning where the prosecution was going, in terms of witnesses. they wrapped up one witness. a new witness coming to the stand. viewers just joining us, fill us in when they are. >> reporter: i actually didn't larry who the witness was because i was sitting out here and couldn't hear who the witness is, but it is witness number six i assume another crime scene person, but it could

be another independent witness on the scene. >> that was an important witness, testified mostly yesterday, a little bit today, briefly what did he have to say? what's his significance here? >> reporter: he's a crime scene technician, employed by the miami-dade police department. arnold yen, he started yesterday, he was on cross-examination this morning, continued today because he didn't have items of physical evidence that the defense wanted to introduce. a red hat, a red ball cap that was found at the scene near the shell casings were fired from an assault weapon and swabbed for dna. some property invoices were also introduced, items that he submitted -- inboundmpoundeds i they used. the defense did want certain items introduced into evidence. on redirect examination, he was just clarifying a couple of cars that had bullet holes one of the

silver honda larose was driving. larose was fired at a few months before, that's why he carried a weapon and that's why he went in for a weapon that day, july 1, 2006, thank red chevy shot at which is in the line of fire. it was an accidental shooting but in the line of fire between the battle between larose. >> finding other bullet holes not related to the shooting. clearly other shootings in the area. beth, stand by, if you will, we'll head into the courtroom. witness on the stand a criminali criminalist, george partell involved with the investigation. literally just began his testimony. >> would you just briefly give the jurors the benefit of your education and training in firearms identification? >> i completed a bachelor of science degree in biology from the university of central

florida in orlando, florida, 1999. and i recently completed a master of science leadership in ft. lauderdale, florida in 2008. my training with regards to firearms identification began in 2000 under the supervision of the senior firearms examiners. my training consisted of study, oh, experimentation, supervised case work. received training outside the laboratory in form of courses talk gi glock, remmington, baretta, smith and wesson. these courses are taught by manufacturer and training instructors who explained the integral workings of their particular firearm to explain how they work and how to determine if they're working properly. i also completed a trajectory analysis course and a gunshot residue course, taught by the federal bureau of investigations. these courses helped determine the proximate distance and configuration of the firearm in

relationship to the target at the time of firing. i also completed a specialized firearms technique course, taught by the federal bureau of investigation, and quantico laboratory at their headquarters in quantico, virginia. >> and you're -- >> while the prosecutor is taking george through his qualifications here, he's a criminalist, let's me get a couple quick questions to our guests about the witness. obviously, he's talking about his credentials in terms of investigating gunshots and the direction of gunshots. why is that, jennifer, you first -- let me go to paul, first, as the prosecutor, and then i'll come to you as the defense. paul, you first as forminger prosecutor, why in this case is the direction of the travel of the projectiles going to be so significant? >> it's important because the prosecution wants to show that this particular defendant fired from a particular location and it was his weapon that caused the death of this young lady. it also wants to show that to

basically negate the defense that he was firing, trying to fire first or firing in other direction, they want to show that this individual fired the weapon innocent direction of this child. >> the prosecution, jennifer's say, he's the bad guy, he starts it all out. starts out with an kh 47, the other guy has a revolver. but the defense has something to talk about here, in terms of a third guy at the scene. so again, that is why this is so important for the prosecution? >> it could be. it could be, in fact, because as paul was saying, it places our shooters, places both defendants where they should be, like, for instance if the defendant was more inside his house than he was outside that might say something about whether or not he was defending himself. also, there is this other issue of a third shooter. so, if ballistics can get up on the stand and say, we've covered the area, we've found out where each and every one of the bullets came from, where they

went to, where they've lodged, we don't see any evidence of a third shooter that's correct going to be very significant. >> paul, here, the prosecutor, you'd like to, as you know you can oftentimes match up a particular projectile recovered from a particular weapon. here new york weapons recovered. >> but that doesn't mean because of the nature of the bullets, you can still tell which gun did what. so if one was firing with a resolver, it's clear that it wasn't caused by the ak-47. though they don't have the weapon, they still have a manner which they can find out which bullet was fired from which gun. >> exactly. it gives them something. talk about the forensics and what they can do. all sorts of bullet holes they're finding out there, are they able to, with some degree of certainty, sort of track what that path would have been so that these -- they can say to the jurors, the prosecutors can say, it came roughly from this spot and hit and killed this 9-year-old? >> absolutely. they should be able to place, like i said, both defendants.

