Diren Dede

The defense rested this morning in the trial of Markus Kaarma with testimony from Dr. Douglas Johnson, a forensic consultant specializing in responses to stress. Defense also showed the jury video of Kaarma in the police station before his formal interview and after he was formally charged with deliberate homicide in the shooting death of German exchange student Diren Dede.

The defense presented its first witness on the sixth day of the trial of Markus Kaarma, who has been accused of deliberate homicide in the fatal shooting of Diren Dede, a German foreign exchange student who entered Kaarma's garage on the night of April 27, 2014. He was there to testify to failures on the part of the Missoula Police Department in their investigation of the shooting, but ended up de

The Markus Kaarma trial continued at 8:30 a.m. Friday morning after both the defense and prosecution had a chance to cool their tongues after a drama filled evening in the Missoula County Courthouse. (video is a portion of Kaufman's questioning)

More dramatic testimony at the Missoula murder trial of Markus Kaarma, charged with deliberate homicide in the shotgun slaying of German exchange student Diren Dede.

Sparks flew as Detective Guy Baker was called to the stand in the trial of Markus Kaarma, prompting the defense to undermine Baker's authority as an investigator and accuse him of forming opinions, not facts. In the end an angered Judge McLean put their cross examination on hold and cleared the courtroom ahead of schedule to attend to "housekeeping purposes" with the defense team. Read M

Randy Smith, who hosted German exchange student Diren Dede along with his wife Kate Walker, took the stand to give emotional testimony about his time with Diren and the events of the fateful night Diren was fatally shot in Markus Kaarma's garage.

***WARNING...AUDIO CONTAINS COARSE LANGUAGE**** The Markus Kaarma trial continued Thursday afternoon with testimony from Missoula Police Detective Stacey Lear, who brought audio of calls between Markus Kaarma and Janelle Pflager while he was held in jail.

Detective Richard Dean Chrestenson, who led interviews with Markus Kaarma, Janelle Pflager, and Robby Pazmino (the teen who was with Diren Dede), testified today about discrepancies in Kaarma's initial statement that led to him being charged with Dede's murder. Kaarma had claimed self defense. Debate over whether or not Dede had a light source in the garage also took center stage.

The man who lived next door to Markus Kaarma and Janelle Pflager on the night of the shooting testified that Janelle Pflager asked him about Montana gun laws on or about April 22, leading to a brief discussion of the Stand Your Ground defense. Five days later, Markus Kaarma fatally shot German exchange student Diren Dede, who was trespassing in his garage.

Testimony in the Markus Kaarma deliberate homicide trial in Missoula resumes on Thursday.