THE FOURTH WEEK OF JANET MERCEREAU’s trial on charges that she murdered her husband FDNY Fire Marshal Douglas Mercereau on Dec. 2, 2007, is continuing today with both sides giving their closing arguments.
MONDAY the jury heard police detectives say that there was no blood trail or spatter outside the victim’s bedroom where he had been shot 3 times in the head. Then they heard that a blood drop on a room dehumidifier in the girls’ bedroom belonged to Douglas, supporting the prosecution’s claim that the killer had carried the blood spattered pistol into the girls’ bedroom and it fell off there.
Janet Mercereau is escorted back to her
Riker’s Island jail cell following Monday’s
testimonies. (Staten Island Advance / Oates photo)
TUESDAY’s session saw the defense presenting qualified expert witnesses who said that running the gun through the dishwasher would not have left the rust on the gun so soon afterwards and more testimony that the salt residue would not have come from the Cascade dishwasher soap. The soap could have left a phosphate residue, but none was found on the 9 mm. pistol.
WEDNESDAY the judge, with agreements from both prosecution and defense, tossed out the charges of tampering with evidence (including running the murder weapon through the dishwasher). Earlier in the day the jury heard the last two witnesses in the trial. The defense presented a private investigator who testified that when he visited the house 2 weeks later he saw that the back gate was “open on its own.” The prosecution countered with a PD detective who said that on the day of the crime she saw that the gate was closed.
THURSDAY (Today) both side gave their closing summations and final arguments before a packed courtroom filled with police and firefighters in their dress uniforms, along with members of both families. The judge has stated that he plans to send the jury into deliberations on Monday.
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