GREELEY — The end of the Tom Fallis murder trial drew closer Wednesday when the prosecution and defense rested their cases without Fallis testifying.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday morning.
Before the defense rested, attorneys called two last witnesses, Ashley Fallis’ best friend and the man Ashley Fallis was having an affair with the summer before she died.
Tom Fallis is accused of killing his wife, who died of a gunshot wound to the head after a New Year’s Eve party on Jan. 1, 2012, in the couple’s home in Evans. The case originally was ruled a suicide until a neighbor and a Weld County Sheriff’s Office deputy came forward years later stating they heard Fallis confess to shooting his wife. Police reopened the case. A Weld County grand jury indicted Tom Fallis on second-degree murder in November 2014.
In his brief testimony, Ashley Fallis’ former lover Jedidiah Pepping said she created a fake e-mail pretending to be him and sent e-mails to Tom Fallis talking about their affair. He also told jurors about one night when Tom Fallis found him and Ashley Fallis together and confronted her about it.
Pepping testified that Tom Fallis’ behavior that night scared him enough to cause him to roll up his vehicle’s windows and lock the doors once Ashley Fallis got out. Ashley Fallis didn’t seem scared of her husband that night, Pepping told jurors.
Ashley Fallis’ close friend Nikole Wood-Beilby testified that in the months before her death, Ashley Fallis had “a darkness” about her. Wood-Beilby told jurors that Ashley was dealing with mental health issues and was having trouble staying even-keeled and keeping calm.
Before the prosecution rested its case Wednesday, jurors heard from Dr. James Wilkerson — a forensic pathologist, medical examiner and the Larimer County coroner — who performed Ashley Fallis’ autopsy.
He testified that in one of the positions Ashley Fallis might have been in when she suffered the fatal gunshot wound, the natural relaxation of her muscles and body on their own wouldn’t have likely caused her to twist to the left — which forensic analyst Jonathyn Priest earlier this week said her head would have to do to create the bloodstain on the north wall of the Fallis’ bedroom.
Priest and Larimer County Crime Scene investigator Dan Gilliam offered different viewpoints on the case. Earlier in the week, Priest told jurors that the evidence indicates Tom Fallis was either in contact with or near his wife when she suffered the fatal gunshot to the head. But Gilliam testified that the evidence was consistent with suicide.