A Howard Circuit court judge deliberated late into the afternoon Monday on whether to allow evidence linking shell casings and a bullet to the gun seized from a Columbia teenager on trial for murder.
Monti Fleming was 15 in August 2006 when he allegedly shot to death Shaun Powell, 18, of Columbia, following a fight outside a party at a Hickory Ridge apartment complex.
Fleming also is charged with attempted murder in the leg shooting of Mark Golston a week earlier on Aug. 22 on Nightmist Court in Columbia, according to court records.
Judge Louis Becker considered the request by Fleming?s attorney, Brian Zemil, to exclude “unreliable” ballistic evidence gathered by Torin Suber, a forensic firearm and tool-mark examiner with the state police.
Prosecutors said Suber?s method of examining ballistics is generally accepted in the scientific community and has been upheld in Maryland courts.
But Zemil said Suber?s method of matching tool marks, or markings on the shell casings, to a specific gun is based on his interpretation, and prosecutors never had a scientist testify to the method?s acceptance in the scientific community.
“Common usage is not scientifically valid,” Zemil said.
“Because some may have commonly thought the Earth was flat does not make it so.”
Suber testified earlier this month that he followed the standard operating procedures of his lab.
Becker asked Howard Circuit Judge Richard Bernhardt to begin jury selection at about 3 p.m. Monday while he deliberated on the evidence, said Wayne Kirwan, spokesman for the State?s Attorney?s Office. The trial is expected to continue today.
Becker denied the defense?s request in October to move the case to juvenile court.
