test those swabs themselves. conrad s hands were negative for residue. there was a question as to whether conrad had washed his hands before they were tested so those results or meaningless that is probably why they did not test in the first place. as for heidy s swabs, there was no residue on her left hand, but there was on her right hand. and significantly, heidy was right handed when you have gunshot residue in a look ocean, and in a quantity that is absolutely consistent with firing a semiautomatic weapon, one of the possibilities is that she fired a gun. you cannot discount that. but deeper, moffat and taliaferro got into the case, the more it seemed to them that heidy s fatal wound was self inflicted. they believe the head wound, a contact wound, ruled out homicide a contact gunshot wound to the right temple are
when you have gunshot residue in a location and in a quantity that is absolutely consistent with her firing a semiautomatic weapon, one of the possibilities is that she fired a gun. you can t discount that. reporter: the deeper moffat and taliaferro got into the case, the more it seemed to them heidy s fatal wound was self-inflicted. they believe the head wound, a contact wound, ruled out homicide. a contact gunshot wound to the right temple are the most common site of self-inflicted gunshot wound that there were. reporter: moffat and taliaferro decided to take their findings to the m.e. hoping to sway his ruling on the manner of death once again just as police did prior to conrad s arrest. we gave him a bunch of information, then he, on his own, with his investigator, went to the home to look at it.
when you have gunshot residue in a location and in a quantity that is absolutely consistent with her firing a semiautomatic weapon, one of the possibilities is that she fired a gun. you can t discount that. reporter: the deeper moffat and taliaferro got into the case, the more it seemed to them heidy s fatal wound was self-inflicted. they believe the head wound, a contact wound, ruled out homicide. a contact gunshot wound to the right temple are the most common site of self-inflicted gunshot wounds that there were. reporter: moffat and taliaferro decided to take their findings to the m.e. hoping to sway his ruling on the manner of death once again just as police did prior to conrad s arrest. we gave him a bunch of information, then he, on his own, with his investigator, went to the home to look at it. reporter: and the result was just what they d asked for.
no, i absolutely not. i never washed my hands until they said, go wash your hands. reporter: conrad s attorneys were working hard to establish reasonable doubt, and the state medical examiner s shifting opinion on heidy s manner of death only helped them. that s your case right there. you would think. reporter: i mean, if he has reasonable doubt, hard to argue a jury shouldn t. exactly. reporter: the medical examiner told the jury that in the final analysis, he didn t know the manner of heidy truman s death. i finalized the autopsy report with the cause of death as a gunshot wound and the manner of death as could not be determined. reporter: the m.e. also testified how, in his experience, a contact wound like heidy s is rare in homicide cases. with the contact gunshot wound, it would be consistent with a wound that s self-inflicted. reporter: after 15 days of testimony, the jury began deliberations. so you felt pretty good leading up to verdict? yes.
reporter: did you wash your hands before saying that to police? no, i absolutely not. i never washed my hands until they said, go wash your hands. reporter: conrad s attorneys were working hard to establish reasonable doubt, and the state medical examiner s shifting opinion on heidy s manner of death only helped them. that s your case right there. you would think. reporter: i mean, if he has reasonable doubt, hard to argue a jury shouldn t. exactly. reporter: the medical examiner told the jury that in the final analysis, he didn t know the manner of heidy truman s death. i finalized the autopsy report with the cause of death as gunshot wound and the manner of death as could not be determined. reporter: the m.e. also testified how, in his experience, a contact wouldn t like heidy s is rare in homicide cases. with the contact gunshot wound, it would be consistent with a wound that s self-inflicted. reporter: after 15 days of testimony, the jury began deliberations.