Testimony continues in Earnest trial: Evidence presented Friday ruled out suicide in the case of Jocelyn Earnest, prosecutors say. [The Roanoke Times, Va.]

Mar. 27--BEDFORD -- Capping off four days of testimony in the Bedford County murder trial of Wesley Earnest, a state forensic scientist said Friday that the body of Earnest's estranged wife was moved shortly after she was shot to death, a circumstance prosecutors say rules out suicide.

Marjorie Harris of the state Department of Forensic Science said bloodstains on the carpet of Jocelyn Earnest's Forest home, where her body was found in December 2007, show that she had been moved two feet or more, possibly within seconds of suffering a gunshot wound to the head.

"Once she went down, she was pulled and moved," Harris said, adding that whoever moved her body must have been there when she was shot.

Prosecutors contend Wesley Earnest, 39, an assistant principal at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake at the time of his wife's Dec. 19, 2007, death, drove roughly 200 miles from Chesapeake to Bedford County, shot his wife with a .357-caliber revolver and left a typewritten suicide note to make it appear his wife had taken her own life. Her body, the revolver and suicide note lying nearby were found the following day.

Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Wes Nance has pursued a two-pronged strategy to convict Wesley Earnest, trying on one hand to convince jurors Jocelyn Earnest's death was not a suicide while simultaneously offering evidence he said points to Wesley Earnest as her killer. Among the evidence expected next week: the testimony of a fingerprint expert who, according to Nance, will say the lone fingerprint found on the suicide note belonged to Wesley Earnest.

In December 2007, the Earnests were involved in a contentious divorce to end their 12-year-old marriage. Jocelyn Earnest, 38, lived in Forest, while Wesley Earnest lived in Chesapeake but commuted back to Bedford on weekends and stayed at the couple's Smith Mountain Lake home. Jocelyn Earnest was a project manager at Genworth Financial in Lynchburg.

Jocelyn Earnest filed for divorce in June 2006. That's three months after she and a friend, Jennifer Kerns, drove to the lake home and saw Wesley Earnest having sex with another woman, Kerns testified Thursday. Jocelyn Earnest banged on the bedroom window and shouted "Enjoy!" and "Have fun!" before angrily leaving, Kerns said.

Among the highlights of this week's testimony:

n State medical examiner Amy Tharp of Roanoke testified that Jocelyn Earnest's head wounds were inconsistent with suicide. The bullet entered the back right side of the head and exited near the left temple, and the gun was held at least two inches from the head, Tharp said. "It would be very unusual for an individual to hold a gun at an extremely awkward angle" while committing suicide. She said gunpowder particles were found on Jocelyn Earnest's right hand, but that could have happened if Earnest raised her hand to shield herself from a shot.

n Bedford County sheriff"s investigator Mike Mayhew testified that the box that originally held the revolver found by Jocelyn Earnest"s side was discovered by investigators in the Campbell County home of Wesley Earnest's girlfriend, Shameka Wright.

n Family members, friends and co-workers of Jocelyn Earnest testified that she was always happy and upbeat and never seemed depressed. She attended West Virginia University on a four-year basketball scholarship and threw herself enthusiastically into athletic activities, playing softball, volleyball and running a marathon. Her friends and co-workers also testified that she never owned a handgun as far as they knew. Mayhew testified that investigators found no .357-caliber ammunition in her home.

n Gary Babb, an investigator with the prosecutor's office, testified that a search of the two laptops that Jocelyn Earnest used turned up no evidence that she had written the suicide note on the computers. Mayhew testified that the two printers found in her house were not plugged in.

n Marcy Shepherd, a co-worker of Jocelyn Earnest's, testified that they shared an emotional but chaste relationship, kissing several times but agreeing they could not go further. Shepherd said she went to her friend's house on the morning of Dec. 20, 2007, because she was worried, and she found Jocelyn Earnest dead on her living room floor. She said she immediately called 911 and never moved the body. She said she promptly identified Wesley Earnest as a suspect to investigators because Jocelyn Earnest feared her estranged husband.

n After Shepherd testified that a wave of heat slammed into her when she opened the door to Earnest's house, Mayhew testified that the thermostat in the house had been turned up to 90 degrees.

Nance told jurors in his opening statement that Wesley Earnest killed his wife because the wrangling over the divorce was putting him in a financial bind. While she was making $106,000 a year and doing well financially -- she owed $78 on her only credit card, according to her sister -- Wesley Earnest had borrowed more than $125,000 and was struggling to make the mortgage payments on the lake home, Nance said. At one point, Wesley Earnest had 17 cents in his checking account, according to a document introduced into evidence.

Nance also told jurors that they will eventually hear testimony that Wesley Earnest had borrowed a pickup truck from a friend in Chesapeake on Dec. 17. Days after his estranged wife's death, Earnest bought four new tires for the truck under a fake name, Nance said the evidence will show.

Prosecutors will continue making their case Monday. Defense attorneys Joseph and Blair Sanzone have not had a chance to put on any evidence yet, but Joseph Sanzone told jurors that Wesley Earnest was in Chesapeake the night Jocelyn Earnest was killed.

Sanzone has repeatedly told jurors that Jocelyn Earnest was taking medication for depression at the time of her death, and her prescription recently had been doubled. The implication is that she could have been suicidal. At the same time, Sanzone has suggested that Shepherd killed Jocelyn Earnest, though he offered no motive.

Sanzone has declined to say whether Wesley Earnest will testify.

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