Jurors see beam, wire noose

A beam from an old cabin in the Lolo National Forest, with a wire loop hanging from the beam, was wheeled into the courtroom this morning and displayed to jurors, along with another large case containing pieces of floorboard from the cabin. The floorboards, from right under the wire loop, were stained with semen, DNA testing showed. “The wire comes down straight and then has a curve to it,” testified FBI Special Agent Steve Liss. “That suggested to me someone may have hung in that wire.” He added that the weight on the wire was “significant enough to cause an indentation in the log.” At that, Joseph Duncan, who mostly has sat with his eyes closed and chin resting on clasped hands as if praying, looked straight across at the jurors, scratched at the side of his beard, and raised his eyebrows slightly, then looked back down at the table.

Jurors have been looking wary, looking back and forth between the witness and prosecutors as they questioned them, some pausing to take notes on clipboards, some cupping hands in front of their mouths.

Judge Edward Lodge announced that next up will be the showing of the graphic video. “In order to protect the impartiality of the jury, you are instructed to control your emotion.” If not, the judge said, “Please leave the courtroom.”