Jurors have heard from seven witnesses -- an evidence technician, a sheriff's deputy and people who saw William Morva on the Huckleberry Trail -- so far today before breaking for lunch about 11:35.
The first was detective Van Speese, an evidence technician for the Blacksburg Police Department, who testified that he processed the crime scene at Montgomery Regional Hospital where security guard Derrick McFarland was killed and Montgomery County sheriff's deputy Russell Quesenberry injured.
Speese carried two large boxes of evidence into the courtroom and, wearing blue latex gloves, pulled several items out of them, including bullet shell casings, a jail uniform and a toilet paper dispenser.
Speese said he collected five shell casings around the hospital's shattered glass doors and another near the pool of blood in the hallway where McFarland was shot.
From the bathroom where people earlier testified they saw Quesenberry stagger out with a toilet paper dispenser around his neck, Speese said he collected a jail jumpsuit and shoes, a set of shackles and hospital discharge papers with Morva's name on them.
He pulled out the E-shaped metal toilet paper dispenser that had been hanging around Quesenberry's neck. One side of the dispenser contained an empty toilet paper roll covered in blood.
From the driveway of a home on Hightop Road, Speese said, he collected a white T-shirt and a waist chain.
Morva seemed to listen intently to Speese's testimony, leaning forward at times to try to see the evidence.
Defense attorney Tony Anderson said he wouldn't challenge the chain of custody of the evidence, eliminating the need for at least one witness to be called.
Cpl. Eric Sutphin's patrol bicycle was rolled into the courtroom by sheriff's Lt. Brad St. Clair, who said Sutphin's last radio transmissions were recorded and provided the court with a transcript. It was not read aloud in court, however.
Jurors also heard from several people who testified that they saw Morva, with a white sheet draped over his shoulders, walking on the Huckleberry Trail early the morning of Aug. 21, 2006.
A couple of them also testified that they saw Sutphin on the trail. Minutes later, they said, they heard two loud gunshots in quick succession.
Joe Walker, who worked at the time for Virginia Tech's grounds department, testified that he heard the two shots and then saw Morva -- wrapped in a white sheet or piece of plastic -- running.
Asked by a prosecutor if he man he saw was in the courtroom today, Walker answered, "Yes, ma'am, he is, but he looks a lot different." When prosecutor Mary Pettitt asked what looked different about him, Morva began to stroke his long beard.
Walker answered that Morva's hair has grown and he now has a beard.
Deputies say 18 witnesses have been summonsed to court today. Pettitt told the judge that the next witness is likely to take a long time on the witness stand, so the court broke for lunch a little earlier than normal.
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