in fact, what's interesting is because they didn't find any weapons, it very well could be, if there was a third gunman, which i believe somebody testified that he was also holding an ak-47, that could be a good way for the defense to go to say, well, there's a bullet that comes from an ak-47 that doesn't comport where we think the defendant was standing. perhaps there was a third shoot in which case we've got a different set of ballistics and it won't shock me at the all if the defense has another expert to come in. >> the expert criminalist, continuing to talk about his credentials, train, all going to lead up to testimony about those very issues we're talking about, who was where, what shooter was located, and perhaps where did the fatal bullet come from. let's go in the courtroom and listen. -- and the 20 casings you received july 5th, where purported to have come from? >> they came from a crime scene. they were submitted by crime

scene technician arnold yen. >> the single projectile you received july 13th. >> that came from a shooting victim. >> from the medical examiner's office? >> that's correct, and transported by either the city of miami or some other agent. >> does your report indicate who transported prnlg tile from the medical examiner's office? >> it indicates arnold yen submitted the projectile from the medical examiner's office. about i'm going to show you what's in evidence, state's exhibit 59,

would you take a look at both of these and tell us if you recognize them. >> yes, i do. >> how do you recognize them, sir? >> based on the case number, located on the bar code here, and also on the packaging label here, from the city of miami, as well as my initials and badge number, which are located here on both packages. >> okay. as to state's exhibit 59, which has already been opened, would you take a look at what's in there and tell us if you recognize it.

>> what is it? >> that is one projectile, labeled projectile a. it's a damaged .30 caliber projectile. >> when you say .30 caliber -- well, how does that -- how does that square with a 7.62 x 39 millimeter? >> the 7.62 x 39 millimeter cartridge, that's a determination -- a measurement in metric system. the 7.62 millimeters is referring to approximately 0.30 inches. this projectile, .30 caliber projectile in inch is 7.62 millimeters in diameter. >> just wanted to make sure.

did you -- that particular projectile right there, projectile a that was the one that came from the medical examiner's office, correct? >> that is correct. and the original packaging is located inside of this box here. we normally receive projectiles from the medical examiner in small manila envelopes. they'll have all of the pertinent information located on here. >> moving on to the next exhibit. we have not opened any of those bags. you can open up the composite. a woman over 50

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or sign up at knowmybones.com, a website with new information to help you build stronger bones. you'll get a free guide from the national osteoporosis foundation and health monitor with calcium-rich recipes and easy weight-bearing exercises. tell your friends. tell your sisters. women need to know how to keep their bones strong. sign up, call the number on the screen today. what started out, ladies and gentlemen, as a simple saturday for a little girl here in dade county, florida, ended tragically for the jenkins family.

>> comments from prosecutor monica gore dough in her opening statement yesterday. this now criminalist, he is using this as an aid to explain to the jurors the notion of a bullet, as he described it, and he showed them the casing, the projectile found inside, he showed them the primer where it struck and the results in an explosion and he said an explosion and flame that fires projectile out. so he's using this to take the jurors through a sort of tuer toaial tutorial about bullets, indications, projectile. >> with that mind, would you open up each one of those bags so we can make sure we have all 20 fired casings? >> yes. >> there are two projectiles.

>> the first package i retrieved contained five fired casing, labeled w through y. the second package contained indications labeled m through p.

>> the third package contained casings r through u. >> a fourth package contained projectile b. the fifth package contained projectile c.

>> and the last pack ang contained remaining fired casings labeled 2m through 2r. >> you have in front of you 20 fired casings labeled m through z and mm through rr, correct? >> that's correct. >> you have two projectiles that came from the scene labeled b and c? >> that's correct. >> then you one spent projectile from the medical examiner's office that came from the victim, which you've labeled a

in. >> that's correct. >> as to the 20 fired casings, did you make an analysis of them to determine if they are the same types or make of ammunition? >> the preliminary examination, which is conducted at the examiner's work station, this is where the appropriate worksheet, in this case a worksheet would be fill out, making notation of important information such as the case number, crime scene on the packaging and make and model of the ammunition, if it's a able to be determined. it was determined all these casings were from -- had the same markings on them, indicating they were manufactured by wolf manufacturer, a company out of russia. >> so we don't have a mix of different brands of casings, they are all of the same brand, which is wolf? >> they all have the same head stamp, which is marked wolf, yes. >> okay.

