Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 20, 2006 15:22:59 GMT -5
Defense questions evidence collection in death penalty case----Middletown
man accused of aggravated murder on trial before 3-judge panel.
Defense attorneys for accused killer Dean Geldrich attacked the
credibility of crime scene investigators who collected evidence from the
Malvern Street house where Miranda Lint was killed in January, claiming
they entered the Middletown home before obtaining a search warrant and
then altered the time on the police evidence log to cover it up.
Testimony continued Tuesday in day 2 of the death penalty trial of
Geldrich, who stands accused of brutally beating the 28-year-old Lint with
a walking stick and cutting her more than 20 times with a knife.
Prosecutors seemed to score a victory Monday with the three-judge panel
presiding over the case with potentially damaging testimony from a witness
who overheard the gruesome crime as it was taking place. But it was
defense attorneys who went on the offensive Tuesday with a rigorous
cross-examination of police that called into question how investigators
gathered 40 pieces of evidence at the crime scene Jan. 3, two days after
Lint was killed.
During day one testimony, Middletown police Detective David Shortt
identified photographs of Lint's blood-soaked body, massive blood spatter
on the walls, blood-covered items surrounding the bed where she was
terrorized for hours and the blanket her body was wrapped in when police
found her.
But during cross-examination Tuesday, defense attorney Melynda Cook-Reich
questioned Shortt about when officers entered the house and began taking
evidence from the crime scene.
Shortt said he got to the house about 5 p.m., but did not enter until 9:05
p.m. when he received a phone call from Detective Frank Hensley that he
received a search warrant from Middletown Municipal Court Judge Mark Wall.
Cook-Reich then pointed to an evidence log attached to the search warrant,
which was returned to the court 3 days after it was issued. The log states
the start time of the search as 5:45 p.m., Cook-Reich said, and it doesn't
match a version of the document provided later to the defense, which
listed a 9:06 p.m. start time.
In a pretrial hearing, Shortt testified he entered the house and began
collecting evidence at 9:35 p.m., Cook-Reich pointed out to Shortt. The
detective said he had been mistaken in the previous hearing, that actual
time was 9:05 p.m.
Cook-Reich asked if he changed the start time on the second log to "make
sure the start time is actually after 8:54 p.m. when Judge Wall signed the
search warrant."
Shortt said "no" explaining the first report was a work in progress taken
from his raw notes. He continued to revise and edit the document for weeks
during the investigation checking his facts until the final version was
completed.
A photo of a clock taken in the kitchen of the Malvern Street home and
identified by Shortt during testimony Monday also was a subject of
questioning by Cook-Reich, noting if no officers entered the house to
begin an investigation before 9:05 p.m. then why does the clock depict the
time as 8:02 p.m.
"An officer did enter with the coroner. Stood in the kitchen entrance and
took shots to make sure evidence was not disturbed," Shortt said, adding
that no evidence was taken and investigation did not begin at that time.
Shortt said a person can only officially be declared dead by a
representative of the Butler County Coroner's Office, and he has no power
to tell the coroner not to check the body.
"The officer was there to protect the integrity of the crime scene, to
make sure nothing was stepped on or moved," Shortt said.
Assistant Prosecutor Craig Hedric asked Shortt, "Did you change anything
based on when a search warrant was obtained?"
"Absolutely not," Short said.
Hensley, who also interviewed Geldrich about the murder at 611 1/2 Malvern
St., testified the defendant gave different versions of what happened to
Lint during interviews Jan. 3 and Jan. 6.
In the first interview, when Hensley asked Geldrich who killed Lint, his
reply was "if a farmer has carrots growing in the garden then you could
say that the farmer planted them," the detective said during testimony.
Geldrich later told him the carrots were an analogy for Lint's body.
On Jan. 6, Geldrich first said he was at the residence when Lint was
killed but did not do it. He said he was forced to wrap the dead body in a
blanket by two other men who had killed her, Hensley said.
Later in the interview, Hensley said Geldrich told them he had acted
alone.
"(Geldrich) said I don't know why I did it," Hensley said.
Annette Davis, a forensic scientist with the Butler County Crime
Laboratory, testified that blood found on numerous items taken from the
crime scene, including Geldrich's jeans, tested positive for Lint's DNA.
The trial is scheduled to continue today and Thursday. Geldrich, 40, is
charged with aggravated murder and 2 counts of kidnapping. If found
guilty, the penalty phase, in which he faces death, will begin Monday.
