Closing Arguments Due at Tuffree Trial

Prosecutors and defense attorneys plan to present closing arguments Wednesday in the retrial of Daniel Allan Tuffree, the 49-year-old former schoolteacher accused of killing a Simi Valley police officer a year and a half ago.

Lawyers called their last two witnesses Monday: A criminalist from Los Angeles testified for the prosecution in the morning, and the defense recalled a criminalist from Berkeley in the afternoon.

Both witnesses have testified about trace amounts of metal found on a bullet taken from Officer Michael Clark’s arm after he was fatally shot by Tuffree during a gunfight Aug. 4, 1995.

Tuffree is charged with first-degree murder for shooting Clark. Prosecutors say he premeditated the killing.

But defense attorneys say Tuffree fired at Clark after the officer shot at him. They argue that aluminum found on the bullet and a pattern of cracks in the kitchen window through which the shooting took place support the theory that Clark fired first.

Tuffree’s non-jury retrial on the murder charge started earlier this month. His first trial ended in October with a deadlocked jury that forced Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele to declare a mistrial.

Tuffree was convicted of lesser charges of attempted murder for shooting at another officer during the 1995 shootout with authorities.