>> were you able to determine the caliber of the 20 fired casings? >> yes. they were all 7.62 x 39 millimeter fired casings. >> and what kind of a begun would a 7.62533 -- >> 39. >> 39 casing be fired out of it? >> there's many firearms for this round, most common xhly se the ak-47 rifle. >> can you describe what that rifle is? >> the ak-47 is a rifle that was designed by the russian military in the late '40s, never was put into service later in the '50s, really did not see action until the vietnam war. it's a very widely produced weapon. it has a design that's been copied by a number of different manufacturers and it's a very common and recognizable firearm.

>> so would these casings have been fired out of what you call an ak-47 type assault rifle? >> yes. they were from a gun of the design of the ak-47 or one of the semiautomatic variants. >> okay. as to the 20 casings, were you able to determine if they were all fired from one firearm? >> yes. they were examined on the forensic comparison microscope and similarities and classic characteristics were determined and agreement found in individual characteristics for the determination that they were all fired from the same weapon. >> and so can you state within a reasonable scientific certainty that all 20 of those casings were fired by one firearm only? >> yes. its my opinion that they were all fired from the same weapon based on both class and individual characteristics.

>> now, as to the projectile b and c, were you able to determine what caliber those were? >> yes. they were a .44 caliber loaded in either a .44 magnum or .44 special cartridge. >> and is that a revolver or semiautomatic pistol? >> it's a cartridge intended for a revolver. >> okay. could you tell us the ifrns betwe difference between a revolver and semiautomatic pistol? the main difference is the way they hold their ammunition a revolver will use a cylinder, with several chambers located around a central act sis. it's located in this area here. the ammunition is loaded into chambers of the sicylinder and the firing mechanism is worked the cylinder rotate as howing a live cartridge brought in line with the barrel in and the firing americanism.

at the time of firing a hammer will fall, detonate the cartridge, bullet leave the firearm and the fired casing retained in the cylinder. you will continue to fire until all of the rounds have been discharged. then the shooter will have to manually open the firearm and remove the fired indicatine casings. modern semiautomatic pistols today will use the recoil energy of the fired art cartridge to extract and eject the fired casing and the loading a fresh cartridge from a magazine to normally inserted into the magazine well where you grip the firearm, and will continue the cycle of fire as long as there's ammunition in the magazine and the trigger is pulled firing the weapon. >> on a revolver, is there -- did you make a determination by looking at the .44 caliber

projectiles that you had submitted to you from the scene, did you determine specific types of guns that could have been fired out of? >> yes. if i can refer to my notes? >> yes. >> the most common weapons and weapons that could have fired projectiles are smith and wesson .44 magnum revolvers or taurus and smith and wesson .38 special revolvers. >> in a revolver, is there a limited number of live rounds that you can place in the gun at one time? >> depending upon the design of the firearm it will have a determined number of chambers in the cylinder, maybe five, maybe six, maybe it's as high as eight depending on the design of the firearm, depending upon the cartridge intended to be fired in the weapon, basically how much room you can safely support

a cartridge while it's being fired. >> but a person who fired that type of a firearm would not, unless they manually ejected the casing, at the scene, they opened up the cylinder and actually pushed the casing out, they would not leave any casings at the scene, correct? >> normally, we do not see fired casings from revolvers submitted from crime scenes. >> did you ever receive any firearms in this case? >> no, i did not. >> for comparison? >> no. >> you did determine, though, the type of firearm that could have fired the 20 casings and the one projectile from the medical examiner's office, that is correct? >> that's correct. >> and that type of fi arm is? i believe an ak-47 or variant rifle. >> if you had received a firearm

for comparison in this case, would it have been possible for you to test to determine whether or not specifically those casings and that projectile were fired from a submitted gun? >> yes, it could have been possible. >> but since you didn't get one, you did not make that test? >> that's correct. >> okay. would ait aid you in explaining the operation of an ak-47 assault-type weapon to use one that you have brought from your laboratory in order to demonstrate the workings of that firearm in. >> yes it would. >> again, ladies and gentlemen, the witness is going to be using a demonstrative aid, which is for you to listen to his testimony, he's using it to aid his testimony. this is not evidence in the case. only to be used as an aid.

