CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha County teen on trial for murdering his four family members in their Elkview area home in Dec. 2020 told a judge Wednesday he will not testify in his own defense.
Gavin Smith, 18, made it clear to Kanawha County Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard he will not speak about the day his mother Risa Mae Saunders, 39, his stepfather Daniel Dale Long, 37, and his brothers Gage Ripley, 12, and Jameson Long, 3, all died in their Cemetery Road home.
The state rested its case Wednesday morning after calling its final witness, state Medical Examiner Dr. Allen Mock, to the witness stand. Mock described to the jury how each family member died. He said they all were shot in the head on Dec. 9, 2020.
“She was shot in the back of the head with at a close range by an assailant and that’s a homicide,” Mock said regarding Smith’s mother.
Mock said there’s “no way” either victim could’ve survived.
“When I say ‘no possible way,’ these are injuries that even if they occurred in the hospital, the chances of living a meaningful life afterwards is nearly zero,” he said.
Day 3 of the Gavin Smith murder trial is underway in Kanawha County. State Medical Examiner Dr. Allen Mock is on the witness stand now describing the autopsies of Smith’s 4 family members who all died of gunshot wounds. @WVMetroNews @580WCHS pic.twitter.com/Q7MtzvuzB0
— Carrie Hodousek (@CarrieHodousek) December 7, 2022
During cross examination, defense attorney John Sullivan asked Mock about Risa Saunders and Daniel Long’s underlying health conditions. Mock said they were overweight and had heart problems.
“He was quite ill from a cardiovascular standpoint,” Mock said of Long. “He was six feet tall weighing over 400 pounds.”
The state also called Brian Clemmons, a former DNA analyst for the State Police Forensic Lab, and Kent Cochran, a firearm and tool mark examiner with State Police.
Defense attorneys called their first witness late Wednesday morning. Deputy K.A. Cooper with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office testified Smith had run away from home before the murders and that his step-father reported it to police. Smith was later found at his great-grandfather’s home.
“There was an extensive history there for the amount of runaways,” Cooper said.
Smith, who was 16 at the time of the shootings, told deputies that he was “overwhelmed” because he was home-schooled and his parents made him take care of his young brother, who was 2 years old at the time, Cooper testified.
Cooper said Smith also mentioned his parents kept padlocks on the inside back door and refrigerator; however, Smith did not say whether or not he was being abused at home.
On Tuesday, Smith’s ex-girlfriend Rebecca Walker, 19, testified Smith’s parents did not allow them to be together, so she encouraged him on a video call to kill his family. Walker is currently serving a 10 year prison term for hiding Smith from the police after the murders.
The case could be handed to the jury sometime late Wednesday.