[A] Rutland judge appeared to cast doubt Wednesday on a Mount Tabor’s woman claim that she didn’t shoot and kill her husband, insisting that he fell, the gun fired and the bullet fatally struck him.
Based on the evidence presented so far by prosecutors in their second-degree murder case against Peggy Shores, 51, Judge David Fenster said, “It appears that Mrs. Shores’ version of how that happened could not have actually happened.”
Fenster spoke during a hearing in Rutland criminal court to determine if he would continue to order Peggy Shores held without bail pending her trial on a second-degree murder charge in the shooting death of her husband, David Shores, 54.
“Once the physical evidence is such that the defendant’s version of events does not fit critical facts, the court is left with the idea that someone shot Mr. Shores,” the judge said, adding that Peggy Shores was the only person in the home at the time.
Peggy Shores pleaded innocent to the charge last month and has remained jailed without bail since that hearing. If convicted, she faces 20 years to life behind bars.
The hearing Wednesday ran late into the afternoon, past the court’s normal closing time. Fenster didn’t issue a bail ruling from the bench. Instead, he said he would issue a written decision by the end of the week.
The judge did say that “taking the evidence in the light most favorable to the state” he found the “evidence of guilt is great.” That means, Fenster said, a defendant can be held without bail, though bail could still be set.
“I don’t know how I’m leaning,” he told the attorneys.
Steven Howard, representing Peggy Shores, asked the judge to release his client on $25,000 bail, with strict conditions, including that she stay with one of her relatives who testified Wednesday that they would call authorities if she fled.
The attorney said his client was not a risk to flee. He said she looked forward to challenging the case against her, and presenting additional information to back her version of events.
More than 20 family members of Peggy Shores, including some from her late husband’s side, attended the hearing as they have for her arraignment last month, and another hearing earlier this month.
Noreen Shores, 80, of Manchester, David Shores’ mother, testified Wednesday that even though prosecutors say her son was killed by Peggy Shores, she would let her reside with her pending the murder trial.
“Peggy can always be at my house,” Noreen Shores said.
Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy countered that Peggy Shores should not be released from prison due the strength of the state’s case against her. Proposed housing for Shores outside of jail would put her in contact with people who have criminal records, including some with felonies, Kennedy said.
The case against Peggy Shores is strong and the forensic evidence does not support her story of what happened, Kennedy said.
“We now have somebody who has consistently given a version of events that does not make sense,” the prosecutor said. “We do not think that she wants to stay here and listen to the case against her.”
In addition, Kennedy said, Peggy Shores may have cash stashed away that could finance time on the run.
That’s because, the prosecutor said, a police search of the couple’s home found 12 one-gallon bags full of marijuana in the attic as well as more marijuana in the master bedroom.
“We also believe that there is some evidence of some sort of operation involving the packaging of marijuana and the selling of marijuana,” Kennedy said. “So we think that Mrs. Shores has money available to her beside the assets that may be on paper.”
Howard argued that no charges were ever filed as result of the marijuana that was seized, and there is no evidence that a large amount of cash hidden somewhere existed.
At one point, Howard told the judge, Peggy Shores wanted to speak on her own behalf. However, after Fenster said that could open her open her up to cross-examination by the prosecutor, Peggy Shores decided against addressing the court.
The hearing Wednesday was the continuation of a proceeding that started earlier this month with the playing of a 911 call Peggy Shores made to police on the night of the shooting. That hearing came to an end when a blizzard forced the court’s closure.
Peggy Shores called 911 about 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11 seeking medical care for her husband who she said had accidentally shot himself at their residence on Brooklyn Road in Mount Tabor.
She has told investigators her husband was walking up stairs from their home’s cellar, carrying a loaded .44 Magnum revolver when he tripped, fell, and the gun went off, according to court records.
Prosecutors say, based on forensic evidence, there is no way David Shores could have accidentally shot himself based on the location of the entry and exit wounds as well as where the bullet eventually ended up in a piece of wood in the basement.
An autopsy, conducted by Dr. Steven Shapiro of the state medical examiner’s office, showed that David Shores suffered a gunshot wound to his upper left side, below his collarbone, a police affidavit stated.
Shapiro said it appeared the shot, which had a downward trajectory, came from a distance because there was no contact wound and no gunshot residue in the wound.
The distance, according to law enforcement investigators, had to be greater than 48 inches away to not leave any gunshot residue behind in the area of the wound. That would make it impossible for David Shores to shoot himself since his arm length is about 35 inches and the gun would also have been pointing back at him, prosecutors say.
In addition, police investigators who later went back to the scene say they lined up where the bullet was located in the basement with David Shores’ entry and exit wounds to figure out the trajectory of the shot.
The investigators said they determined that the shot appeared to have fired from the top of the staircase which is where Peggy Shores said she was when her husband was shot.
Howard, Peggy Shores’ attorney, told the judge Wednesday that investigators had a theory and went about to prove it, leading to the murder charge against his client. The prosecution’s case was circumstantial, he said.
“There was no attempt to replicate my client’s version of events,” the defense attorney said.
He said that there was no physical evidence tying his client to the gun that fired the fatal shot and police didn’t test her hands for gunshot residue.
“There’s nothing to show she did this,” Howard said.
Kennedy agreed that it was a circumstantial case, partly she said, because there were no witnesses as David and Peggy Shores were the only two people inside the home at the time.
She also pointed out that Peggy Shores wasn’t arrested until February, more than two months after David Shores’ death.
The prosecutor added, “This is in no way a rush to judgment.”
