LUMBERTON — Both sides in the capital murder trial of Myron Britt ended the first day of testimony continuing to argue about the ballistics evidence in the case.

The issue appeared to be resolved last week when Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks limited what testimony the prosecution can present regarding the .25-caliber bullet that killed Nancy Britt and the .25- caliber bullet dug out of a wall inside the boyhood home of Myron Britt. Prosecutors believe both bullets came from the same gun, a semi-automatic pistol they say Myron borrowed from his brother.

Britt, a Lumberton native, is accused of killing his childhood sweetheart and wife, Nancy Melton Britt, on Aug. 23, 2003, in the home she grew up in on West 36th Street and Rowland Avenue in Lumberton. She was found shot to death, sprawled out at the end of a dark wood floor hallway.

The defense is challenging the ballistics evidence and has vowed to call its own expert witnesses to say the markings left on both bullets were not consistent with one another.

The murder weapon has never been found.

The long-awaited retrial began Monday in Robeson County Superior Court. A jury of eight women and seven men, including three alternates, is hearing the case.

After both sides concluded opening statements, the jurors were directed to leave the courtroom. It was then that District Attorney Johnson Britt expressed his concern with how defense attorney Jim Parrish characterized the ballistics evidence to jurors in his opening statement.

Judge Weeks ordered a transcript of the opening statements, and ended Monday saying, "We'll deal with this issue tomorrow."

A substantial amount of testimony was heard Monday as Johnson Britt called five witnesses, including three police officers who worked the crime scene in the early morning hours of Aug. 23, 2003.

Testimony showed a small blood stain was observed on the T-shirt or nightshirt she was wearing, and what appeared to be a small bullet wound to the right of her stomach area.

Inside the bedroom where Nancy had been sleeping investigators found one spent .25-caliber bullet casing, according to the testimony of the three police officers.

Testimony was also presented showing there were no signs of forced entry and nothing inside the home appeared to be disturbed or missing. That included jewelry, her purse and pocketbook.

Officer Scott Jacobs testified he examined the interior and exterior of the home and found all windows and doors secured.

Officer Jacobs and Sgt. Howard Reaves used Nancy's drivers license taken from her pocketbook to make the initial victim identification, they testified.

During the course of the trial, Johnson Britt intends to show that Myron Britt left the family home in Cary and drove to Lumberton to kill his wife, who was taking care of her invalid sister, Donna Madry, while a third sister, Judy Ivey, left town to celebrate her birthday. He will argue that Britt was a failed businessman and killed his wife to collect about $900,000 in insurance money.

In his opening statement, Johnson Britt — who is not related to the defendant — said documents found inside Myron Britt's home showed he had gotten himself into "horrible financial shape."

He also told the jurors that there were only four people who knew Nancy would be in Lumberton the night she was killed: Judy, Donna, Myron and Myron and Nancy's daughter Lauren.

Also testifying Monday were the 9-1-1 operator who took a call from the home that Judy Ivey shares with Donna Madry, and Judy Ivey.

Testimony showed that Donna, who can barely speak, was trying to say something into the telephone but the operator couldn't understand. It was 3:28 a.m. An enhanced 9-1-1 system displayed the specific street address. The operator finally was able to understand the word "hurt," and police were sent to the scene to "check on the well being of a person," the operator testified.

Judy Ivey testified she left Nancy with Donna at the Lumberton house on a Friday night, Aug. 22, and headed to Dillion ,S.C., to celebrate her birthday and to do some church mission work, playing the accordion and singing.

It wasn't until about 3 p.m. the following day that authorities tracked her down and in a phone call she learned that Nancy had been killed.

"It's like I went into shock — disbelief," Ivey said. She said she called Myron's house in Cary and someone there confirmed the news.

Reviewing photographs taken inside the home just after the murder, Ivey said the rooms appeared just as she remembered them,.

"I didn't find anything out of place in the whole house," Ivey testified.

On cross examination, Ivey said Myron and Nancy began dating in the 10th grade. She said after Myron and Nancy married and moved to Cary, she and Donna would visit them on holidays and for their childrens' birthdays.

"Did they appear happy?" asked Parrish, regarding Myron and Nancy.

"Yes," Ivey said.

Parrish also questioned Ivey about her neighborhood, which she described as abutting a commercial area near Roberts Avenue and being close to gas stations and the Howard Johnson's motel.

She said she had complained of seeing two men drinking beer behind a nearby business. This occurred a few weeks before Nancy was killed.

Parrish began to question Ivey about her prison ministry, singing and playing the accordion for inmates, but was stopped short by Judge Weeks after the prosecution objected based on relevance.

Earlier, there was some inconsistent testimony from the three police officers regarding what they immediately saw on the street near the home of Judy Ivey.

Officer Jacobs said he saw a woman in the street complaining of a "domestic" situation, but he saw Sgt. Reaves approaching so he moved on toward the Ivey home.

Sgt. Reaves said he spoke to a woman in a dark car in the area, who told him to be on the lookout for a young white female walking the street alone in the neighborhood.

Lt. Jerome Morton testified that in his statement from that morning he reported that Sgt. Reaves told him that a young white female, about 15 years old, had been picked up by someone driving a dark car "in the area of the residence."

Under questioning by the defense, all three officers said they did not get the names of these women nor identify who they were.

The first trial of Myron Britt in 2006 ended with a hung jury.

Testimony is to resume Tuesday, and the trial is expected to last several weeks.