The court heard the final three witnesses Friday in the state's case against Aristh Rodriguez-Linares of Lexington.
Rodriguez-Linares is charged with first-degree murder, a Class 1A felony; use of a firearm to commit a felony, a Class 1C felony; and unlawful/intentional discharge of a firearm, a Class 1D felony, in connections to the shooting death of Mykal Farinas Carballo on Jan. 21, 2025, in Lexington.
Sandra Allen, state assistant attorney general, first called to the stand Tina Oliver, a criminal investigator with the state’s Attorney General's Office.
Oliver was called to do cell phone analysis of both Rodriguez-Linares and Carballo's iPhones submitted into evidence. She extracted call logs, text messages, pictures and messages off the WhatsApp application.
The state entered into evidence a photo extracted by Oliver that contained a photo of a gold watch that was found on both phones, of which the watch closely resembled a watch found in tennis shoes inside Carballo's Monte Carlo at the scene of the shooting.
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Oliver testified to recovering text messages between Carballo and Rodriguez-Linares from WhatsApp in Spanish from the day of the shooting.
In the defense's cross of Oliver, Attorney David Tarrell, questioned Oliver on if she was able to tell if the gold watch photo found on both phones was sent from Carballo to Rodriguez-Linares or from Rodriguez-Linares to Carballo.
"Yes I can tell," Oliver said.
"Is it fair to say that Carballo sent the photo to Rodriguez-Linares on WhatsApp," Tarrell asked of Oliver. "Yes," she answered.
The state then excused Oliver before calling the next witness Irma Watt, a Nebraska state court interpreter to the stand.
Watt was called to translate from Spanish to English, documents of text messages and recordings found between Rodriguez-Linares and Carballo via WhatsApp from Jan. 21, 2025.
In the defense's cross of Watt, Tarrell questioned if Watt was familiar with Cuban Spanish terms as "sometimes words can't directly translate to English."
In one of Watt's translations, she translated a message from Carballo to Rodriguez-Linares, in which she translated to "I will show you." Tarrell questioned if that could also mean "I will teach you?"Â
Watt said, "Yes it could."
In another text message that Rodriguez-Linares sent to Carballo, Watt translated it to say, "Friend there is none. I have no money. You're a life saver."
Tarrell questioned Watt on if that could also translate to "I have no money to help you?" Watt said, "That is correct."
The state excused Watt before calling Jeremy Berg, a forensic pathologist, to the stand. Berg performed the autopsy of Carballo on Jan. 23, 2025.
Berg testified to locating the bullet entries and exits, locating bullet and bullet fragments and performing a toxicology report.
Berg's final report on the cause of death was bullet wounds to the head, torso and extremities.
In his toxicology report, Berg noted finding positive results for amphetamine, methamphetamine, cotinine, caffeine and benzoylecgonine.
He stated that amphetamine is a metabolite of meth, cotinine is a metabolite of nicotine and benzoylecgonine is a metabolite of cocaine.
Berg reported that the drugs in Carballo's system were "not related to the cause of death."
In the cross of Berg, Tarrell questioned him on his findings of the bullet fragments and their trajectory traveled through the body and if those findings could determine where the shooter was located.
"There was no evidence that the shooter was in the car?" Tarrell asked of Berg. "No," Berg answered.
In regards to the toxicology report, Tarrell questioned if Berg could determine if Carballo had taken the drugs on Jan. 21. "I can't say if he was high at that time," Berg said. "But it's likely?" Tarrell asked. "Yes, its a possibility," answered Berg.
Berg testified that a rough estimate of when the drugs were ingested were 1-2 days prior to the autopsy examine.
In the state's redirect, Allen questioned Berg if he found any natural occurring diseases he found of Carballo. "Nothing of significance," Berg said.
The state excused Berg from the stand, and the court recessed for lunch.
After the trial resumed, Allen said that the state would like to rest.
Tarrell called to dismiss the case based on lack of evidence.
"Your honor there was no motive discussed or any evidence to support that first charge (first-degree murder)," Tarrell said.
Allen called for an objection and said, "Motive is not needed for these charges."
Judge Chawnta Durham overruled the defense's move to dismiss the charges.
The defense council called for a side bar before Durham called to recess for the day to take the motion under advisement.
The case will resume in District Court at 9 a.m. Monday.
