Headline Highlights These are excerpts from the articles cited that have particular meaning to those of us in the Property and Evidence field. Especially note the bold type. The Associated Press State & Local Wire
A new Missouri law requiring DNA tests of all felons has been in effect for only a few weeks, but already Missouri authorities have matched two samples to unsolved crimes, including a rape. The law, which took effect Jan. 1, requires all felons to give DNA samples before being released from prison or while on probation or parole. Previously, only violent felons and sex offenders had to submit samples. Sen. Matt Bartle publicized the matches as proof that the law he sponsored is already making Missouri safer. "I have high expectations that many more unsolved crimes will finally be able to be prosecuted thanks to this new system," said Bartle, R-Lee's Summit. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said it has collected 688 samples from inmates due for release in the next couple of months. So far, the patrol has analyzed and added 340 of those to a state database that can be used for nationwide searches. Two of those samples, both from people serving time for burglary, matched DNA evidence collected in a rape case and a robbery. The information has been sent to local law enforcement agencies to pursue. Missouri has no statute of limitations for charging people with murder, most rapes or any of the most serious group of felonies, including first-degree robbery. The percentage of matches may seem small, said Capt. Chris Ricks, a patrol spokesman. But, Ricks said, "If this turns out to solve three or four cases each year, it's obviously worth it." Ricks said the patrol is trying to test samples as quickly as possible, out of concern that a prisoner could be released before the testing is completed. The state first is testing felons in prison, a process which Ricks said could take two to three years to complete. After that, the state plans to turn its attention to felons on probation or parole. Samples are now collected by pricking an inmate's finger and getting a drop of blood. But soon, Ricks said, the patrol will receive 11,000 swab testing kits to collect skin cells and sa1iva from inmates' cheeks. Once the kits arrive and training is completed, Ricks said he expected the crime lab to receive 500 to 600 samples a week. The patrol is buying equipment to process 16 samples at a time, rather than individually as is done now, and hiring staff to help with demand, he said. To fund the additional testing, the state in August started imposing a $30 fee on anyone convicted of or pleading guilty to a felony and a $15 fee on anyone convicted of or pleading guilty to a misdemeanor. Those fees were included in the same legislation that required the DNA testing. Also, Gov. Matt Blunt on Wednesday proposed $1.6 million to help handle the extra DNA testing. ***** Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City, UT) January 28, 2005
Sugar Land, TX City officials apologized to the widow of a former Enron executive for losing photographic negatives from the investigation of his suicide and agreed to pay her $250,000 if the pictures ever become public. The apology to Carol Whalen came after a judge found the city in contempt and fined it $500 over the missing evidence. Whalen and the city had agreed in 2002 that a 900-page police report
on Baxter's death could be released but that certain photographs and a
few documents would be withheld and then destroyed in 2004. Sugar Land
officials destroyed the documents as agreed, but about 100 negatives could
not be found.
