[Meet the New Boss]

But they are trying to make something out of the county examiner concluding the shot was from “intermediate” range, however intermediate is not defined.

"Intermediate" is a term of art for these purposes as used by forensic examiners. One can see from the autopsy diagram that the stippling pattern from the gunshot residue was of 2" diameter, so I don't expect there to be a serious issue as to the distance at which the gun was fired.

[USNBandit]

Somebody posted the definitions for contact, near contact, intermediate and distant on a thread yesterday. From what I remember intermediate still have powder marks and tattooing, but no burns. It is still really close.

[ArmstedFragg]

Of interest is that the gunshot expert who did the clothing analysis described it as consistent with a contact shot.

Here’s a convenient document package.
http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2012/05/17/21/26/aOYtz.So.56.pdf