Letter to the Editor: The late Thomas Tigue’s leadership in Harrisburg left lasting impression

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A blood-soaked bank statement rested next to the lifeless body of Matthew Gailie.</p><p>How it got there was the crux of a report authored by state police forensics expert John Corrigan into the circumstances surrounding Gailie&#8217;s death, and the scene itself &#8212; one the 17-year police veteran said was &#8220;unlike anything I&#8217;ve seen before or since.&#8221;</p><p>Presented Wednesday as the state&#8217;s first expert witness, Corrigan testified in Luzerne County Court for nearly four hours on the details of Sept. 2, 2011, and his 13-hour investigation that night into how Gailie ended up dead, with a gunshot wound to the face.</p><p>His conclusion: &#8220;Jessica Alinsky deliberately manipulated physical evidence in an attempt to make it appear that a financially related suicide had taken place.&#8221;</p><p>Corrigan went on to state his investigation showed, Alinsky, 32, not only placed the bank statement next to the body of the 34-year-old corrections officer, but also moved his body and planted a gun in his left hand.</p><p>Gailie was right-handed, and the position of the gun struck Corrigan as unusual, he said.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s backwards,&#8221; he said, as jurors were shown a photograph of the weapon in Gailie&#8217;s hand. &#8220;There&#8217;s no way physically possible for someone to hold that gun.&#8221;</p><p>Assistant District Attorney Daniel Zola asked Corrigan if he had ever seen a gun rested that way.</p><p>&#8220;Nothing even remotely close,&#8221; Corrigan answered. &#8220;The gun had to be placed in that position.&#8221;</p><p>The same went for the bank statement, as Gailie would have been immediately incapacitated from the gunshot and couldn&#8217;t have put it there himself, Corrigan stated.</p><p>Corrigan added that at some point in time, Gailie&#8217;s body was moved onto the floor from the couch, but the state trooper was unclear on exactly how much time passed in between.</p><p>&#8220;When he was shot, somebody did not attempt to render aid immediately,&#8221; Corrigan said.</p><p>A spent shell casing was found in the fold of a blanket near Alinsky&#8217;s purse, which had been placed on the living room couch next to numerous stuffed animals and other objects that were &#8220;thrown there after the fact,&#8221; Corrigan testified.</p><p>During cross-examination, defense attorney Demetrius Fannick also touched on the finances of the young couple, presenting Corrigan and the jury photos of a bank statement found in Gailie&#8217;s car which showed an overdraft balance of over $400. Alinsky, meanwhile, had $505 in her purse, he said.</p><p>In light of over 700 photos taken by Corrigan at the scene, there was not one photograph of the contents of a black box found near Gailie&#8217;s body, which defense attorney Demetrius Fannick claimed included financial paperwork.</p><p>Asked by Fannick why he also failed to take a single picture or video of Alinsky, Corrigan said a witness would &#8220;clam up and not say a word&#8221; if someone put a camera in their face following an incident.</p><p>&#8220;You were afraid to do that because she would have acted differently?&#8221; Fannick asked. &#8220;How she would respond to seeing a video camera would be a significant reaction for (the jury) to see.&#8221;</p><p>Prosecutors concluded Wednesday&#8217;s testimony with a second expert witness, forensic scientist Elana Somple.</p><p>An analysis of the couple&#8217;s hands showed neither Alinsky nor Gailie had gunshot residue on them, but that Alinsky had on her traces of 15 gunshot residue components &#8212; some combination of lead, antimony or barium &#8212; compared to just two found on Gailie, Somple testified.</p><p>However, finding GSR particles on a person does not mean they were the one who fired the gun, Somple said.</p><p>&#8220;Hundreds to thousands of such particles could come from one 9 mm bullet,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Testimony is scheduled to resume Thursday at 9 a.m.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Jessica Alinsky, shown here before her trial began Monday morning, is accused of shooting her boyfriend, 34-year-old Matthew Gailie, in 2011. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL020216alinsky-15.jpg</photo0><caption0>Jessica Alinsky, shown here before her trial began Monday morning, is accused of shooting her boyfriend, 34-year-old Matthew Gailie, in 2011. </caption0><photoCredit0>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Expert witness: Matthew Gailie’s death staged to look like ‘financially related’ suicide