***** The Wichita (KS) Eagle
Until all the evidence is seen, it would be premature for the public to judge Dennis L. Rader, legal observers say. The arrest and charges are just the beginning. Even DNA evidence and a possible confession linking Rader to 10 killings have to clear hurdles, lawyers say, to make a case that he is responsible for the BTK killings that terrified Wichita for years. Lawyers who aren't involved with the case said Thursday that even the strongest evidence can fall apart under scrutiny. The lawyers talked to The Eagle about their experiences and research into evidence, and not specifically about the BTK case. "Anytime you've got evidence, even scientific evidence, you've got a human factor involved, and whenever that happens, you can ask questions like, 'Have they done it right?'" veteran trial lawyer Jack Focht of Wichita said. But on radio and television talk shows, pundits have postured that DNA, suggestions of a confession and video images of jewelry being removed from Rader 's home have closed the case before it even gets to court. Not so fast, lawyers say: There's still plenty to learn. The public probably won't get a solid sense of the best evidence against Rader until his preliminary hearing. That's set for March 15, but probably will be rescheduled to give lawyers more time to prepare. One of the big questions in Rader's case is the quality of the DNA samples taken from BTK crime scenes. The killings took place from 1974 to 1991, when DNA testing was nonexistent or in its infancy. Although bodily fluids were found at the Otero and Wegerle homes, crime scene investigators say they weren't thinking about DNA when they collected the evidence, and they didn't know what today' s forensics experts know about how to protect the samples. Even so, decades-old DNA evidence can help break long-unsolved homicides, said Sidney Schueler, biology supervisor with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Schueler spoke to The Eagle earlier this week in general terms about DNA evidence, saying she couldn't comment on the BTK investigation. Freezing can preserve an old sample so that it can be accurately tested for DNA years later. But freezing isn't necessary, she said. Evidence stored in a paper bag and kept in an evidence locker with low humidity and low heat can provide a usable DNA sample years after it is collected. Some of the evidence taken from BTK crime scenes was stored in paper. No matter how well evidence is preserved, however, defense lawyers are quick to note that mistakes can be made. "People can say that DNA is the ultimate crime-solver, but they used to say that about fingerprints and still do," Wichita lawyer Dan Monnat said. "But remember that Oregon lawyer who was falsely connected to terrorism based on FBI fingerprint analysis." Criminal defense lawyer Les Hulnick, says technology isn't error proof. He has made a career out of finding errors in police alcohol breath tests, which are considered proof of drunken driving. But Hulnick has found that those sometimes register false. And sometimes DNA testing - through poor procedures, outright errors or technicians' "pushing" the test result to make it seem more definitive contributes to wrongful convictions, he said. And DNA has inherent limitations. 'The problem with DNA is it is more an exclusionary tool than inclusionary, meaning it is more likely to show someone didn't commit a crime," Hulnick said. Contrary to what happens on popular TV crime dramas, real-life 0 N A analysts testifying in court don't talk directly about "matches." They often say a defendant "couldn't be excluded." "That's why DNA has been so successful in programs like Project Innocence, which has used DNA to exonerate those who have been falsely convicted," Hulnick said. "Prosecutors would like DNA to be more of a tool of inclusion, but that's not the case." Prosecutors, however, would point with confidence to cases such as the capital murder conviction of Douglas Belt last year in Sedgwick County District Court. Although police originally had a different suspect in mind, DNA evidence was key in identifying Belt as Lucille Gallegos' killer, and in convincing a jury. Tony Ruark, a psychologist who consulted on the BTK case from 1979 to 1981, said that he would expect police to learn "lots of details" from jailhouse interviews with a suspect. Based on all the communications from the killer over the past several months, "he's obviously wanting his story to be told," Ruark said. Whether such statements hold up in court is a matter for the judge and jury to sort out. ***** KSTP-TV, LLC "5 Eyewitness News"
ST. PAUL - A high-ranking official at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been arrested on a probable cause felony charge of illegal possession of narcotics. David B. Petersen, 46, of St. Paul has been deputy director of the BCA Lab since June of 1998, and has been with the BCA since 1981. The St. Paul Police are investigating this matter, and charges are expected in Ramsey County Court next week. Police say Petersen may have been in possession of as much as one kilo of cocaine. There is no indication that he sold the cocaine. "This matter came as a shock to all of us," said BCA Superintendent Linda Finney. "We are both angered and saddened by what appears to be a dramatic lapse of judgment and trust." ***** CJOnline.com/Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal
