A lawyer for a Fort Richardson soldier on trial for murder said Tuesday the defense plans to soon present evidence that someone else killed the man's wife and infant daughter at their South Anchorage condominium in April 2010.
Army Spc. Kip Lynch, 22, is accused of shooting to death his 19-year-old wife Raquell and their 8-month-old daughter Kyirsta before turning the gun on himself and wounding himself in the head.
"Our case is that that didn't happen at all," said Lynch's defense attorney Dan Lowery, speaking outside the Anchorage courtroom where the case is being tried. "Kip didn't shoot his family, and he didn't shoot himself. It was someone else who did this."
Lowery declined to comment on whom he believed to be the real killer. Testimony on Tuesday suggested Lynch either doesn't remember or he doesn't want to remember.
"He had denied any memory of the shootings or how he was injured," said Christopher Graver, a clinical neuropsychologist at Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington State.
Graver, who interviewed Lynch and oversaw testing of Lynch's memory and cognitive ability, said the wounded soldier appeared to exaggerate his memory loss.
"On one of these tests, the test results showed Kip was intentionally choosing the wrong answer," Graver said.
Dementia patients, children with retardation, and victims of severe head wounds -- in fact, some with their brain's entire frontal lobe removed -- will usually get about 50 percent of the test's questions correct, just by guessing, Graver said. But Lynch was different; he scored a meager 25 percent on that particular test, which is designed to determine the validity of a patient's answers, Graver said.
"It indicated he knew which one was the right (answer), but then went and chose the wrong one," Graver said.
On other tests, Lynch didn't always answer incorrectly, but his answers fit the pattern of a person trying to falsify answers, Graver said.
Lowery, during cross-examination, countered with questions about Lynch's fatigue and inability to remain attentive for the testing, which took about eight hours total over two days.
Earlier in the day, jurors heard testimony from Kyle Biederman, one of the first responders to arrive at the Lynch home that day.
It was about 7:40 a.m., a little more than an hour before his 24-hour shift at Station 12 ended, said Biederman, a firefighter and EMT. He and others at the station were drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, Biederman said.
The firefighters walked into the condo after police said the scene was clear, Biederman said.
"There was a lot of blood in the house," he said. They found Lynch handcuffed and lying on his side on a bed on the ground floor. Upstairs, Lynch's wife and baby were dead, a police officer told him. There were bloody handprints on the walls, Biederman said.
Lynch had a gunshot wound entering through his chin, Biederman said. It wasn't until later in the ambulance that they found the exit wound near the top of Lynch's head, the firefighter testified.
Lynch wasn't conscious or able to talk, but he responded to pain with unintelligible moaning, Biederman said.
"We were all kind of surprised, given the injury and the length of time, that we had a viable patient," Biederman said.
Testimony from the Anchorage Police Department's lead homicide detective on the Lynch investigation continues today.
Lynch's lawyers expect to begin presenting their defense today or Thursday.
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVEcasey.grove@adn.com