A state Supreme Court justice.

A retired major general who served as a commander at Guantanamo Bay and worked with the CIA.

The president judge of the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

Those were three of the witnesses called by the defense yesterday to bolster claims by former state Superior Court Judge Michael T. Joyce that he was injured after an August 2001 slow-speed car accident. He received insurance payouts for the accident totaling $440,000.

The U.S. attorney's office has charged Mr. Joyce with money laundering and mail fraud, alleging that he was never really injured and continued to scuba dive, inline skate and play golf after the accident.

The defense said that it expects to finish its case tomorrow.

But yesterday, a number of high-profile witnesses testified that they often saw Mr. Joyce grimacing in pain following the accident.

Michael E. Dunlavey, a current Erie County Common Pleas judge and former major general in the Army Reserves, has been friends with Mr. Joyce since 1977.

Judge Dunlavey recalled going to see his friend shortly after the car accident.

"He was in a lot of pain," Judge Dunlavey said.

Though he was called to active duty after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Judge Dunlavey recalled visiting with Mr. Joyce and learning that he was having shooting pains in his arm and neck, as well as tremors in his limbs.

An impressive witness on the stand, Judge Dunlavey had command of the courtroom, often making unresponsive speeches when answering questions from the prosecution on cross-examination.

No one tried to stop him.

He told the jurors that he has suffered a number of serious injuries in the past but continued with his physical activities, just like Mr. Joyce.

"You live with them. You don't stop doing what you're doing," Judge Dunlavey said. "It doesn't mean I don't pay a heavy price for it."

He and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold also got into a brief argument over the FBI's policy of not allowing interviews with witnesses to be recorded.

Judge Dunlavey asked to tape his interview regarding Mr. Joyce with the FBI agents who visited his office, but they wouldn't permit it.

State Superior Court President Judge Kate Ford Elliott was only on the stand for a short while, but during that time she also bolstered Mr. Joyce's injury claims.

Judge Ford Elliott testified that when she sat on a panel and heard cases with Mr. Joyce in February 2002 in Philadelphia, they had to take several breaks because of back pain both were suffering -- his from the accident and hers from a lengthy campaign season running for the state Supreme Court.

"We spent most of the session talking about that," she said. "I observed he was in a lot of discomfort, and I was, as well. So we talked about that a lot."

Judge Ford Elliott also noted that during at least one nine-judge en banc session, Mr. Joyce stood behind his chair on the bench while listening to oral argument.

Earlier in the day, state Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery testified about his time on the Superior Court with Mr. Joyce. He told the jury he remembered Mr. Joyce complaining about back pain when they were on the same panel hearing cases.

Superior Court Judge John L. Musmanno also testified.

The last witness of the day was a former law clerk, Jeff Lucht, who said that he often saw Mr. Joyce lying on the floor of his office to ease the pain and that he occasionally used an inflatable neck brace to take pressure off his spine.

Mr. Joyce was once in so much pain that when he spoke about it, his eyes welled up with tears.

"He's a tough guy," Mr. Lucht said. "I wouldn't have expected him to well up over anything."