COLUMBIA — Kristopher Prince had a significant amount of gun-shot residue on his hands after the April 2007 shooting death of a Columbia teen, a criminalist with the Missouri State Highway Patrol testified Thursday morning in Prince's second-degree murder trial.
Though the criminalist could not definitively say that Prince, now 19, was the shooter, he told the Boone County jury that tests found much more residue on the hands of Prince than on his 22-year-old cousin, Lorenzo Ladiner, who the defense claims shot Tedarrian Robinson on April 18, 2007.
Prince's attorney Michael Byrne said Thursday that the residue tests could not differentiate between someone who fired the weapon and someone who just held it. He also pointed out that the crime lab did not test several pieces of clothing taken from Prince and Ladiner on the day of the shooting.
Columbia police officer Tim Giger, who collected the gunshot residue from both Prince and Ladiner shortly after the shooting, also testified Thursday morning. He told the jury that Ladiner willingly submitted to the test, but when he asked Prince for the test Prince pulled his hands toward his body and said, "I ain't having none of that."
Giger said Prince eventually submitted to the test after Giger threatened to take it by force.
Prince is charged with second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action in the death of 17-year-old Robinson in a car chase last spring at Bearfield Road and Grindstone Parkway.
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