MARIETTA – A larger-than-average crowd filled the courtroom of Washington County Common Pleas Judge Randall Burnworth Wednesday afternoon, anxiously waiting for the possibility that defendant Mitchell Ruble would take the stand.

But that very crowd thinned out shortly after defense attorney James Burdon stood up and said, “the defense rests.”

After the decision was made that Ruble would not testify on his own behalf during his second trial for the 1981 murder of Washington County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray “Joe” Clark and other witnesses finished up, both the state of Ohio and the defense rested ahead of closing statements.

Testimony took six days.

Closing arguments, which took several hours when the trial was heard for the first time in October, will take place today with the case likely to be handed over to the jury sometime in the afternoon.

A former sketch artist, Ruble’s brother and two firearms specialists testified on behalf of the defense Wednesday after the prosecution’s final witness, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent Jon Jenkins, took the stand.

Mark Ruble, brother of Mitchell Ruble, testified to the claim that he, along with Mitchell and a number of people associated with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, used the same type of shotgun that has been ruled as the type used in the murder.

Clark was killed when the shooter fired a 12-gauge shotgun with a number 4 buckshot through his Dodd’s Run Road kitchen window.

“There were several of us that went up to Ohio National Guard headquarters in Columbus at some point,” Mark Ruble said. “I think it was Mitch and I, Carl Heinrich, Sheriff (Richard) Ellis, Larry Stephens and Joe Clark. We went up there to buy those shotguns. All of us bought one. It was sometime during that time period.”

The prosecution has said that one particular gun, a 12-gauge Stephens model that had been traced back to some of the parties involved, was the only gun out of many tested that could not be eliminated as a possible murder weapon. They also have touched on the idea that Ruble has a “fascination” with the type of ammunition used in the murder.

“I worked at Lane’s Sporting Goods (in Marietta)…from 1974 to 1976,” Mark Ruble said. “The number 4 buckshot was for sale there. You didn’t have to be in military or police, anyone could buy it.”

Brandon Giroux, owner of Giroux Forensics in North Hill, Mich., reviewed his many years of advanced experience as a firearms examiner for the FBI, lab work across the country and for a number of court cases and law enforcement.

Giroux was asked to perform research about the amount of 12-gauge shotguns likely in the U.S. now and years ago, as well as to examine the shotgun shell found at the crime scene in comparison to others like it.

“I’d estimate that there would be hundreds of thousands, if not millions (of guns) that have these same characteristics,” Giroux said. “Any 12-gauge shotgun could have fired a 12-gauge shell.”

Giroux noted that the number 4 buckshot was widely available for both official and civilian use at the time of the murder, though the prosecution brought into question how many were really available in the rural Washington County area.

“Does that report indicate whether there was availability of 4 buckshot in Marietta?” Ohio Attorney General special prosecutor Joel King asked.

Giroux said no, the report had not indicated the Marietta area specifically, only the country as a whole.

Some of the prosecution’s testimony and evidence have suggested that Ruble, who worked as a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy until his termination in 1979 and was a firearms instructor, led the charge to introduce the 4 buckshot to the office.

John Miller, a contracted small arms adviser to the U.S. Army and a special deputy for the sheriff’s office, noted that the particular type of ammunition was introduced to the sheriff’s office in 1976.

“It had a lesser maximum range and more pellets, cutting down on possible collateral damage to someone beyond the target,” Miller said. “(For police), it was advantageous that we look into a load that wouldn’t hurt someone down the street.”

Miller said it was he, fellow firearms expert Ken Hackathorn and a few others that officially recommended the shot to the sheriff’s office, though he said he could not remember if Ruble participated in that recommendation.

Jenkins’ testimony touched on the ammunition and books of notes about the 4 buckshot found on Ruble’s property during a September 2014 search warrant.

“There were approximately 937 rounds of number 4 buck found,” Jenkins said. “And the stenciling on it is the same stenciling found on the one at the crime scene.”

Jenkins said investigators found a number of notebooks and paper with research and observances related to that buck ammunition.

The jury heard testimony from Steve Flinn, a former composite sketch artist for the area. He sketched composites of the man several witnesses saw parked on Cole Coffman Road the night of the murder, a man that the prosecution claims was Bob Smithberger, who later testified that he was the “getaway driver” for Ruble.

Flinn confirmed that the sketches included one with a man wearing glasses, one with a dimple on his chin and one with much shorter hair than the rest.