The evidence is far from over in the trial on whether Vincent Brothers killed five of his family members, but the last two days has shown the ebb and flow of "who's winning."

One could argue that on Monday when Vincent Brothers sobbed upon seeing the photographs of his dead family members that he wasn't the cold, calculating killer the prosecution has set him out to be.

On the other hand,  a critical hole was dug Tuesday in the defense contention that the defendant was in Ohio visiting the family of his brother, Melvin, when the July 6, 2003  killings occurred.

Melvin Brothers, 43, one year younger than the defendant, testified that he did not see Vincent,  from 7 p.m. July 4 to 11 p.m. July 7 that year.

But Melvin did use Vincent's credit card during that time. And he used the credit card in April for what the prosecution calls a "dry run" visit by Vincent to Ohio. The 2003 visits by Vincent in Ohio were the first in 10 years, Melvin testified.

 That testimony opens up possibilities that Vincent might be the killer.

But it's far from a slam dunk. The defense will argue Vincent couldn't  drive his rental car nearly 4,600 miles in that time frame.   And just because Melvin didn't see Vincent, doesn't mean Vincent wasn't in Ohio.  His rental car did have enough miles for the trip, the prosecution has said.

 District Attorney Ed Jagels said at the time Vincent was arrested in April of 2004 that this would be a circumstantial case.

That means both sides will be able to argue their position is more reasonable than the other.

It will be how all the evidence meshes together that will determine the outcome of the case. The trial is expected to last three months. It has a long way to go.

Posted by Steve E. Swenson