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Murder Trial Testimony Ends

SCRANTON — The trial for the murder of Frank Bonacci has lasted more than a week but attorneys say it will go to a jury Thursday. On Wednesday, jurors hea...

SCRANTON -- The trial for the murder of Frank Bonacci has lasted more than a week but attorneys say it will go to a jury Thursday.

On Wednesday, jurors heard from the man on trial again as prosecutors tried to prove his story doesn't add up.

It was day eight of Jason Dominick's trial. He's accused of killing Frank Bonacci of Dunmore last July.

He was on the stand telling his side of the story for a second day, this time to prosecutors who added a rebuttal witness who testified that Dominick's version of events can't be possible.

Lackawanna County prosecutors say they have heard Dominick's story before, in their office a few months before trial.

First Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico says some things didn't add up when Dominick told his story to a jury. Namely, what Dominick says he was wearing the day Bonacci died.

Talerico pressed Dominick for details about the moment Bonacci was shot.

Dominick said his co-defendant Neil Pal fired once and missed, breaking Bonacci's passenger side window.

Dominick watched from the backseat, and on the stand Dominick said,"he (Bonacci) went to say something and turn and maybe he saw the gun. Then Neil fired again."

During cross examination, prosecutors also showed video from July 23 when Dominick was interviewed by Dunmore police when Bonacci was still missing and Dominick was not yet a suspect.

Talerico said to Dominick, "today you're doing the same thing you did on July 23: trying to convince folks that you're telling the truth."

Next defense attorney Bernie Brown called Emanuel Kapelsohn, a firearms expert who strengthened Dominick's story. He testified that he thinks it's unlikely Dominick fired the gun because he would have to use his non-dominant hand.

Kapelsohn said, "it's possible that this shot came from either the driver or the backseat passenger, much harder, much less likely from the backseat passenger."

The prosecution called a rebuttal witness, a forensic pathologist who said that based on the blood in Bonacci's car after the murder, he thinks Dominick's story is impossible.

The judge scheduled closing arguments for Thursday morning.

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