Court TV Host: Courttv.com's Harriet Ryan is now joining us...

Harriet Ryan: Hi, everyone.

Court TV Host: She's joining us from St. Augustine, Florida, where she's covering the trial that you're all watching...the Barber trial.

Court TV Host: Thanks, Harriet, for joining us. What's the latest?

Harriet Ryan: This trial is moving along much quicker than anyone thought. Tomorrow we will have two more witnesses for the defense both forensic experts and then JB will have to decide if he's going to testify. Wednesday: Summations and jury deliberations start.

Question from Miriam: Harriet, how is Barber's demeanor in court?

Harriet Ryan: He is stoic. I saw him dab at his eyes once Honestly, the press is confined to the back row of the courtroom so I can't vouch for whether he was actually crying. Also the bailiffs whisk him out of the courtroom as soon as testimony is over so I can't even tell you what he's like when he's interacting with his family.

Question from lmk: How long ago were the life policies taken out?

Harriet Ryan: The big one -- $2M -- was taken out in Sept '01. So less than a year before the murder. JB started the paperwork that June, but the health exam and interview took awhile and the policy didn't go into effect until Sept.

Question from lmk: Are the amounts somewhat HIGH for a couple with out children?

Harriet Ryan: It's an interesting question. In openings, the defense told us that JB had calculated this amount after doing a lot of internet research and that it made sense based on their incomes etc., etc. But so far we haven't heard anything to back that statement up. The financial expert who took the stand today was asked that exact question by prosecutor Matt Foxman, and he said, I can't say because I didn't review the Barber's personal finances. Foxman was immediately like: No more questions. Which means prosecutors think that's THE only question that matters.

Question from Miriam: Harriet, I had a hard time understanding why the defense called the tire track expert. What was he supposed to add to the def case?

Harriet Ryan: If anyone in court had been awake they might have agreed with you. Just kidding! I think it took the defense a long time to make one simple point: If the sheriff's investigators had ever been able to zero in on a suspect car -- perhaps by cross-referencing known criminals with owners of Dodge Kcars -- they could have compared the car to the tire treads and been able to say, this could be the car or this couldn't be the car. They want to convince jurors that the detectives totally dropped the ball when it came to looking for a mugger. That they totally had blinders on. And other metaphors.

Question from red: Has it ever been said what they were doing in such a deserted area when they weren't getting along?

Harriet Ryan: You and I know that they weren't getting along that well, but the jury doesn't. Remember the testimony about the problems in their marriage came when the jury was out. (Okay, put aside the affairs for now because he claims she didn't know about them.) AB's cousin, Radas, told the judge that April had come home to Oklahoma the week of the murder and made it known that she was leaving her husband and buying a house in Oklahoma and moving home. The prosecutor, Foxman, proffered other testimony from AB's best friend, Amber Mitchell, that AB had told JB if he didn't shape up they were through and that when he didn't shape up, she confronted him and said, we're through. But the jury didn't hear any of it. What the jury has heard is that he had five infidelities, four were basically one night stands, two he can't even remember the girl's name. And that AB thought enough about the relationship that she drove down to see him every weekend and had sex with him that afternoon. Obviously, this is all info provided by Justin, but it's the only info the jury has.

Question from Miriam: Harriet, was jb involved in an extramarital affair at the time of his wife's death? If not, when did he end the last one?

Harriet Ryan: He was involved in an affair with a Enterprise-Rent-a-Car management trainee named Shannon Kennedy. They had been sleeping together for two weeks. She had a live-in boyfriend. Neither of them ever suggested it was anything other than sex.

Question from Allie: How are the jurors reacting to the testimony?

Question from Miriam: Harriet, how is the jury reacting to the testimony?

Harriet Ryan: It is a very hard group to read. They don't even cringe at the crime scene photos. I haven't seen any rolled eyes or tears. Just careful note-taking.

Question from lmk: About the houses around the scene, were they the gated ones or like many others on the beach large but able to be reached?

Harriet Ryan: Okay, right after you leave the state park, the houses are ginormous and invisible from the road behind huge gates and thick hedges. These are not the type of places that have guard shacks. So you would be ringing in hopes that Thurston and Lovey Howell are home and will open up for you. Later, there are super exclusive gated communities but they have guard shacks which I assume are manned at night. He could have walked up the beach to the manses, but I think that it's at least 8/10 of a mile, and again, then you have to hope someone is home and willing to help you.

Question from Allie: How much time and energy is the pros going to put into the hitman theroy?

Harriet Ryan: None. No one has talked about that at all.

Question from Miriam: Harriet, how is Barber's attorney doing against this very convincing prosecutor?

Harriet Ryan: He's acquitting himself quite nicely. Willis is a likeable guy and he knows his stuff. The prosecutors have big problems as of this morning when two first responder types said they didn't see blood on AB's face. There are a lot of people in court who think that was devastating for the State.

Question from kcat: Barber had the wherewithal to turn on his four-way flashers but he was too "out of it" to stop at the many houses he drove by to get help, instead he drove for 9-10 minutes??

Harriet Ryan: That's a good point. Maybe the prosecutors are listening and will include in their summation.

Question from lmk: Why is no blood on the face devastating for the state?

Harriet Ryan: They say that's how they know JB lied, and their two final forensic witnesses said it was the fact the blood was only on her left side that made them question JB's story. They say, how could he have lugged her up from the beach, tossing her this way and that, trying this hold and that hold, dragging her with her head flailing all around and the blood only ran down the left cheek. No, they say, the fact it ran straight down towards the sand means she was shot where she lay up by the wooden walkover and not by some mugger at the shoreline. The defense has always said that JB found his wife floating in water. The water washed away whatever initial blood came out of her gunshot wound. Cleaned of the blood, AB is pulled from the water by JB who hauls her up the beach and drops her by the crosswalk to go for help. The bleeding they say happens very gradually over the next three hours while the crime scene people are processing the place. The photos that show the blood were taken three hours after the crime. So the fact that the first responders did not notice blood even though they were down on their knees next to her head can be seen to support the defense theory that most of this bleeding occurred later.

Court TV Host: Thanks, Harriet - any closing thoughts?

Harriet Ryan: Good questions, thanks a lot!

Court TV Host: Please come back soon!