Both sides rested Monday in the Ohio murder trial of former “American Idol” contestant Caleb Flynn, setting the stage for closing arguments Tuesday before the case is handed to jurors.
Prosecutors rested after more than a week of testimony in the killing of Flynn’s wife, Ashley Flynn. The defense then rested without calling any witnesses. Judge Jeannine N. Pratt dismissed jurors for the day and said closing arguments will begin Tuesday morning.
Flynn has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and other charges. Prosecutors allege he shot Ashley in the back of the head inside their Tipp City home Feb. 16 before staging the scene to look like an intruder had broken in.
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“It’s not unusual for the defense to not present a case,” Paul Mauro, a former NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor, told Fox News Digital. “Remember, the burden of proof resides with the prosecution.”
“If the defense feels it has poked enough holes in the prosecution, they can emphasize that in their closing argument, and lean on the fact that there are holes in the case,” Mauro said.
Mauro expects Flynn’s attorneys to focus heavily on the circumstantial nature of the case and argue investigators settled on Flynn too quickly.
“There are no witnesses, no video, no murder weapon,” Mauro said. “The close will focus on the idea that the police and prosecution rushed to judgment, settled quickly on Caleb, then found facts that they felt would support their case.”
Mauro said there could be another strategic benefit to the defense resting without calling witnesses.
“Another aspect of the defense not putting on a case: it doesn’t draw attention to the fact that Caleb himself never takes the stand in his own defense,” he said.
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The prosecution also ended its case without calling the couple’s 10- and 12-year-old daughters, who were inside the home when their mother was killed. Their potential testimony had remained a possibility as late as Monday morning.
During a police interview played for jurors Monday, Flynn referenced one of his daughters while describing a stranger he said appeared at the family’s home the day before Ashley was killed.
Flynn said Ashley and their daughters were in the living room when a car pulled up and sat outside before a man with long hair got out and approached the front porch.
“My daughter can confirm,” Flynn told investigators.
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Flynn described the man as awkward, with no company logo visible on his clothing, and said he gave Ashley what Flynn described as a “weird” pitch involving an American flag.
Flynn said Ashley eventually closed the door after the man indicated he would return later.
The state’s final day of testimony gave jurors competing timelines of the hours before Ashley’s death – one based on Flynn’s statements to police and another built from digital evidence recovered from his devices.
Ohio BCI criminal intelligence analyst Samantha Reeb also walked jurors through Flynn’s account of the night Ashley was killed and compared it with data recovered from his devices.
Flynn told police he fell asleep beside his youngest daughter before gunshots woke him. He said he froze for several seconds, ran to the master bedroom and found Ashley unresponsive before calling 911 roughly two to five minutes later.
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Reeb testified Flynn’s Apple Watch recorded several bursts of movement between 1:19 and 1:56 a.m. At 2:17 a.m., his AirPods connected as an audio source before his watch logged another 105 steps over the next 10 minutes.
His iPhone also switched eight times between the AirPods and speaker before Flynn unlocked the phone and called 911 around 2:30 a.m.
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Reeb also pointed to location data that did not match a message Flynn sent Alleigha Botner, Flynn’s mistress, the day before Ashley was killed.
Flynn told Botner he had gone to Ashley’s parents’ home as he prepared to tell them he planned to leave their daughter.
“Went to their house and no one was there,” Flynn wrote. “Stayed a little while and nothing.”
But Reeb testified investigators recovered 5,162 location points from Flynn’s device during that period, with none placing it near Ashley’s parents’ home.
“There’s no location data in the area of the Smith residence,” Reeb testified.
The trial also included two days of testimony from Botner, who detailed their affair and read messages exchanged in the months before Ashley’s death.
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Botner testified Flynn repeatedly talked about wanting his wife dead, including one message in which he allegedly said he stayed up until 4 a.m. “literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail.”
But Flynn’s attorneys used their cross-examination to emphasize the broader context of more than 107,000 messages exchanged during the roughly year-and-a-half affair, including emotionally charged language used by Botner herself.
Botner also testified she understood Flynn’s plans for Feb. 16 to mean he intended to finally leave Ashley and seek a divorce – not kill her.
Shortly after midnight that morning, however, Flynn allegedly told Botner, “It’s happening,” followed by, “February 16th – day I’ll never forget.”
“You’re about to be free,” Botner responded.
“I choose you,” Flynn replied.
Investigators have not recovered the gun prosecutors allege was used to kill Ashley despite extensive searches. There was no eyewitness to the shooting, and testimony showed no gunshot residue was found on Flynn.
With both sides finished presenting evidence, jurors will return Tuesday morning for closing arguments and instructions from the judge before beginning deliberations.
Fox News Digital has remained in contact with Flynn’s attorney, who declined to comment while the trial is ongoing.
