Wichita ? Tests on a rusty .380-caliber automatic handgun found beside a highway three months after a nine-day crime spree cannot be conclusively tied to bullets and shell casings recovered from the crime scenes, a ballistics expert testified Friday.

Richard Ernest, a forensic consultant from Texas hired by the defense, said the cheap handgun was too rusted by the time he tested it earlier this year to make a definitive match to the evidence bullets.

But Ernest backed the prosecution’s ballistics expert’s earlier testimony that the bullets and shell casings recovered from the three crime scenes all came from the same gun.

The testimony came as defense attorneys for Reginald Carr began their case Friday. Reginald and Jonathan Carr are on trial for capital murder and dozens of other charges stemming from crimes in December 2000 that left five people dead.

Ernest acknowledged under cross examination that he did not clean the gun before he conducted his own test firings. Prosecutors showed Ernest pictures of test bullets fired by their ballistics expert shortly after the gun was found and cleaned. Ernest acknowledged that if his own test bullets had been that clear, his conclusions may have been different.

Jurors were dismissed until Tuesday when the next witness, a DNA expert for the defense of Reginald Carr, is expected to testify. His attorney, Jay Greeno, told the judge he planned to put Reginald’s estranged wife on the stand.

Mark Manna, attorney for Jonathan Carr, told District Judge Paul Clark that he didn’t plan to present any witnesses.