MILFORD - The star witness was a mannequin wearing a state trooper's blood-soaked uniform. Green and pink rods ran through the chest and shoulders, marking the paths of two bullets.

One would have done the job, but both killed Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II, forensic pathologist Gary Ross, M.D., testified Tuesday in Pike County Court.

Deciding whether Eric Matthew Frein squeezed the trigger could be in the hands of the 12 jurors by the end of today.

After 54 witnesses and nearly 540 pieces of evidence, the Pike County district attorney's office wrapped up its capital murder case Tuesday against the 33-year-old accused shooter.

Frein's defense attorneys, Michael Weinstein and William Ruzzo, did not call any witnesses.

"We'll leave the defense strategies to themselves, but there has to be a defense strategy that's based in fact and it doesn't appear to me that they had any factual basis for a defense," District Attorney Ray Tonkin told r eporters after Tuesday's proceedings.

Weinstein acknowledged that the evidence against Frein is "substantial," but the ultimate decision will rest with the jury.

"It's their job to evaluate the evidence and see if it rises to a level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt," Weinstein told reporters.

Closing arguments begin today at 9 a.m. Afterward, Pike County Judge Gregory H. Chelak will instruct the Chester County jury.

Frein, of Canadensis, is on trial for the Sept. 12, 2014, ambush of the Blooming Grove state police barracks. There, Frein hid in the treeline across from the barracks and fired four shots from a high-powered rifle, state police said. Besides the two that killed Dickson, one severely wounded Trooper Alex T. Douglass, 34, of Olyphant. The fourth hit a tree.

Frein pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder, terrorism and numerous other charges stemming from the shootings and subsequent 48-day manhunt. He faces the de ath penalty if convicted of murder.

Avoiding the death penalty has been a focus for the defense since the trial began April 4.

"We hope the jury will understand that Eric Frein is a human being and displays the qualities of humanity and the core of goodness that we all have," Ruzzo said.

To impose the death penalty, the jury first must find Frein guilty of first-degree murder. If that happens, a second trial begins. The prosecution will offer evidence of the aggravating circumstances, factors which make the crime more heinous, while the defense will provide evidence of mitigating circumstances, which lessen the defendant's culpability. If the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, the jury could send Frein to death row. If not, the sentence is life imprisonment without parole.

Tonkin will offer two aggravating circumstances: Dickson was a police officer murdered in the line of duty and the killer risked injuring others by firi ng into the barracks.

Ruzzo declined to elaborate Tuesday on what sort of evidence he and Weinstein will present as mitigating circumstances. Court filings show they hired two expert witnesses: Carol Armstrong, a neuropsychologist, and Louise Luck, who specializes in developing mitigating evidence for death penalty cases. Some members of Frein's family are expected to testify.

During the past two weeks, Frein occasionally offered brief smiles to his parents as sheriff's deputies led him to and from the defense table.

His mother, Deborah Frein, smiled back.

"I wouldn't even know how to put it into words," she said when asked how she was handling the trial. "It's sad. Extremely sad."

And gruesome. On Tuesday, Tonkin displayed autopsy photographs of the slain trooper on two television screens, showing the holes that two bullets made as they entered and left his body.

Ross, who performed the autopsy on Dickson the day after the shooting, testif ied Tuesday that the first shot pierced Dickson's chest and blew a hole through the right side of his back. It ripped through his right lung and filled his chest with blood.

"That wound in and of itself would have killed him," Ross said.

Dickson was conscious as he bled to death. Moments later, a second bullet hit Dickson's right shoulder and tore his spinal cord. He died by the time troopers got him inside the barracks.

Ross spoke the final words jurors heard from a witness.

"This is a homicide," he said.