In dismissing a methamphetamine case Wednesday, a Shawnee County district judge criticized the Topeka Police Department as having a "cavalier attitude" about calibrating its scales. Shawnee County District Judge Eric Rosen ruled drug evidence in the case was too uncertain to continue prosecution and dismissed the drug charge against Topekan Robert D. Shaw, 38. Shaw had been charged with a felony count of possession with intent to sell methamphetamines. The weight of the drug evidence, seized during a 2001 police raid, varied by 35 percent in police and Kansas Bureau of Investigation records. On Wednesday, Police Chief Ed Klumpp said an investigation by police and an investigator from the attorney general's office found no evidence of tampering or misplaced drugs. During Shaw's Nov. 23, 2004, preliminary hearing, police officer Kris Souma described the drug as a "white substance" weighing 5.1 grams. An ounce is 28 grams. A KB 1 lab report dated Aug. 17, 2001, described the meth as a "dark substance" weighing 3.3 grams. During a hearing Jan. 11, when Shaw asked that the case be dismissed, Souma said the meth was brown, Rosen's ruling noted. Rosen wrote that he was troubled by the "cavalier attitude" the police department seemed to have with regard to the importance of the calibration of police scales. The prosecutor's "so-called 'explanations' for the change of color and the decreased weight of the methamphetamine lie closer to speculation and hypothesis than they do to established and admissible fact," and cast "serious doubt on the integrity of the chain of custody of the evidence," Rosen wrote. After the issue came to light in November, police and the attorney general's office examined what happened, Klumpp said. The investigation was completed in early January and the findings were given to the district attorney's office, attorney general's office and Rosen. Klumpp said a piece of paper placed under the meth had been included in the weight and a police officer failed to "zero the scales," which would have measured the drug minus the weight of the paper. "We weighed the same type of paper that he used, and it matched almost exactly (to the discrepancy in the weight)," Klumpp said. "I think it was human error in weighing the drugs." Klumpp said investigators haven't found any other cases where there were weight discrepancies. ***** The Times Picayune
A woman who helped her husband break out of Orleans Parish Prison in July secured a plea agreement this week after key evidence, including the gun, disappeared - a sign that disarray in the property and evidence room is jeopardizing cases, the clerk of court said Friday. Lori A. Wells Davis pleaded guilty to one count of assisting escape, a lesser charge, after prosecutor Eric Veith said the state's exhibits were missing. The gun, bullets, bolt cutters, handcuff kit and shackles, all allegedly a part of the crime, were nowhere to be found in the jam-packed storage center at Tulane A venue and Broad Street. "This is completely unacceptable," Clerk of Court Kimberly Williamson Butler said. "Unfortunately, it was inevitable." On Thursday, Butler fired the evidence room's manager, whom she didn't name. The manager not only couldn't come up with the evidence in the Davis case, she said, but never thought to tell anyone - even after the case was closed. Butler found out about the Davis case while meeting with District Attorney Eddie Jordan on Wednesday, shortly after the plea agreement was entered. At a news conference Friday, Butler showed videotape footage of the evidence rooms, some of which resembled a pack -rat's worst nightmare: sagging cardboard boxes in stacks on the floor because shelf space had run out. In one image, marijuana littered the floor from a torn trash bag. Some rooms are infested with fleas and flies, and stink of foul odors because they are near the coroner's office, Butler said. She declined reporters' requests to see the room, saying it's not open to the public. "I've heard horror stories of evidence missing," Butler said. "Cash missing. We don't have enough space to store the evidence." ***** Editor's DNA Note: In various cases, physical evidence resulting in DNA identification has been recovered from all of the locations listed below. Will your procedures protect all of these types of evidence from contamination? Socks: suspect stole a dirty sock from one victim and left it with another victim Ski Mask: suspects identified from skin cells, also from inside Panty Hose when suspect tossed his "mask" while fleeing Latex Gloves: suspect uses gloves to avoid fingerprints, leaves them at scene Blood and Semen: common forms of suspect trace evidence resulting in DNA identification Saliva: recovered after the suspect licked the victim's face, neck and breasts. Also from a Candle the suspect spit on during crime, and recovered from Cigarette Butts, Beer cans and Soda bottles left or used by the suspect Sweat: droplets recovered from multiple types of surfaces. Also, from around Jacket Collar of drug dealers jacket found at scene. Hair Follicles: pulled from the suspect by the victim, and victim's Fingernail Scrapings Eyeglasses: lost by suspect Weapons: firearms, knives and blunt objects handled by suspect. Copyright © 2006 International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc. Reprinted from the Evidence Log, Volume 2005, Number 1, Page 51 |