>> your honor, the magazine not loaded, there's no cartridge. i may show the jury? no live cartridge in the firearm. >> now, could you describe the workings of the gun, how you load it, how it operates, and how you fire it? >> this is a semiautomatic version of the ak-47. it is manufactured by a chinese manufacturer. it's chamber for the 7.62 x 39

millimeter cartridge. this firearm utilizes the gas energy so it bleeds a small amount of the propulsion gas off from the barrel here to cycle the weapon. when the magazine is loaded and inserted into the magazine well, as i justified did, handle is pulled to the rear allowed to go forward, stripping a live cartridge from the magazine and chambering it. this weapon, being semiautomatic, requires a separate pull of the trigger for each shot fired. the shooter will place their finger on the trigger here, pulling the trigger, which would release the hammer, located inside the firing mechanism. the hammer will strike the firing pin, located in the bolt, and this approximate area here. the firing pin will move forward, striking the primer of the live cartridge loaded into the chamber here, and initiating the firing process. the projectile will then travel down the barrel towards its target, gas energy is bled off

in the barrel here, acts upon the bolt driving into the rear at which point the fired indicating would be extracted and ejected from the action. comes out this area here called ejection port. go away from the shooter. the bolt will travel forward under spring power, stripping a live cartridge from the magazine chambering it, cocking the weapon ready for the next shot to be fired. >> the 20 fired casings in this case came out of the ejection port here? >> that's correct. >> on the firearm that was used? >> that's correct. >> are all ak-47 type assault rifles semiautomatic? >> no. the original design, the true ak-47, is select fire, which means that it has the ability to fire full auto, which when a cartridge is chambered, and the firearm is in the -- actions

ready to fire, there's ammunition in the magazine. when the shooter pulls the trigger, the gun will continue to fire, as long as there's ammunition to fid teed the weap. select fire, full auto allow you tou fire that weapon with multiple shots with one pull of the trigger different than semiautomatic which requires a separate pull of the trigger for each shot fired. >> how -- on the street or in the stores, how easy or hard is it to buy a fully automatic ak-47? >> a truly full legally automatic ak-47 would one require an available firearm, two, require federal licensing for you to purchase and own the weapon, and they can be quite expensive. firearms that were received in the laboratory are semiautomatic

versions of the ak-47 and my nine-year career i've only see two firearms, one which was illegally converted the fire full auto, and one that was previously submitted to the laboratory and is in our reference collection, which is a true ak-47. >> okay. so the majority of them that are out on street that you have seen, overwhelming majority are going to be semiautomatic? >> the ones submitted to the laboratory that have i have seen are semiautomatic. >> by looking at the casings, in is this case, 20 casings, are you able to tell whether or not the firearm that they were fired out of semiautomatic or fully automatic? >> no, i'm unable to do that. >> you may have a seat.

>> i might have one more question for you on that. -d-d-dd

george hertel, criminalist on the stand, after the creme

depth administration of the ak-47, now talking about different projectiles, how powerful they are, how quickly they can travel. >> it all depends where they strike a victim, if there was any intervening objects and the proximate distance of the shooter to the vick estimate at the time of the shooting. >> is the 7.62 caliber projectile, that is powerful enough to pass through a tree and keep on going? >> potentially, yes. >> now, if it passes through an intermediary object like a tree, but was it lose velocity? >> it should a degree of velocity, yes. >> is there anything else that generally happens to that caliber of a projectile as it passes through an intermediary object? >> it it's losing velocity coming in contact with an intermediate object it can destable in flight, which means no longer spinning through the air and may start to destabilize and wobble and may turn

sideways. this a number of different things that can affect this flight path of the projectile. intervening objects being one of them. >> can it also deform the bullet itself? >> yes it can. >> okay. in looking at the projectile that was brought from the medical examiner's office, which is exhibit 39, your a, is that projectile deformed? >> yes, it is. it has impact damage. n. that it t. struck an object with enough force to damage the projectile. >> before it entered the head of sherdavia jenkins? >> based on the degree of damage, it's my opinion that it was caused by some other object besides the victim. >> before it hit entered her? >> yes. >> can it also get damage by -- and slow down the velocity -- by

hitting a wall? >> yes. a call and be an intervening object, whether the projectile strikes it flushly, it can completely stop the bullet and assuming the bullet doesn't pass through the wall. it may at an angle deflect the projectile, slowing it, and redirecting its path commonly referred to as a ricochet. >> but still have enough -- talking about the 7.62 cartridge now -- still have enough energy to enter a body? >> potentially, yes. >> i'm going to show you what's marked as state's exhibit 53 in eviden evidence. a picture from the crime scene,

a palm tree that has dials, technician arnold yen testified that the bullet passed through this palm tree coming from the area where the main casings were found traveling towards the home of where the victim was. in looking at this photograph, would it be possible, in your expert opinion, for an ak-47, 7.62 round, to travel through this tree in the way in which it is so depicted? >> based on my experience in the trajectory course of firing through different materials including wood, it's very possible for those holes that the dial rods are sticking through to be caused by the pass only at bullet fired from the 7.62 cartridge.

