Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prosecution Begins Case Against Joe Dansby For 1992 Murders (cont) (cont) (cont)

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Bicks said the match came up at 1:180 on the Dansby case material, adding the FBI always tries to be conservative in its estimates, so if an error is made it's on the side of the defendant.

He said DNA testing can't say a sample came from a particular person, but can say they are excluded.

Four tests were done on the materials from the Dansby case, he said, with a successful DNA profile coming from the vaginal swabs, but not from Lewis' blood.

However, Bicks said blood samples were taken from Lewis' parents so a profile could be determined, and it showed he was not the sperm donor in question. That, Bicks told the court, was a certainty.

The third test ran, was on the paper towels found by Latin, and from Dansby himself. Another exclusion was found from the towels, but not from Dansby.

He said Dansby's blood was not on the towels, nor was it linked to the crime as far as he could tell.

On the other hand, when asked to compare Dansby's profile to the Clark swab, he said a match occurred, which could not exclude Dansby as a possible supplier of the genetic materials.

Bicks said four probes are normally done on RFLP testing, but only two showed profiles. This, he said, happens sometime, and can be caused by small sample sizes.

Pratt asked where the FBI's database came from. Bicks told him the samples were from those in the California Department of Justice, the Florida Department of Justice and the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. Those samples from California and Florida, he said, were from blacks most likely already in jail, while the Texas samples came from a hospital.

The next witness the week was Dr. William Q. Sturner, chief Medical Examiner with the Arkansas Crime Lab.

Sturner went into minute detail on the scrapes and bruises found on the bodies, along with the gunshot wounds both suffered.

He said two shots could have killed Clark, one in the left side and the other a head wound.

The abrasions, he said, could have came from Clark being dragged, and identified a series of photos he said autopsy pictures.

According to Sturner, all gunshot wounds on both Lewis and Clark came from close range, as there was evidence of powder burns on their skin in the area of the shots.

Sturner told the court he found several bullets from Clark's body and Lewis' head, as Lewis was shot there four times.

He said 0.01 blood alcohol content was found in Clark's blood, but this is a standard lab error and could have been from decomposition of her body. It was his opinion she had not been drinking prior to her death.

On the other hand, 0.31 alcohol was found in Lewis' blood after testing, with Sturner saying he apparently had been drinking some at the time.

Hair samples and nail clippings were also taken from the victims and tested, he said.

Upon cross exam, Sturner said the exact time of death could not be determined, nor could he say the couple lost consciousness immediately after being shot, though it was possible.

Ursery was the final witness of the week. He told of arriving at the first scene with a large group of people already being there.

He said he arrived with Duvall and they gathered evidence at the scene. Two expended .22 shell casings were found behind a pickup at the scene belonging to Nevada County Coroner Mike Beard.

Usery said he picked the casings up and showed them to Duvall.

Rodgers went through evidence found at the crime scenes item by item, discussing and having each described by the officer.

Usery said four casings were found in the bed of Lewis' pickup at crime scene 2, with three directly behind the victim's knee. The fourth was found when Lewis' body was turned over during crime scene photographing.

He told the court of having to literally pry Lewis' hand from the truck bed railing, and from a sleeping bag his body was on.

Clark's body, he said, looked as if it had been purposely laid out, with pine straw gathered beneath her head and buttocks.

Usery told the court he left the scene before the medical examiner arrived.

He also told of a shoe he believed to be one of Clark's being wedged between a spare tire in the truck bed next to the cab on a bloody towel.

He said it appeared as though a body had been dragged out of the truck bed, as blood was found on the railing and a piece of what he thought was human skin was found on the top of a rail.

Bramblett again went to the topic of crime scene preservation, with Usery saying there were two or three dozen people at the second scene when he arrived. The first scene, he said, was not secured nor overly protected.

He then questioned Usery as to the Hillery's statement. Usery said he didn't interview Hillery, but a handwritten statement was brought in by the NCSO investigator.

Usery told the court he could find the original, from which the typed copies were made, and bring them to court.

However, he said, it most likely wasn't dated showing when it was received.

Court reconvened Tuesday, with Cellmark witness Anjali Ranadive expected to give her testimony on the DNA tests she ran on the evidence sent to Cellmark.