1/23/13 - Legal debates over evidence and witnesses slowed down progress in the Kowalski murder trial yesterday, delaying closing arguments until today. Jerome Kowalski is being tried for open murder in the deaths of his brother Richard and sister-in-law Brenda in 2008. Judge Theresa Brennan had anticipated last week that closing arguments would take place on Tuesday, but attempts by the defense to submit evidence and objections by the prosecution took up much of the morningâs proceedings. Assistant Prosecutor Pamela Maas blamed the delays on defense attorney Walter Piszczatowski, whom she called âunpreparedâ for not submitting the evidence earlier. Among the evidence submitted to the jury yesterday was the 911 tape of Brendaâs son Mike Reilly, who discovered the bodies. In the phone call he says his uncle was the likely culprit. Jurors also heard expert testimony from Dr. Werner Spitz, a forensic pathologist who is the former Wayne County chief medical examiner and has been called upon to testify before Congress in the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. He testified that although some factors could impact the evidence, he believes the couple was killed between 2:30 and 4 o'clock the morning of May 1st, 2008. That would contradict the prosecution's contention that Jerome Kowalski killed the couple as his shift that night lasted until about 5:30am. That prompted Maas to question Spitz about the factor he used to come to that conclusion, at one point using information Spitz himself had written about the inaccuracy of cooling body temperatures to make such a determination. Spitz argued back that he used a variety of factors to reach his conclusion, which he stood by. Closing arguments will begin this morning. (TD/JK)
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