Jury could get case as early as Wednesday, possibly without defendant taking stand

Murder suspect Timothy Verrill, left, and defense attorney Matthew McNicoll prepare to leave the courtroom Thursday afternoon. (Court TV screenshot)

DOVER - It looks like the Timothy Verrill murder trial may go to the jury as early as Wednesday.
At the end of court on Thursday Verrill's defense team said they would have one or two witnesses on Tuesday and then an expert witness that won't be available until that afternoon. Today's proceedings will only include the defense cross-examination in the recorded audio involving Steven Clough, who is deceased.
Judge Mark E. Howard tentatively set closing arguments for Wednesday, with both the prosecution and the defense estimating that their summations of the case would take around an hour and a half apiece.
Timothy Verrill, 41, formerly of Dover, is charged in the Jan. 27, 2017, killing of Christine Sullivan, 48, of Farmington; and Jenna Pellegrini, 32, of Barrington. Both were found dead of multiple stab wounds.
The women's bodes were found wrapped in a tarp under a stairwell leading to an upstairs hot tub porch at 979 Meaderboro Road in Farmington on Jan. 29, 2017, two days after the state alleges Verrill stabbed them both to death.
On Thursday the court heard recorded testimony from Steven Clough, who died last August in a motorcycle crash in Arizona.
The court played a recorded video of his testimony from the 2019 trial, which ended in a mistrial.
Soon after the recording began several jury members complained that the audio was so distorted they couldn't understand what Clough or the prosecution attorney from the 2019 trial was saying.
Judge Howard then instructed court staff to produce transcripts of the recording so that each juror could watch the video while viewing the transcript as well.
Judge Howard noted that the transcripts were not evidence, only the testimony from the late Steven Clough was, so the transcripts will not be available to them while in deliberations.
During the recorded testimony from Clough he testified that he was friends with Sullivan, but not with Dean Smoronk, said to be the leader of the Farmington drug enterprise.
Clough said he used and sold crystal meth that was provided by Smoronk and Sullivan.
He also helped move stuff that Sullivan had obtained as part of her consignment business.
Date-stamped video of early in the morning of Jan. 26, 2017, the day before the two women were slain, showed Clough assisting Sullivan in unloading and bringing into the Meaderboro Road house what looked like a grandfather clock.
Two days later he testified that he returned to the house at Smoronk's request to see if he could find Sullivan.
During the recorded testimony he said he and two others finally broke into the house using a shovel and soon after found a bloodstained mattress inside an upstairs bedroom.
He said they were there for about 45 minutes before leaving.
Verrill has been incarcerated since February 2017 when he was arrested in Massachusetts. His first trial in 2019 ended in a mistrial after it was learned the New Hampshire State Police Major Crimes Unit had failed to turn over massive amounts of evidence, some of which was exculpatory, meaning it may have benefited the defense.
Verrill is charged with second degree murder in the women's deaths and faces life in prison if convicted.