Matthew White

On the third day of the trial of a Chandlers Valley man accused of murder, the jury got a look at the weapon the prosecution says was used in the murder and heard the name of the man the defense suggests could have done the shooting.

In his opening remarks on Monday, Rob Kinnear, representing Matthew White, suggested that a different man committed the crime.

After two-and-a-half days of testimony, Kinnear put forth a name — Chris Smith.

Four witnesses brought testimony Wednesday in the case against White, who stands accused of murdering his wife, Jessica L. White, on June 21, 2017, at their Chandlers Valley home.

District Attorney Rob Greene rested his case on Wednesday after the third of those witnesses, having never called his lead investigator to the stand.

As his first witness, Kinnear called that lead investigator, Trooper Jeffrey Osborne.

Kinnear had asked previous witnesses about a man named “Chris,” who was allegedly supplying drugs to Matthew White.

He asked Osborne about Smith. “As part of your investigation, did you receive information that Matthew White owed about $1,800 to a Chris Smith?”

“Yes,” Osborne said.

“Did you attempt to interview Chris Smith?” Kinnear asked.

“Entities were assigned to interview Chris Smith,” Osborne said. “Because of the nature of that issue, I contacted our vice unit, the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and the Warren County Drug Task Force. My request to them was to please look into Mr. Smith.”

“He (was) never interviewed?” Kinnear said. “We don’t know where he was back on June 21?”

“He was investigated,” Osborne said. “The entities investigated him. There was no need to continue to find Chris Smith. There was no evidence to link him to the death of Jessica White.”

The first witness of the day testified that White had drugs in his system.

Dr. Gregory Beard, trauma surgeon at UPMC Hamot, testified that he treated White for a gunshot wound to the chest on the night of June 21. He said a toxicology screen was done on Mr. White and that he tested positive for marijuana, opiates, and benzodiazepines.

Beard said the hospital determined that White had been prescribed some opiates, but not marijuana nor benzodiazepines — sedative hypnotic drugs like Valium and Xanax.

District Attorney Rob Greene asked if Beard could say the wound was self-inflicted or if it was consistent with a self-inflicted wound.

“It would be difficult for me to say that that is self-inflicted,” Beard said.

Dr. Eric Vey, forensic pathologist for 12 counties in northwestern Pennsylvania testified about the autopsy of Jessica White.

“Jessica White died as a result of gunshot wounds to the trunk,” Vey testified.

He pointed out in autopsy photos shown in court where four bullets entered, exited, and passed through her body. Vey also drove four sharpened wooden rods through a manikin to show the jury the paths the bullets took. Two of those bullet paths were fatal, he said.

One of the four bullets entered Jessica White’s upper chest, “penetrates through both the upper and lower lung lobes, grazes her heart, penetrates the diaphragm” passes through the spine, and exited at the right side of her lower back, he said. “This is a fatal wound.”

“Number three enters the left side of the mid-back,” he said. The bullet struck the first lumbar vertebra and damaged both her right kidney and liver.

“This is not an immediately fatal shot,” Vey said. “In the absence of immediate medical and surgical attention, she will die as a result of this gunshot wound.”

After Vey described the paths of the four bullets, Greene asked if they “would be consistent with someone sitting in a driver’s seat, turning away” from a shooter standing outside the driver door.

“These bullet paths would be consistent with that evolving scenario,” Vey said.

The only drugs in her blood at the time of her death were caffeine and a constituent of chocolate, according to Vey.

A Pennsylvania State Police firearms and toolmarks examination expert testified that all six of the spent shell casings and two discharged bullets found at the scene were fired through a .40-caliber semiautomatic Hi-Point Firearms pistol registered to Matthew White.

One of those bullets was recovered from a gurney that bore Jessica White to Warren General Hospital, according to Cpl. Dale Wimer.

A bullet fragment that was taken from her body was “of no further value for identification purposes,” Wimer said.

Wimer also concluded that at least one hole in the shirt Jessica White was wearing at the time she was shot and one hole in the shirt Matthew White was wearing at the time he was shot were caused by “contact or near-contact gunshots” — the muzzle of the gun was very close to or touching the garments at the time the trigger was pulled.

“Can you say that contact wound was made by the firearm we have in court here today?” Kinnear asked.

“No, I cannot,” Wimer said. “I don’t know what gun created that hole.”

“Was there any evidence that supports that it is likely or probable that another firearm created anything that you showed us today?” Greene asked.

“There’s nothing to support that there is another gun,” Wimer said.