(source: Middletown Journal)
man accused of aggravated murder on trial before 3-judge panel.
Defense attorneys for accused killer Dean Geldrich attacked the
credibility of crime scene investigators who collected evidence from the
Malvern Street house where Miranda Lint was killed in January, claiming
they entered the Middletown home before obtaining a search warrant and
then altered the time on the police evidence log to cover it up.
Testimony continued Tuesday in day 2 of the death penalty trial of
Geldrich, who stands accused of brutally beating the 28-year-old Lint with
a walking stick and cutting her more than 20 times with a knife.
Prosecutors seemed to score a victory Monday with the three-judge panel
presiding over the case with potentially damaging testimony from a witness
who overheard the gruesome crime as it was taking place. But it was
defense attorneys who went on the offensive Tuesday with a rigorous
cross-examination of police that called into question how investigators
gathered 40 pieces of evidence at the crime scene Jan. 3, two days after
Lint was killed.
During day one testimony, Middletown police Detective David Shortt
identified photographs of Lint's blood-soaked body, massive blood spatter
on the walls, blood-covered items surrounding the bed where she was
terrorized for hours and the blanket her body was wrapped in when police
found her.
But during cross-examination Tuesday, defense attorney Melynda Cook-Reich
questioned Shortt about when officers entered the house and began taking
evidence from the crime scene.
Shortt said he got to the house about 5 p.m., but did not enter until 9:05
p.m. when he received a phone call from Detective Frank Hensley that he
received a search warrant from Middletown Municipal Court Judge Mark Wall.
Cook-Reich then pointed to an evidence log attached to the search warrant,
which was returned to the court 3 days after it was issued. The log states
the start time of the search as 5:45 p.m., Cook-Reich said, and it doesn't
match a version of the document provided later to the defense, which
listed a 9:06 p.m. start time.
In a pretrial hearing, Shortt testified he entered the house and began
collecting evidence at 9:35 p.m., Cook-Reich pointed out to Shortt. The
detective said he had been mistaken in the previous hearing, that actual
time was 9:05 p.m.
Cook-Reich asked if he changed the start time on the second log to "make
sure the start time is actually after 8:54 p.m. when Judge Wall signed the
search warrant."
Shortt said "no" explaining the first report was a work in progress taken
from his raw notes. He continued to revise and edit the document for weeks
during the investigation checking his facts until the final version was
completed.
A photo of a clock taken in the kitchen of the Malvern Street home and
identified by Shortt during testimony Monday also was a subject of
questioning by Cook-Reich, noting if no officers entered the house to
begin an investigation before 9:05 p.m. then why does the clock depict the
time as 8:02 p.m.
"An officer did enter with the coroner. Stood in the kitchen entrance and
took shots to make sure evidence was not disturbed," Shortt said, adding
that no evidence was taken and investigation did not begin at that time.
Shortt said a person can only officially be declared dead by a
representative of the Butler County Coroner's Office, and he has no power
to tell the coroner not to check the body.
"The officer was there to protect the integrity of the crime scene, to
make sure nothing was stepped on or moved," Shortt said.
Assistant Prosecutor Craig Hedric asked Shortt, "Did you change anything
based on when a search warrant was obtained?"
"Absolutely not," Short said.
Hensley, who also interviewed Geldrich about the murder at 611 1/2 Malvern
St., testified the defendant gave different versions of what happened to
Lint during interviews Jan. 3 and Jan. 6.
In the first interview, when Hensley asked Geldrich who killed Lint, his
reply was "if a farmer has carrots growing in the garden then you could
say that the farmer planted them," the detective said during testimony.
Geldrich later told him the carrots were an analogy for Lint's body.
On Jan. 6, Geldrich first said he was at the residence when Lint was
killed but did not do it. He said he was forced to wrap the dead body in a
blanket by two other men who had killed her, Hensley said.
Later in the interview, Hensley said Geldrich told them he had acted
alone.
"(Geldrich) said I don't know why I did it," Hensley said.
Annette Davis, a forensic scientist with the Butler County Crime
Laboratory, testified that blood found on numerous items taken from the
crime scene, including Geldrich's jeans, tested positive for Lint's DNA.
The trial is scheduled to continue today and Thursday. Geldrich, 40, is
charged with aggravated murder and 2 counts of kidnapping. If found
guilty, the penalty phase, in which he faces death, will begin Monday.
(source: Middletown Journal)