Jury mulls physical evidence in Sagle murder case

SANDPOINT — Physical evidence in the shooting death of Elvin “Eli” Holt indicates the gunshot was fired at extremely close range.

During the second day of testimony in the second-degree murder case against James Matthew Anderson, a medical examiner told jurors Holt suffered a near-to-contact gunshot wound just below his left eye.

Sally Aiken testified the muzzle of the .44-caliber revolver was likely touching Holt’s face, but the contact was not flush because of the natural curvature of the zygomatic bone structure below Holt’s eye.

“This is a loose contact (wound),” said Aiken, a Spokane County, Wash., medical examiner who performed the autopsy on behalf of Bonner County.

Aiken also told jurors gas issuing from the barrel of the gun tore delicate skin around the eye, while soot stained Holt’s skin around the entrance wound.

“It had to be very close, and in this case a very near to contact — almost complete contact — gunshot wound to the area below the left eye to make as much soot or smoke,” Dr. Aiken testified on Thursday.

Based on the exit wound, Aiken told the jury the path of the bullet was from slightly left to right and had a downward trajectory that was approximately 20 degrees off horizontal.

Anderson, 29, told investigators the pistol discharged accidentally when he brandished it in order to persuade Holt, 30, and Holt’s stepbrother, Ian James Freir, to leave his property at about 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving 2008.

Holt reportedly went to Anderson’s trailer at Travel America in Sagle to confront him about the battery of Holt’s best friend the month prior.

Anderson and his wife have maintained that the two men had him pinned against the front fender of Freir’s Ford F-250 pickup truck at one point during the confrontation.

On Friday, Prosecutor Louis Marshall called William Schneck, a forensic scientist who was hired to examine other physical evidence in the case, including Freir’s pickup truck, the pistol and clothing evidence.

Schneck said tape lifts were done on the front driver’s side tire sidewall and the Carhartt overalls Anderson had been wearing underwent microscopic examination to determine whether rubber from the tire had transferred onto the overalls.

A dark stain was found on the seat of the overalls, but it was determined to be a very decayed plant material, Schneck testified. However, Schneck conceded that the lack of evidence transfer didn’t mean contact didn’t occur.

“Just because I didn’t see a stain doesn’t mean there wasn’t contact,” Schneck said.

Schneck also test fired the .44 magnum to determine how far gunpowder escaped from the gap between the cylinder and the frame of the revolver. Using fabric panels, Schneck found that smokeless powder residue was evident as far as a foot away from the cylinder gap.

Gunpowder residue was also discovered on the left collar of Holt’s coat and inside the bill of the baseball hat he was wearing, Schneck told the jury.

The state’s forensics firearms expert, Stuart Jacobson of Idaho State Police, told the jury trigger-pull tests on the single-action revolver determined it took about 3 1/2 pounds of force the release the hammer and fire the Ruger Super Blackhawk, which he said was within factory specifications provided by the manufacturer.