JONESBORO, Ga. — Prosecutors showed a jury the gun they say a senior citizen used to shoot and kill his best friend, and they say the gun was found near the victim’s body in a cemetery.
The defense in the trial of Joe Link says the shooting was an accident.
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A Clayton County jury got an up close and personal look at the weapon prosecutors say the now 75-year-old Link used to kill 68-year-old Cowbern Jones. on Woodland Drive. A man he called a friend for 30 years.
“This is a 22 caliber revolver pistol,” Clayton County Det. Rico Madden showed the jury.
Prosecutors told the jury the 22 caliber Saturday Night Special pistol is what Link used to kill Jones in October 2023. The jury also got to see the shell casing that came from the gun after it was fired.
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Detective Madden investigated the deadly shooting and showed jurors how the gun was found not far away from Jones’ body in a cemetery.
“This is the distance where you observed the body and the firearm,” the prosecutor asked, as Madden used a tape measure in the courtroom. “Correct,” Madden replied.
Madden said the gun was found 36 feet from Jones’ body.
“It was in front of a grave marker,” he said.
Prosecutors say that’s where Link confronted his friend and shot him. His body was found in the street.
However, the defense claims it was an accident.
Erin King told the jury Link had loaned the gun and $30 to Jones and came to get it back. She said during opening statements, there was a tussle between the two.
“Gun goes off. Everybody stumbles back,” King said.
She said Link left the scene because he was in shock.
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A Georgia Bureau of Investigation firearms examiner testified that the gun was very old, manufactured before 1968.
King got the examiner to admit the gun could go off without the trigger being pulled.
“And that means that it can go off without any force being applied to the trigger,” King asked.
“That’s correct,” the examiner responded.
Link faces malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault.
Testimony resumes Thursday.