ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Prosecutors rested their murder case against Justin Barber Thursday after presenting testimony from experts who said bloodstains and other evidence from the beach where the defendant's wife was shot contradict his account of a fatal mugging.

Barber's defense is expected to begin calling witnesses Monday, and jurors could start deliberations as early as Thursday.

The 34-year-old business analyst faces the death penalty if convicted.

The experts who took the stand Thursday, a medical examiner and a specialist in crime-scene reconstruction, both cited the flow of blood from a gunshot wound to April Barber's cheek as the primary inconsistency between the physical evidence and statements Barber gave to authorities following the Aug. 17, 2002, shooting.

Barber told authorities an armed robber accosted the couple as they walked on the deserted beach and that he lost consciousness after the man began firing his gun. He said he awoke to find four bullet holes in his upper body and his wife shot once in the head and floating in the surf.

Story continues

He claimed he tried a host of different methods, including slinging her over his shoulder and holding her in his arms, to try to move her toward their car, but his injuries only allowed him to drag her about 300 feet to a wooden walkway where he left her to go for help.

Both experts noted that blood from the 27-year-old's wound ran straight down her left cheek, soaking the sand and her hair. The rest of her face was clear of blood, which, they said, indicated she was shot on the walkway where police found her.

Jerry Findley, a retired Georgia police criminalist who runs a private forensic consulting company, said he had tallied nine different positions in which Barber said he used to attempt to carry his wife. Such jostling, he said, would spread the blood in different directions.

"He moved the body or changed positions nine times, yet the blood flow is consistently coming down from the left side," Findley said.

The pathologist who performed April Barber's autopsy, Terrence Steiner, offered an identical assessment. He testified that she died within "seconds or minutes" of being shot and she was not moved during that time.

"I can only explain the blood pattern and the lack of blood elsewhere with her being shot where she lay," he said.

Findley told jurors he found other problems with Barber's statement. The defendant was shot in the hand, but his blood was not found on his wife's pants waistband, which he said he had used to drag her up the beach, or on the rear door of his SUV, which he claimed he opened to look for a cellphone.