On the ninth day of Michael Irvin's cocaine possession trial, four members of his family showed up.
On the 10th day, Troy Aikman became the first of Irvin's Dallas teammates to lend moral support, sitting beside the family in the front row of the courtroom.Going into the 11th day today, courtroom watchers were wondering who would be next to show up on Irvin's behalf.
An associate of Irvin's said not to be surprised if as many as four more high-profile friends of the Cowboys star make appearances. Aikman was mum Wednesday on whether he'd be back.
Today's witnesses were expected to include the person who fingerprinted the evidence taken from a March 4 drug bust at an Irving motel room, and a person who works for Irvin.
That business associate was identified in opening statements as being the person Irvin, former teammate Alfredo Roberts and topless dancer Jasmine Nabwangu went to after topless dancer Angela Beck was arrested at the scene.
Irvin is charged with second-degree felony cocaine possession, which carries a punishment ranging from probation to 20 years in prison. Beck and Nabwangu also face cocaine charges.
Irvin also faces misdemanor marijuana charges that will be heard later.
While court was in session Wednesday, Irvin seldom looked at Aikman. As soon as jurors left the room, Irvin walked over to a low retaining wall, reached over and shook Aikman's hand.
Aikman leaned back towards Irvin and they embraced, then whispered to each other.
"I'm here to support a friend, certainly, in a time of need," Aikman said outside the courtroom. "It is not to come here and try to influence the jury or the outcome of this trial in any way.
"I'm here much like many of Michael's family members are here, and that is for support."
Although the afternoon session was delayed by an hour, defense attorney Royce West denied speculation that the prosecution tried barring Aikman's appearance.
"No, they didn't try keeping him away," West said.
Several jurors seemed not to notice Aikman sitting in the front row; others glanced at him during pauses in testimony.
Aikman listened as attorneys finished questioning Irvin police detective James Hallum, then discussed narcotics testing with John Lamonte, a supervisor at the lab where the drugs in this case were examined.
Lamonte said 10.3 grams of cocaine were found from six pieces of evidence. Irvin's charge is for possessing between 4 grams and 200 grams of cocaine.
Lamonte said the rock of crack pulled from the gym bag of co-defendant Angela Beck weighed 8.9 grams. Hallum said crack goes for $75 to $120 per gram on the street, making the rock worth between $668 and $1,068.
Lamonte also verified reports that one-two thousandth of a gram of residue was found in a test tube taken from atop Irvin's jewelry bag.