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33-year-old Jami Dawn Vincent is dead and her friend is on trial for shooting her pointblank in the forehead late last year in Delaware County, Pa. Now the whole case is coming down to whether the defendant, Roger J. McBride, 31, acted with malice when he pulled the trigger.

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A 33-year-old woman is dead and her friend is on trial for shooting her pointblank in the forehead late last year. Now the whole case is coming down to whether the defendant, Roger J. McBride, 31, acted with malice when he pulled the trigger and shot Jami Dawn Vincent dead inside her Delaware County, Pa., home. All this, according to a detailed account by DelcoTimes.com.

UPDATE: Verdict in for Pa. man who shot friend pointblank in forehead while 'playing' with gun

The fateful evening of Dec. 20, 2015, began as friends gathering to go out to dinner.

But one of those friends, Jack Mooney, a U.S. Army Staff Sargent, brought along a loaded .45 caliber handgun and laid it on a coffee table, where McBride later picked it up and began "playing" with it, according to testimony this week at the ongoing Delaware County bench trial in the case.

Roger J. McBride, 31

According to DelcoTimes.com, Paul McGonigle, one of McBride's oldest friends, testified McBride was moving the gun from hand-to-hand and commenting that he liked the weight when Vincent came down the stairs.

That's when the fatal moment occurred, according to the newspaper account:

"Jamie turns the corner, comes into the living room, stops in front of Roger," McGonigle testified. "Roger raises his arm with the handgun and pulls the trigger."

"(McBride) freaked out, started yelling, 'Oh my God, I didn't know it was loaded,'" said McGonigle. "Just total shock."

Vincent suffered a single "contact type" gunshot wound to the middle of her forehead, dying almost instantly.

According to medical testimony in the case cited by DelcoTimes.com, the "skin around the entry wound tore for several inches and the bullet went nearly straight through, exiting the back of her skull." She would have been unconscious instantly, with death following.

Now the case centers around the legal definition of malice, the key to sustain the charge of third-degree murder, which McBride's lawyer is disputing, instead calling the incident an accident.

However, Mooney, the gun's owner, testified that he never left the weapon with a round chambered, meaning McBride would have had to chamber a round first - something that cannot be done by simply pulling the trigger.

In addition to the third-degree-murder charge, McBride faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and possession of a weapon.

A verdict is expected Monday from Judge John Capuzzi, who is hearing the case without a jury.