>> one moment, your honor. thank you. no further questions. >> the prosecutor wrapping up questioning of the criminalist here, the judge in the midst of a side bar discussion may well be that they're trying to decide, does it make sense to take the lunch break now, depending how long the cross-examination is going to be of this witness by the defense. my guess is they're talking scheduling right up there and thoel they' they'll make a decision. looks like they made a decision. lit listen to what they're going to do.

>> we're going to take our lunch break. dpi first leave note pad onlz the place in front of you or on your chair as you leave. you'll have your lunch for one hour, take one-hour lunch. >> as we suspected, the judge looking at this saying it's a logical time to take a break here. the cross-examination clearly going to be longer than the time they have allotted here. we're going to take a break of our own. our courtside quiz, you've been following this trial, 9-year-old sherdavia jenkins life trajically cut short caught in the cross fire of a shootout in front of her miami home. we're asking you, who was the first officer to respond to the scene? that scene of tragedy, was it leroy larose, passion wilson or sherone jenkins? logon to cnn.com. let us know who you are, where you're from. we'll anouns the correct answer and the name of the first viewer to answer the question correctly.

two men involved in a shootout, one of the bullet take looift a 9-year-old girl. who was responsible?

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we asked you in our courtside quiz, who was the first officer to respond to the seen? leroy larose, passion wilson, sherrone jenkins? the answer, passion wilson, miami police officer took the stand describing her initial assessment of the scene when she first arrived. >> i arrived, there were a lot of people in the street.

they were pointing to the house where the victim was. when i approached the door, she was laying in the doorway, bleeding from her neck, life the, in her mother's lap. >> leroy larose pleaded guilty to his role in the shooting death of sherdavia jenkins in exchange for seven year prison sentence, he agreed to testify against the defendant. sherrone jenkins, the victim's mother, gracefully took the stand, recounted reee vents of date leading up to the moment her child passed away in her arms. monica from florida our first viewer to e-mail us with the correct answer. so they've take ainn a break in the courtroom. jennifer barranger, paul martin, let's talk about the prosecutor's spperspective, charged with second-degree murder but nobody says he

intended to kill the 9-year-old girl. what's the language? what does the prosecutor prove to get him into a second-degree murder conviction? >> two types of second-degree murder, traditionally with intent to cause the death of another person you cause the death. what we're talking about is reckless murder, when the actions of defendant are so reckless that by the very nature of the actions it is reasonable to believe that you would cause the death of another person, firing an ak-47 on a saturday afternoon in a residential neighborhood -- >> spraying it. >> spraying it, is it reasonable to believe you would cause the death of another person, when you intended to cause that death or not, and that's what the theory the prosecution's going by. >> jennifer, we are hearing about the notion of self-defense here and i'm sure, viewers are saying if you start shooting with somebody else, how can you bring up self-defense if you're not a police officer or not licensed to have and carry a weaponen? what is the law of self-defense? what is it? what is it not? >> in most -- well not most

states but many states they have a two-pronged situation where you have a duty to retreat. >> okay. >> which means basically if you can conceivably leave the situation, you are required to. >> before you use that deadly force. >> right. and also the amount of force used must be equal to the amount of force that's threatened. for instance i can't shoot you for threatening to punch me, however, in florida, they have a market edly different situation. they have no duty to retreat whatsoever and a person may legally presume that there's a threat of death, that's responding with deadly force is completely allowable. >> right. >> now you've basically got something like the wild west you need only say it's self-defense and basically you are not to be -- you're not permitted -- you're immune from prosecution. and of course in this case, what's interesting is that the defendant is not -- because he's a parolee, he's not allowed to be having any kind of weapon. >> he's automatically in the box

for that. >> well, he is. >> having a weapon. and, paul, if in terms of utilizing self-defense if you're the guy that starts the shooting -- >> you're out the box also because you cannot be the initial aggressor. you have to respond to deadly physical force utilized against you. >> beth karas joining us outside the courthouse so we can talk with beth about what's taking place. beth, from the time that you and i first spoke at beginning 0 the show, almost two hours ago, there was an event that took place inside the courtroom that had to do with a spectator and a problem with the spectator. i don't know we have all of the details. fill us on what we know and what happened. >> reporter: we don't have all of details yet. when i go into court later on i will find out. someone on the damon darling side of the courtroom, the side where our equipment, our camera is, the side with the jury is. a woman was escorted out of the courtroom. i do know that some supporters

