The State vs. Misty Witherspoon

As the trial enters its third week, the state of N.C. has introduced more than 70 pieces of evidence, and the defense, thus far, has brought in nearly 40.

Some of the evidence presented in the trial so far includes:

For the state

• 31 photos, most of the crime scene. Photos of Quinn Witherspoon in his Concord Police Department uniform and a photo of Misty Witherspoon on the day of the shooting have also been shown to the jury.
• The yellow shorts and white T-shirt Misty Witherspoon was wearing on the day of the shooting. Detectives testified the shirt had a blood smear as if someone wiped their hand on the front of it and the shorts had a blood spot on one leg.
• Quinn Witherspoon's 40-caliber Beretta service weapon, a magazine from the gun and his duty belt, which was found lying on the bathroom floor.
• Various statements by paramedics and a state trooper, a friend of Quinn's, who came to the scene moments after the shooting.
• Credit reports
• A child's book called "A Story, A Story."
• A diagram of the inside of the Witherspoon's Mooresville residence. It has hung on the wall behind the witness stand since the first Mooresville police officer testified.
• A mannequin head with an entrance and exit wound like that suffered by Quinn Witherspoon. It has sat on a table in front of the witness stand, along with other evidence, with a dowel road inserted through the wound tract.
• A DVD of Misty Witherspoon's 911 call on Sept. 13, 2005 and a transcript of that call.
• DVDs of two separate interviews with police, one on Oct. 3, 2005 and the second two days later. It was on the second tape that she admitted her "slip and fall" story was fabricated, and the shooting was the result of a failed suicide attempt.
• A spent shell casing and a fragment from Witherspoon's 40-caliber Beretta.
• A cordless phone handset, with blood on the back.

For the defense

The defense has also introduced a large number of photos, 28.

Other defense evidence brought to the attention of the jury during cross-examination of state's witnesses:

• The computer-generated report for emergency responders on the day of the shooting.
• An incident report filed by then Officer Corey Barnette.
• The crime scene log, which charts who enters and exits the crime scene.
• Phone records from the Witherspoon house.
• A log of the photos taken by police at the scene and an evidence log from that scene.
• E-mails between Misty Witherspoon and lead investigator, Detective Todd Marcum

Witnesses who have testified thus far in the case

• Paul Webster, at that time a telecommunicator with Iredell County Emergency Communications, who took Misty Witherspoon's 911 call
• Corey Barnette, a former officer with the Mooresville Police Department. He was the first police officer to arrive on the scene at 904 S. Magnolia St.
• Jason Fleming, a N.C. Highway Patrol trooper and a friend of Quinn Witherspoon's. He spoke with Misty Witherspoon on the front lawn of her home in the minutes after the shooting. He testified she repeatedly told him the "slip and fall" story.
• Paramedics Linden Walker and Wes Thompson, who responded to the house that day and confirmed Quinn Witherspoon was dead.
• Iredell County Medical Examiner Tony Tudor, who noticed a spent shell casing fall from under Witherspoon's body as he and detectives rolled Quinn Witherspoon off the couch where he died.Tudor also testified that he dug a bullet fragment from the pillow underneath Quinn Witherspoon's head.
• Detectives Todd Marcum, who headed the investigation and Gerald Childress, who supervised and helped with collection of much of the evidence.
• Neal Morin, a forensics firearm examiner with the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.

A portion of two days of the trial, which began with jury selection on June 26, have been dedicated to the viewing of more than five hours of video-taped statements by Misty Witherspoon on Oct. 3, 2005 and two days later.

While the Oct. 5, 2005 video was being shown, as Misty Witherspoon was being questioned about what she did with the telephone after calling 911, a loud bang emanated from the audio-visual equipment belonging to the state.

The state brought in a new sofa, similar to the one in the Witherspoon house, in order for Marcum to demonstrate investigator's beliefs that Quinn Witherspoon's head had been moved after he was shot, and that he was not shot from the front of the couch as Misty Witherspoon first told investigators. The Witherspoons' couch was not seized by the state, and was disposed of the day after the crime by a family friend after the scene had been released.

Childress explained, under cross-examination Friday, that the couch was not seized on the day of the crime because, based on Misty Witherspoon's initial statements, police didn't know it played a role in the shooting. He said police went back on Sept. 14, 2005, after their suspicions had been raised by photos and other evidence, to retrieve the couch but it had been removed.

Childress said he learned the sofa had been broken up by a back hoe and taken to the transfer station in Mooresville. He said he and others dug through two tractor-trailer loads of trash trying to locate the sofa, with no success.

"Had she (Misty Witherspoon) not been as deceitful as she was, we would have seized the couch," he told the jury.

Defense attorney Andrew Jennings objected to bringing in the sofa, arguing that it was not the same as the Witherspoons'. He said it was new and the wear and tear pattern, as well as the thickness of the cushions and the pillows on the couch, were different from the Witherspoons. Judge Kim Taylor held an evidentary hearing outside the presence of the jury.

After hearing testimony from District Attorney's Office Investigator Johnny Marks as well as arguments from Jennings and Assistant District Attorney Greg Brown, Taylor ruled it could be used for demonstrative purposes. It sat in the middle of the courtroom for two days during Marcum's testimony.