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Deliberations to begin in Ranger murder trial

ROCKVILLE, Md. — A Maryland jury will decide whether a former Army Ranger committed suicide after serving several tours in Afghanistan or if he was killed by his roommate, a fellow member of the elite fighting force.

The Montgomery County Circuit Court jury was set to begin deliberations Wednesday morning after hearing closing arguments Tuesday on a first-degree murder charge against Gary Smith, 25, for allegedly shooting Michael McQueen in September 2006. The two men had served together in a Ranger intelligence unit in Afghanistan.

Smith’s lawyers say McQueen, 22, likely shot himself once in the temple with a .38-caliber revolver because he was despondent over a break up with his girlfriend, worried about his job prospects, and drinking heavily.

Prosecutors did not provide a clear motive during the trial for their theory of the crime — that Smith, shot McQueen as he watched football in the Gaithersburg apartment they shared, then dumped the gun in a nearby lake to cover his tracks.

But Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Hill suggested in closing arguments that Smith may have shot McQueen because he was upset that McQueen, a man Hill said Smith idolized, planned to move out. Hill said McQueen was anything but suicidal. He had been accepted to college, planned to attend a job fair, talked often with his family and wanted to be a lawyer.

Prosecutors recreated the scene of the crime, bringing in the bloody section of carpet and the chair McQueen sat in when he died. They showed jurors a photo of McQueen’s body, sitting in front of a television. A beer bottle and the television remote are on the carpet near his right hand.

“This is a guy who is enjoying his evening,” Hill said. “This is not a person who is going to commit suicide.”

But Smith’s defense lawyer also used crime scene photos to prove his claim that McQueen killed himself. Those included some used by a forensic experts who said the nature of McQueen’s wound and blood evidence from the scene was proof that he killed himself.

Lawyer Andrew Jezic said Smith would never hurt his friend, let alone harm a fellow member of the Rangers.

“The single most preposterous fact in this case is that a Ranger would kill a Ranger,” Jezic said.

The two men met at Fort Benning in Georgia. McQueen went on to serve three tours in Afghanistan, part of which he spent with Smith. Smith was also in Iraq. Smith came home psychologically scarred, according to court records, claiming he saw friends die in combat. He was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

McQueen moved to the Washington area in the summer of 2006 with plans to attend college. His family said he decided to room with Smith after plans for another living arrangement fell through. Jezic said the two had planned earlier to share an apartment.

Police found McQueen dead from a single gun shot wound to the head in the apartment he shared with Smith in the Washington suburb of Gaithersburg. Jurors saw numerous photos of the crime scene, with a dead McQueen sitting in a low chair, his head slung back, his mouth agape, a bullet wound and a slick of blood on the right side of his head.

Smith gave police conflicting stories about what happened in a taped interview prosecutors showed to the jury. He said he warned McQueen, 22, that the handgun he brought up to the apartment that night was loaded. Smith told police he went to the bathroom, heard a shot as he came out 10 to 15 minutes later, and saw McQueen bleeding in the chair.

Smith said he checked McQueen’s pulse, then panicked, taking the gun and throwing it into a nearby lake. His attorney said Smith was worried because the gun was his and there was marijuana in the apartment.

McQueen was legally drunk at the time of his death, but his father, Mike McQueen, has said his son showed no signs of despair or any hints that he was suicidal before he died. Mike McQueen is the New Orleans bureau chief for The Associated Press.

Forensics are key to both the defense and prosecution cases, and both sides presented their own experts who said it was a suicide or a murder.

Prosecution experts testified that a blood spatter on the carpet below McQueen’s head had the telltale sign of a footprint and a human hand. That combined with blood on Smith’s hands, pants and shoe showed he was standing next to McQueen when the fatal shot was fired, according to prosecutors.

But defense forensic experts said the nature of the gunshot wound suggested McQueen shot himself and that the bloodstain on the carpet was the wrong shape for Smith’s sneaker. Gunshot residue was found on the hands of both men.