A Maine man is awaiting a jury's verdict in his retrial on charges he murdered his wife in their Windham, Maine, home in January 2016.
After a week of testimony, jurors heard closing arguments in the case Wednesday morning and they began deliberating around noon. At 4 p.m., they determined they would need more time to render a verdict.
In closing arguments, state prosecutors said there was sufficient evidence to support a murder conviction because Noah Gaston did not check for his wife, Alicia Gaston, the morning of her death.
They argued it was typical for her to be up in the early hours her killing happened and that Noah would have known that.
Noah Gaston's defense argued he had heard a voice and "walkie-talkie" sounds indicating there was an intruder in his home, which gave him every reason to grab his shotgun and fire in self-defense.
"He was afraid for his life," said defense attorney, Rob Andrews. "That's why he fired ... he did have the right to defend his family."
But an expert witness for the state testified the victim was little more than arm's length away when she was shot. The witness said a black mark on Alicia Gaston's ring finger was soot expelled from the shotgun, meaning her hand was 18 inches from the barrel.
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The jury's decision will end a monthslong wait for the families of all parties involved after a mistrial this February.
That's when Maine's chief medical examiner, Dr. Mark Flomenbaum, changed his forensic opinion on the angle of the shotgun's firing.
That change is now part of mounting scrutiny of Flomenbaum's work on cases he's overseen in Maine. He was fired by former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick in 2007 for losing track of a body.
As for Gaston, has been in custody at the Cumberland County Jail since his arrest in January 2016, the jury could also hand him a manslaughter conviction, if they believe the evidence supports one.
