CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
The defense rested Tuesday in the trial of Christopher Vaughn, who is accused of murdering his wife and three children back in 2007.
Before they rested, Christopher Vaughn himself told the judge that he would not be taking the stand in his own defense. Now, four weeks after the trial began, both sides are preparing for closing arguments.
Christopher Vaughn's defense has been trying to convince the jury that Vaughn's wife, Kimberly, killed their three children, and then took her own life.
Kimberly and the children were found shot to death in Channahan, just off of I-55, in the family SUV.
Christopher claimed the family had been on its way to a downstate water park, when Kimberly became ill. He pulled off the road, and she opened fire, killing the kids and wounding him.
The crimes, Vaughn says, could be blamed on Kimberly's anxiety, and her use of drugs to combat her migraines.
Tuesday, the defense offered an expert on blood spatter, Tom Bevel, who testified that forensic evidence taken from the SUV could be consistent with Kimberly having done the shootings. Bevel testified that blood stains on Kimberly's left hand reflect evidence of what's called "blowback"-- the result of shooting herself with her that left hand. She was right handed, but Bevel said some people take their own lives with their weaker hand.
On cross examination, though, Bevel admitted that the blood evidence does not jive with the version of events offered by Christopher Vaughn to investigators after the shootings.
The prosecution says Vaughn committed the murders because he wanted out of his married life so he could live alone in the north woods.
Closing arguments are set for Thursday, after which the jury will get its instructions, and deliberations will begin.