of damon darling tried to seethe sit in the very first row and the first row is so close behind jonathan meltz, the defense attorney and damon darling, you could reach your arm out and touch darling in the back of -- on his shoulders or head, it's that close. family, supporters, are not allowed to sit in the front row. i sit in the front row in the afternoon when i'm in there. that may be what it was. i know there is some concern keeping two families, two side as part, talking jenkins and darling. but it's not as though the dispute is between these two families. it's not like it's larose's family and darling's. i'm not sure what problem the darling family would have with the jenkins family. i do understand the opposite, though, if the jenkins family were provoking the darling side. but i don't know why this woman on the darling side was excused. >> give us an idea, beth, when has been in the courtroom so far. the trial got started yesterday.

who has been in the courtroom, and where are they located? >> reporter: family members, both sides, sherdavia jenkins's family sits on the prosecution side, so if you're facing the judge and the witness, left side of the courtroom. her mother and father, sherrone and david jenkins have been there. her older sister who is in college, was there yesterday. her grandmother and great-grandmother were there yesterday. the victim's advocate also sits with the parents. not everyone is there today, the parents are both there today, though. and other spectators. it's a fairly full gallery. in fact, at least one of the two attorneys for leroy larose has been sitting in court waiting for larose and following the case as well. and on damon darling's side a number of people who haven't all identified themselves yet, but his mother, among them, have been in the courtroom. >> beth, we've learned a great deal about sherdavia jenkins. you've talked to her grandmother about it and we've seen the

piece before. an astonishly successful little girl even at age 9, and despite all of the difficulties of where she was living, involved parents obviously doing a good job with her. but how about the defendant, damon darling? have we learned anything at all about him and his background? >> reporter: well, unfortunate, he has a criminal record, he's a two-time convicted felon but for drug crimes, not violent crimes. he was on probation, a four-year probationary sentence, one year into if at tame of the shooting in the case, it was possession of marijuana with intent to sell. he had another drug felony some time before that. he also had a couple of girlfriends at time, one of whom testified eight hearing, we'll probably hear from a. her because she was in the vicinity at the time the shots were fired and saw lay rose at time of the shooting. i believe he has a child. but beyond that, i don't know much else. >> beth, stand by for a second.

let me bring jennifer and paul into the conversation. it has to do with damon darling, the defendant. his defense essentially was i didn't start shooting, somebody else did. do you think, go to the defense attorney, would you have to get him on the stand? he's begin a statement to the police, but would you want to put him on the stoond reinforce that or do you think there's not going to be in i damon darling testifying? >> i don't think there's going to be any damon darling testifying. that's a huge risk. it's not one that i would normally do with anybody else. here, i think that the ballistics and the other witnesses can show exactly what happened here without you having to take such a huge risk. >> he's given a lot of statements. paul if you're the prosecutor, would you have any anticipation here that he was going to get on the stand to testify? >> i would expect it. i'd prepare for it. i would be looking forward to it. i think that, in most self-defense cases, the defendant sort of has to take the stand because you have to know what his mind-set is. as a former prosecutor, i would really like to see this

individual take the stand. >> the interesting thing is, a lot of times you don't put your client on the stand because you don't want the jury to though he's got a prior. the fact he's got a prior already admitted. >> paul's salivating. >> it's not that often you've got them. quickly, beth karas, if i can, before we wrap up, beth, does it look like they're moving on pace to finish up with the prosecution's case, maybe by the end of the week, beginning of next week in. >> that's probably going to happen, probably by the end of the week, beginning of next week. it's mainly forensics but we have a number of eyewitnesses out there, heard or saw, all or part of the shooting, and so a handful of them will be testifying, too, maybe larose, even, as early as today. >> beth, thanks so you. obviously you're going to stand by and we'll be following up with you throughout the course of the day. thanks to jennifer baringer and paul martin. rob kuby coming up next on "the best defense." >> i think that's right, back into the courtroom just as soon

as court resumes. we're going to talk about select inediting the prosecution did with the videotape and chew over the self-defense question. remember, in most cases, the person you're defending yourself against is dead and doesn't come in to testify against you. that's different here. >> that's some great issues. ron, look forward to watching you next "the best defense." we'll be back 11:00 a.m. tomorrow back inside the courtroom. hope to see you then. have a good day.

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