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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; When jurors begin considering Friday the fate of accused murderer Jessica Lynn Alinsky, it will be without the consideration of her testimony.</p><p>Alinsky, 32, did not take the stand in her own defense in the final day of testimony Thursday in Luzerne County Court. Her attorney, Demetrius Fannick, notified Judge Tina Polachek Gartley of the decision moments before defense counsel rested their case after less than a day of testimony.</p><p>Fannick also revealed he would not pursue the testimony of Mark Reynolds, an Australian bloodstain pattern expert that disputed the conclusions of the Alinsky crime report authored by Trooper John Corrigan, one of the prosecution&#8217;s key witnesses, during a 2014 police training workshop in Bethlehem.</p><p>Reynolds, who instructed the course, said he disagreed with &#8220;almost everything Corrigan had to say&#8221; regarding his investigative conclusions and found the trooper to &#8220;possess a level of arrogance above many that I have met.&#8221;</p><p>Despite those claims, Corrigan passed the class and received a certification, he said.</p><p>It was the dramatic emergence of Reynolds, who Fannick said contacted him last Friday &#8220;out of the clear blue,&#8221; that nearly voided over a week of proceedings after the defense attorney cited a Brady violation and <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/511026/alinskys-lawyer-calls-for-mistrial" target="_blank">called for a mistrial</a> Tuesday.</p><p>Gartley <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/511411/mistrial-denied-in-jessica-alinsky-homicide-case" target="_blank">denied the motion </a>the following day after less than 20 minutes of deliberation.</p><p>Prosecutors allege Alinsky shot Matthew Gailie in the face on Sept. 2, 2011, after an argument broke out in the Hazle Township home shared by the couple. Alinsky allegedly tried to cover up the crime to make the 34-year-old&#8217;s death look like a suicide, prosecutors said.</p><p>Gailie, a corrections officer at State Correctional Institution Frackville, was found dead on the living room floor with a gun in his left hand and a bank statement next to his body.</p><p>Alinsky, charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, faces life behind bars if convicted. She pleaded guilty in April 2014 to a third-degree murder charge that would have sent her to prison for up to 40 years, but withdrew the plea a month later.</p><p>A verdict could come as soon as Friday afternoon, as jurors will hear closing arguments at 9 a.m. and begin deliberations shortly after, Gartley said.</p><p>Witnesses testified throughout the trial that the couple was often at odds, with the two getting cited for summary offenses following one spat in which they destroyed each other&#8217;s electronics. Witnesses said the two were expected to part ways after their lease expired the following month.</p><p>&#8220;He just wanted out,&#8221; said Gailie&#8217;s father, Frank Gailie.</p><p>Evidence that Alinsky planted the weapon and the bank statement dominated much of testimony last week.</p><p>Trooper John Corrigan, a forensics expert called to the stand during the first day of testimony, said he hadn&#8217;t seen a crime scene like the one at the couple&#8217;s home in 17 years as a police officer, concluding Alinsky &#8220;deliberately manipulated physical evidence in an attempt to make it appear that a financially related suicide had taken place.&#8221;</p><p>Other investigators and experts testified it was unlikely the gun would end up in Gailie&#8217;s hand had he pulled the trigger.</p><p>During a suicide, a gun is typically dropped and found in an unusual location, not in the victim&#8217;s hand, forensic pathologist Gary Ross explained. It was extremely unusual for a gun to be found there and if it was, it was a signal that &#8220;something fishy&#8221; might be going on, he said.</p><p>The defense Thursday spent less than a day calling its witnesses, after the Commonwealth had called more than a dozen over the course of the trial.</p><p>Alinsky&#8217;s 35-year-old brother, Jacob Alinsky, testified Thursday he had seen Gailie on at least two occasions unholster the weapon and fire it with his left hand when the two went target shooting. Prosecutors said Gailie was right-handed.</p><p>But Jacob Alinsky didn&#8217;t take that piece of information to police, Assistant District Attorney Daniel Zola noted.</p><p>&#8220;In fact, today is the first time we&#8217;re hearing this from you,&#8221; Zola said.</p><p>Jacob Alinsky acknowledged it was, but said he was never interviewed by police and didn&#8217;t even know his sister had been arrested until the day after it happened.</p><p>&#8220;I was kept out in the dark this whole proceeding,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Two of Alinsky&#8217;s co-workers at Eagle Rock Resort then testified Alinsky drank several pint glasses of double Jack Daniels and Coca-Colas at Bottlenecks Saloon in Hazleton. As the evening went on, Alinsky began fondling the chest and crotch areas of both men and woman, including grabbing a waitress&#8217;s breasts, they said.</p><p>&#8220;It seemed like it hit her all at once, because she&#8217;s such a small girl,&#8221; co-worker Amber Doyle testified. &#8220;She was definitely way overboard.&#8221;</p><p>During cross-examination by Zola, both co-workers acknowledged they had no way of knowing how Alinsky acted after she left their presence at the bar, specifically more than two hours later when Gailie died.</p><p>The waitress, Carmine Maddon, testified she served around three drinks to Alinsky, who became inebriated to the point Maddon asked one of Alinsky&#8217;s co-workers to get her out of the bar.</p><p>&#8220;She was intoxicated,&#8221; Maddon said. &#8220;No question.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Alinsky </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_alinsky_2-11.jpg</photo0><caption0>Alinsky </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Verdict could come as soon as Friday</subheadMeta></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>

Jurors to deliberate Jessica Alinsky’s fate without the accused killer’s testimony