A ballistics expert who tested a pistol and ammunition recovered from a murder scene in Bog Walk, St Catherine, in 2018 where two men were killed and a third injured, on Tuesday revealed that six of the 18 cartridge casings he examined were fired from that same weapon.

During the incident, which took place along the Bog Walk Main Road in the vicinity of Pineapple Lane on February 24, 2018, small business operator Leon Burke and labourer Kemar Williams were shot and killed and another man seriously wounded.

That shooting is the substance of counts nine, 10 and 11 on the 32-count indictment being relied on by the Crown in the ongoing trial of 25 alleged members of what is referred to as the Tesha Miller faction of the Klansman gang. Count nine charges Miller, the alleged gang leader, and co-accused Kirk Forrester with “facilitating the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation”. Meanwhile, count 10 further charges Miller and Forrester with facilitating the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation — the murder of Williams. Count 11 further charges them with knowingly facilitating the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation, that is the wounding with intent of (name withheld).

The weapon, a Taurus 9mm auto-loading handgun, along with the magazine and several rounds, had been tendered and admitted into evidence as exhibits after they were identified by the investigating officer in April. According to that witness, on the day following the incident, based on information he received, he returned to the crime scene and went to the rear of the building where he discovered a black plastic bag containing the Taurus 9mm handgun which he later examined and turned over to the government forensic lab for analysis.

Resuming his testimony Tuesday morning, the ballistics expert told the court that the pistol was in “working condition” when it came into his hands. He further revealed that the remaining 12 cartridge casings were fired by one firearm “of the class nine millimetre calibre”.

In all, the firearms expert said he conducted examinations on 18 spent casings, one expended cartridge (live round), and eight pieces of bullet casings and fragments. He in the meantime said microscopic examination conducted on some of the casings revealed that they “lacked sufficient details for identification with other bullet fragments”.

The ballistics expert, who is also a detective sergeant, said in testing the weapon he compared his test-fire results against the original sample to ensure that the markings on the cartridge casing “were being repeated”. He told the lead prosecutor eliciting the evidence that this was done “so that if the markings were consistent on the test, this would form [his] known sample”.

“The significance of that is, these markings would be consistently repeated and transferred to fired cartridge casings and projectiles/bullets. It means the markings produced from the firearm that are imprinted on the casing when compared with others fired before, there would be a repeat of the markings similar to that of a fingerprint touching a surface,” he explained under further questioning. Under cross examination by defence attorney John-Mark Reid, who represents Miller, the ballistics expert agreed that he had little knowledge of how the recovered items were stored before they came into the lab’s possession. He, however, said once at the lab, the item was placed in the “firearms vault”.

Asked why eight years had elapsed before he examined the exhibits the ballistics expert explained that a preliminary examination had been done by a technician. He noted that, given the volume of cases being handled by the lab, it is only upon request by the courts and stakeholders that a certificate is prepared “if there is no name or impending matter submitted along with the exhibit”.

The matter continues on Thursday in the Home Circuit Division of the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston.