Aaron Dunn Sentenced

Jurors shown photos of shooting victims

CARTHAGE - Jurors in the Robert Stewart murder trial viewed graphic crime-scene photographs Monday that brought sobs from the victims' family members.

Prosecutors and Moore County sheriff's Detective Bradley Whitaker spent more than 30 minutes methodically explaining each of the photographs that Whitaker took to document the scene at Pinelake Health & Rehabilitation Center on March 29, 2009.

In Room 209, they saw John Goldston slumped over in his black motorized wheelchair, arms dangling in front of him, his face in his lap. The 78-year-old's fingers were mangled by birdshot pellets fired from close range.

Robert Kenneth Stewart, 47, is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Goldston and seven other people at the nursing home that day. If convicted, Stewart could be sentenced to death.

Stewart has admitted to the shootings, but his lawyers have said he was not in control of his actions because he was under the influence of prescription medications, including the sleep aid Ambien.

Monday began the second week of testimony in a trial that continues to be highly emotional.

The pictures Whitaker presented to the jury captured every wound of every victim.

The photo of 89-year-old Lillian Dunn showed her leaning forward slightly in her wheelchair, her chin resting on her chest. Several nurses who have testified said they mistook her for sleeping in her red flower gown, as she often did on Sunday mornings.

Bessie Hedrick was propped up in her bed, the bright rainbow-colored blanket offering no protection from the shotgun blast.

Whitaker passed each photograph in front of jurors.

More than a dozen family members of the victims sat directly behind the jurors, in clear view of the photos. They had been warned that the images were coming, but the knowledge did not soften their blow.

All ambient noise disappeared from the courtroom during the testimony, and only the low, muffled sobs and sniffles from family members broke the silence.

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