Bloodstains near the body of a U.S. Army Ranger fatally shot in his Gaithersburg apartment in 2006 indicate that someone was standing next to him when the shot was fired, according to a forensic expert.
The testimony of Dr. William Vosburgh last week in the first-degree murder trial of Gary James Smith, 25, differed from the defense’s theory that Smith’s roommate and fellow Ranger, 22-year-old Michael McQueen Jr., killed himself. Tuesday was the sixth day of the Montgomery County Circuit Court trial, which is expected to last 10 days.
McQueen, who had just finished his third tour in Afghanistan, was found dead in his apartment about 1 a.m. Sept. 26, 2006, with a gunshot wound to his right temple, police said. Prosecutors say Smith pulled the trigger, while his defense attorney contends McQueen’s wound was self-inflicted. Smith initially told police several different versions of what happened that night, prosecutors said, and in the final version said he heard the gunshot as he was leaving the bathroom.
McQueen and Smith, who met while working in military intelligence and had lived together for three weeks, had gone out drinking Sept. 25, according to attorneys on both sides. The evening ended with McQueen dead by his roommate’s revolver and Smith disposing of the gun in Lake Needwood in Rockville and then calling 9-1-1.
Perhaps the most important piece of physical evidence for the prosecution was a clean space in a large bloodstain on the carpet two feet away from where McQueen was found slumped in a chair. The unstained area of carpet within the bloodstain was created immediately after McQueen was shot by blood falling on top of an object, Vosburgh said. That object was Smith’s right foot, he said, a contention he said was supported by the location of blood on the side of Smith’s sneaker but not on the sole. A second unstained space, made visible with blood-enhancing chemicals, appeared to show a hand, he said.
In opening arguments, Smith’s attorney, Andrew Jezik of Leibowitz and Band in Silver Spring, said he would call forensic experts who interpret the physical evidence differently.
Glenda and Michael McQueen Sr. testified that their son, a soldier originally from Miami who was transitioning back to civilian life, was not depressed.
Glenda McQueen remembered her son as a smart, ‘‘natural-born leader” who wanted to become an international lawyer. He had been accepted to the University of the District of Columbia and enlisted in the Army Reserve.
One of McQueen’s close friends, Ranger Ronnie McKay, testified that he did not seem depressed. McKay, 25, said he last spoke to McQueen on Sept. 25 to discuss a job fair they planned to attend. McQueen mentioned that he couldn’t live with Smith anymore, saying ‘‘he’s not right in the head,” McKay said.
Jezik said that Smith’s bizarre behavior after McQueen’s death may have been caused by post-traumatic stress disorder. Smith was a sergeant when he left the Army in May 2005, according to his mother, Rosemary Smith of Derwood. Her son, who she described as a close friend of McQueen’s, suffered a kidney injury that may have been caused after being shot in the back while wearing a bullet proof vest. Her son saw a friend lose a leg in Afghanistan after their vehicle was hit with a roadside bomb, she said. He is receiving treatment for PTSD from the Department of Veterans Affairs, she said.
