The prosecution in the double murder trial of Rafael Aikens, who is accused of shooting and killing Christy McKissic, 32, and Renee Metcalf, 62, in March 2017, questioned a firearms expert in Joshua Tree Superior Court Wednesday. After describing how she compares bullets and fired cartridge casings from the murder weapon and her own test firings, Jane Whitworth testified that the bullet fragments and cartridge casing that were found in the victims’ home were fired by the Rock Island 1911 pistol that detectives had seized during their investigation. Managing editor Tami Roleff was in the courtroom, and says that the next witness was a friend of Aikens who described how he ended up with the murder weapon…
Eric Branske testified that he and Rafael Aikens were getting ready to leave the base on a four-day weekend—the morning after Christy McKissic and Renee Metcalf were murdered—when Aikens asked Branske to take his Rock Island 1911 .45-caliber pistol home with him and clean it for him. When Branske asked him why, Aikens first told him, “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” And then later Branske said Aikens told him, “Just know, it’s to the first degree.” Branske also testified that Aikens met McKissic through an online website for prostitution, and that they had been seeing each other for quite a while. Branske believed that McKissic wanted the relationship to move beyond a business one to a more personal relationship.
Jane Whitworth, Criminalist II, Sheriff’s Crime Lab Firearms Expert
Firearms expert Jane Whitworth testified about unfired cartridges, bullets, and fired cartridge casings. Each gun makes a set of unique markings on bullets and cartridges. Inside the gun barrel are deliberate rifling marks made by the gun manufacturer, and minute machine marks that are a part of the manufacturing process. These leave marks called grooves and lands on the cartridges and bullets as they travel through the gun barrel.
Whitworth will test fire the gun into a water tank to compare the bullets and cartridges (called the “known” bullets and cartridges) against the “unknown” bullets and cartridges that come from a crime scene. Firing into water preserves the integrity of the bullet and cartridges as opposed to firing it into something more solid.
When she has known and unknown samples to compare, she looks at them under a microscope that allows her to see both samples at once. She can compare the two items to see if they have an “overwhelming correspondence” of markings. She doesn’t use the word “match” as that infers it is 100 percent identical, and there are always a few dissimilarities, maybe because a cartridge had a few grains more or a few grains less of gun powder, which will affect the speed through which it travels through the gun barrel.
She received one cartridge and four bullets/bullet fragments from the crime scene. She test-fired four bullets/cartridges and compared them and concluded that the bullet, bullet fragments, and cartridge from the crime scene were fired by the Rock Island 1911 .45-caliber pistol.
Whitworth admitted that all work done by firearms experts in the Sheriff’s lab is verified by another expert to ensure there are no mistakes. Her work was verified as accurate.
One of the bullet fragments she received still had blood and hair on it from Christy McKissic’s head. She cleaned the blood off and most of the hair, although she still sees a few small strands of hair on the bullet.
Eric Branske
Eric Branske was a Marine in 7th Marine Regiment with Rafael Aikens. They deployed to Iraq together and returned to Twentynine Palms together.
Branske described Aikens’ shooting skills, saying Aikens had not only a rifle badge, showing his proficiency in shooting a rifle, but also a pistol badge, which not every Marine has the opportunity to get.
Branske and Aikens talked guns a lot, and they both liked to shoot. Aikens did not have a car, so Branske drove him to a gun store to order his pistol, a Rock Island 1911 .45-caliber, and then drove him back to pick it up later. They went target shooting together in the dry lake bed area near Copper Mountain College. The gun’s magazine held seven rounds of ammunition.
Aikens kept the pistol under his bed in the barracks, which is against Marine Corps regulations. Branske knew it was there.
Branske was then asked about Aikens’ relationship with Christy McKissic. He said Aikens met McKissic through an online website, backpage.com, which featured ads from prostitutes and escorts. (The page is since closed down). He met McKissic prior to his deployment to Iraq, and resumed the relationship after his return.
Branske said that at one point Aikens mentioned either to him, or he overheard, that she wanted more of a relationship and he did not. That’s not what he wanted out of this. He thinks that Aiken talked about McKissic about every other week or so.
Branske was not part of the group that went out drinking with Aikens the night of March 23, which was a Thursday night.
Their regiment had a four-day weekend starting Friday, March 24, but first all the Marines had to show up for formation behind the barracks before they could be released on their 96-hour leave.
Branske was going to go back to his parents’ house in Redlands for the weekend. Aikens was going to Mammoth Mountain for the weekend.
While Branske was getting his stuff loaded in his car, he said that Aikens asked him to take his gun home and clean it for him. Branske didn’t think it was a strange request because they had recently gone target shooting. But he asked Aikens several times why he wanted him to clean his gun; Aikens finally answered, “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe it.” Then a little bit later, when Branske asked him again, Aikens responded, “Just know, it’s to the first degree.” Branske thought it was a joke he didn’t understand.
Aikens gave him the gun, which was locked inside a traveling gun case. When he got home, his dad—who was a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputy—saw the gun and asked him where the magazine to the gun was. That’s when he realized there was not a magazine with the pistol. Branske called Aikens and asked him about the magazine, and Aikens told him not to worry about it.
Branske cleaned the gun as requested; he field stripped it and used Hopps Number 9 gun cleaner on it. Branske testified that he did not see anything unusual or out of the ordinary on the gun as he was cleaning it.
The court recessed at 4:20 p.m.
