MALONE – Graphic photos of Ward Wilbur’s bloody body were shown to the jury Friday as the prosecution continued to build its case that Angela Ball murdered him.

The photos of Wilbur’s face and chest covered in blood were a stark contrast from another group of pictures the jury saw Friday, those of a relatively unscathed Ball right after she allegedly killed Wilbur sometime in the morning of Nov. 25, 2013, in an apartment on Morris Way in Saranac Lake. She allegedly struck him in the back of the head with a baseball bat and stabbed him to death in the chest with a kitchen knife.

Ball’s attorney, Franklin County Public Defender Thomas Soucia, has claimed she was the victim of an abusive relationship with Wilbur and acted in self-defense because he attacked her first.

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Ball photos

During his opening statement the day before, District Attorney Glenn MacNeill said there was only one attack, perpetrated by Ball. He told the jury he would ask them to compare photos of Ball taken after the murder to those of Wilbur at the scene.

MacNeill gave the jury that opportunity Friday when he called two state police investigators back to back as witnesses.

New York State Police Acting Senior Investigator Karen Dufore described how she and a female trooper took pictures of Ball’s body in the sergeant’s room at the Saranac Lake police station on the night of the murder. A group of 10 of those photos were introduced as evidence by MacNeill, including images of her face, hands and arms.

Dufore noted that most of the pictures showed no injuries to Ball. Two did. One was a side view of Ball’s face that showed a mark next to her eye.

Under cross-examination by Soucia, Dufore said Ball told her that was from something that had happened weeks ago.

“I don’t remember her explanation for it,” the investigator said.

Another photo showed a bruise on the inside of one of Ball’s elbows. Dufore said she was told by Ball that the bruise was from a recent blood draw.

Not all the photos police took of Ball were shown to the jury; many of the others contained nudity. When asked by MacNeill if Ball complained of any other injuries, Dufore said she had a couple of scratches on her left side stomach area that Ball told her were caused by Wilbur and had taken place either “the prior Thursday” or “weeks prior” to the alleged murder.

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Photos of Wilbur

After Dufore was excused, state Police Investigator Brendan Frost took the stand. He and another investigator had photographed the inside of the apartment, including Wilbur’s body, which police found partially behind its entry door, covered in blankets.

MacNeill introduced a series of gruesome photos of Wilbur’s body. They show him lying on his back with his hands resting across his stomach. He has a long white beard and is wearing grey pants and a cardigan-style checkered sweater over a white T-shirt that’s covered in blood. The pictures also show blood on both of his hands and his head, a large pool of blood on the ground next to his head and more blood spread and spattered across the wall behind his body.

The alleged murder weapons can also be seen in the photos. An aluminum baseball bat with blood on its barrel lies next to Wilbur’s feet, and a black-handled kitchen knife with blood on its blade and handle is visible next to his left leg.

Soucia fought to keep many of the images from being shown the jury. He argued that they were too graphic and could be prejudicial toward his client, and that showing so many similar photos of the crime scene was unnecessary.

In most cases, Judge Robert Main Jr. rejected Soucia’s objections. After an up-close image of Wilbur’s face was shown to the jury, however, the judge told MacNeill “We’ve had a full photography treatment of the deceased’s body,” and that he wasn’t likely to allow any more.

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Apartment photos

Earlier, Frost described a series of 20 photos he took inside the apartment, which included a living room area, a small kitchen and a bathroom.

The photos included images of a marijuana growing chamber in the living room, a tray of marijuana plants found in the chamber and sheets of black plastic covering the apartment’s windows. Soucia said during his opening statement Thursday that Ball and Wilbur were “business partners” in a marijuana growing operation.

Frost took a photograph of the inside of the refrigerator in the kitchen, which was completely empty, and a pair of jeans that police found hanging in the bathtub. The jeans were secured as evidence and, during cross-examination by Soucia, Frost said sections of the jeans were cut out and sent to a state police forensic laboratory.

MacNeill also drew the jury’s attention to a photo that showed a rolled up yoga mat that police secured as evidence, although its relevance wasn’t immediately clear. Another photo showed a white or beige baseball cap with a green bill lying on the floor of the living room, next to the back of a broken chair.

As the afternoon came to a close, Frost testified about taking swabs of blood from the crime scene. He also said he tried to take fingerprints from the knife and bat but couldn’t find any.

“Why not?” MacNeill asked.

“There could be a variety of reasons,” Frost responded, but he was cut off by Soucia, who objected that the question would lead to speculation. The judge upheld the objection and the trial was suspended for the day.

It’s scheduled to resume at 9:15 a.m. Monday.