A Medical Examiner's Office expert will be allowed to testify on the pathway of the bullets that struck 17-year-old Jordan Davis the night he was killed, a circuit judge ruled Thursday.
The court convened for final pretrial hearing of Michael Dunn before jury selection begins.
Dunn is accused in the 2012 shooting death of Davis at a Southside gas station. He was tried in February but a jury deadlocked on whether to convict him of murder in the case.
Judge Russell Healey heard objections from the defense Thursday morning to several photos entered as evidence including pictures of the gun Dunn used, the ammunition, the Dodge Durango he shot at, and Davis' body.
The judge ruled that most of the photos would be allowed during testimony.
The state and the defense also brought motions objecting to the testimony from forensic experts on both sides.
At issue was the analysis of the state's witness from the Medical Examiner's Office illustrating--with the use of a dummy and dowels--the trajectory of bullets that hit Davis. Also at issue were the computer-generated images rendered by the defense's expert which depict the crime scene at the time of the shooting.
The defense argued that the state's expert Stacy Simons was not qualified to analyze bullet trajectories, while the state claimed the computer depictions from defense expert Michael Knox weren't accurate.
In the end, Healey allowed Simon's testimony but denied Knox's graphics.
"There's not enough evidence to suggest the data Knox would present would be sufficiently reliable," Healey said.
Instead, Healey said Knox should rely on real photographs depicting the scene during testimony.
Jury selection begins 9:30 a.m. Monday.
You can follow Rhema Thompson on Twitter @RhemaThompson.
