Same gun used to shoot police officer, kill woman, witness tells North Texas jury

Bullet fragments pulled from Robin Waddell’s body were fired from a revolver found where Jerry Don Elders was arrested, jurors heard as the fifth day of Elders’ capital murder trial began Friday in a North Texas courtroom.

Mateo Serfontein, a forensic firearms examiner with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, told jurors that unique markings on the bullet fragments could have only come from that revolver.

Elders is charged with capital murder after authorities said he shot Burleson police Officer Joshua Lott during a 2021 traffic stop then, later that same day, kidnapped Waddell and stole her pickup truck, shot the 60-year-old woman and left her outside the Joshua Police Department.

Lott survived the three gunshot wounds. Evidence showed the same gun that killed Waddell was used to shoot the officer, according to testimony.

Jurors Thursday heard that the revolver had DNA on the trigger, hammer and cylinder that matched Elders. DNA evidence also showed blood on his shirt came from Waddell. Elders was arrested in Gainesville, where he abandoned Waddell’s pickup truck as officers chased him and was captured a short distance away, police have said. The gun was found in the truck.

Testimony from Serfontein was challenged by the defense, which questioned the reliability of firearms analysis. Serfontein maintained that his analysis of the ballistics was reliable.

Visiting Judge Lee Gabriel recessed the trial in Johnson County’s 413th District Court for the weekend around noon Friday.

The prosecution was expected to rest its case at the end of the day Friday but said after its last witness that it expects to rest first thing Monday morning. Prosecutors left room for possible additional witnesses, but said they don’t anticipate having any.

The defense told the judge it expects to rest its case at some point Monday. Closing arguments could take place Thursday, after a two-day recess on Tuesday and Wednesday.

If he’s convicted of capital murder, Elders faces a sentence of either the death penalty or life in prison without parole. The sentencing phase of the trial would begin if jurors return a guilty verdict.

The prosecution’s last witness on Friday, Dr. Michael Chaump, a forensic pathologist with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, told the jury Waddell died from multiple gunshot wounds. Her body had three entrance wounds, he told jurors. One was to the arm, one to the back and one to the chest. Stippling wounds suggested that she was shot at close range.

One entry wound was actually a re-entry wound from the round that hit her arm. Chaump testified that the wound position suggested a bullet entered her arm, exited the other side of her arm and went into her chest. One fragment of a bullet was removed from her aorta, the body’s main artery that connects directly to the heart.

Chaump said there was also evidence in the autopsy showing that she received medical intervention from someone trying to save her, which a medic and doctor testified about earlier.

The defense objected to parts of Chaump’s testimony because he was not the physician who actually performed the autopsy. Because the doctor who did the autopsy is no longer with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, Chaump was assigned to review the notes, images and other information from the autopsy and form his own opinions. His testimony Friday was based largely on images of the wounds, which were shown to the jury.

Throughout the first week of the trial, jurors have heard from witnesses like Lott, the police officers and detectives who investigated the shootings and a doctor and medic who treated Waddell.

Jeremy Brewer, a man who was in the car with Elders during the traffic stop, told the jury that he saw Elders shoot Lott. He testified that the gunshots were so loud in the vehicle that he wouldn’t have been able to tell if Elders said anything after the shooting, as he sped away from the scene.

Brewer was arrested that same day on drug charges. He accepted a plea agreement for a lesser charge, in which he agreed to testify for the prosecution in Elders’ trial.

Jurors also saw police body-worn camera footage, surveillance videos and images collected by investigators. On Wednesday, they heard from one of the sheriff’s deputies in Cooke County who arrested Elders after finding him hiding in the woods and learned how investigators found the revolver in the truck authorities said Elders stole from Waddell.

On Thursday, witnesses testified about the processes with which evidence in the case was collected, analyzed and preserved.

Defense attorneys have regularly objected to witnesses and evidence presented in the case. They’ve questioned the legality of certain searches, the qualifications of witnesses and the legality of a search warrant to obtain a sample of Elders’ DNA. In most cases, their objections have been overruled.

Some of the objections have led to mini courtroom dramas in which the jury has been sent out of the room so attorneys for both sides could argue case law. The frequency of the objections has sometimes visibly frustrated Gabriel, the visiting judge. By Friday, she was asking the defense to predict what objections they might have to testimony or evidence so she could rule on multiple objections without having to send the jury back and forth between the courtroom and the jury room.

One of the most dramatic moments of the case unfolded Tuesday, also outside the presence of the jury, when a detective with Joshua police admitted to the court that she’d watched a livestream of the trial on Monday, even though Gabriel told her earlier that day she was prohibited from sitting in on the trial, watching video of it or reading about it.

The jury was sent home early that day and Gabriel heard the questions from the state and the testimony Detective Lee Sosebee would give if allowed. Gabriel ruled Wednesday morning that Sosebee could testify with tight restrictions, but the prosecution did not call her to the stand.

Sosebee was warned by Gabriel on Tuesday that her actions constituted contempt of court and could result in a fine or jail time. She told the detective she would decide on any consequences after the conclusion of the trial.

Throughout the first week of the trial, Elders sat at the defense table slouched with a somber expression on his face when the jury was in the courtroom. When the jury wasn’t there, Elders sat up taller with his shoulders back and could occasionally be seen smiling, talking and laughing with defense attorneys.