Jurors viewed a videotape Friday that showed what John Timothy Singer might have seen from his window the morning of Jan. 28, when he allegedly fired several shots toward the Bates home.
One of those shots, prosecutors say, struck and killed state Corrections Lt. Fred House, who was assisting FBI agents in an arrest attempt on Addam and Jonathan Swapp.Jurors in the second-degree murder trial of the Swapp brothers and Singer were also shown nine photographs taken from various angles near the window.
However, 3rd District Judge Michael R. Murphy, on motions by defense attorneys, instructed the jurors that the photos and videotape are for illustrative purposes only and that the images depicted should not be considered to be what Singer actually saw the morning of Jan. 28.
Under cross-examination Friday morning by Singer's attorney, Fred Metos, the FBI agent who made the videotape said he didn't account for the exact lighting conditions, didn't try to focus on the area 15 feet in front of the Bates home, was not provided with Singer's statement to police, and had no information on the defendant's eyesight.
Metos contends his client was only shooting at dogs outside the Bates front door.
Later Friday, attorneys were expected to argue whether a videotape recorded by a Summit County deputy sheriff during the shootout will be shown in its entirety to the jury.
Jonathan's attorney, Earl Spafford, wants the whole tape played because it demonstrates the "frivolity" displayed by law enforcement during last January's standoff. Spafford said at one point, a lawman can be heard to say, "Can we kill them now?"
But U.S. Assistant Attorney David Schwendiman told the judge that lawmen were reacting to news of House's fate and that any subsequent statements are irrelevant.
Thursday, the former Utah state medical examiner who conducted an autopsy on House testified that he died of a gunshot wound to the chest, the victim of homicide.
Dr. Edwin S. Sweeney said a bullet entered House's body on the right side of his chest just below the nipple. It grazed an armor plate in House's bullet-proof vest, pierced his small intestine, sliced a one-inch tear in his aorta, cut through his ureter and then exited his lower left back, Sweeney said.
The hole in the aorta - the artery that carries blood from the heart to the body - was most significant, he said. A person suffering such a wound would experience "extremely rapid blood loss into the body cavity, resulting in unconsciousness and death."
House was shot the morning of Jan. 28 while giving commands to his dog, which was part of a plan to arrest Addam and Jonathan Swapp.
The officer's wife, Ann House, who had been attending all sessions of the trial, did not sit in on Sweeney's testimony Thursday.
Most compelling Thurday, though, was the testimony of FBI agent Don Roberts, who told the jury he was sitting in the Jepsen kitchen observing the events the morning of Jan. 28.
"I heard a gunshot . . . I thought I'd been shot, the force . . . knocked me out of my chair," Roberts said. After awhile, he concluded he hadn't been shot but had probably been struck by material that became airborne when a bullet pierced the kitchen wall.
Later that day, however, he noticed bullet holes in his coat and bullet-proof vest. It wasn't until April 20, when his coat was put through an X-ray machine, that Roberts found the bullet in the coat's inner lining.
Ron Miller, an investigator for the attorney general's office, showed the jury three rifles he recovered from Singer's bedroom. Prosecutors plan to show the jury that Jonathan Swapp and Singer fired .30-caliber carbines, while Addam carried a military M-1 30.06-caliber rifle. It is believed Singer fired at least seven rounds and Jonathan fired three times. Addam was shot by FBI agents after allegedly pointing his rifle at them.
Murphy told the jury that he believes the case will be in their hands by Dec. 19 or 20. Prior to that, the Swapp brothers are expected to take the witness stand to tell the jury they never intended to kill anyone.