Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Testimony Continues In Trial Of Joe Dansby; Juror Dropped (cont)

It is normal practice, he said, to tag evidence at the scene, showing where it was found in an effort to reconstruct what occurred. However, he said, he did not tag the casings, nor mark the location where they were found in Dansby's back yard.

Bramblett then asked about a phone credit card and ring which were missing from the purse found in the Lewis truck.

Morman said he'd heard Usery talk about it after a family member brought it to the attention of the ASP.

These items, he said, were later recovered at the home of Mark and Toni Beard.

He said she was questioned by Duvall, but he (Morman) didn't know when these items were taken.

Morman also said Beard, who was his secretary at the time, was not disciplined for this, though she was later dismissed by the department.

Morman's testimony was interrupted by 8th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Brent Haltom, who told the judge Anjali Ranadive with Cellmark Diagnostics was present to testify about DNA.

After being sworn in, Ranadive gave much the same testimony she had during a pre-trial hearing in Prescott on April 2.

She told of how DNA testing is used in paternity suits, animal husbandry and disease research as well as in criminal cases.

Ranadive testified as to how only identical twins would have the same DNA, and everyone else's would be different.

She talked of receiving swabs on May 25, 1995, and a blood swatch labeled Joe Dansby on June 15, 1995. This sample, she said, came from Kermit Channell of the crime lab.

Ranadive identified the swabs as being from Clark and performed a PCR test on them.

She said the tests could not exclude Dansby as being a possible donor for the semen samples found on the swabs, but also said his were the only other samples submitted to her for testing.

The results, she said, were 1:6,700 the donor was black with these properties. This, she told the jury, meant of every 6,700 black person tested at least one would be expected to have these particular genetic markers. The odds of the donor being white, she said, were 1:6.9 million, and 1:990,000 for a Hispanic donor.

James Pratt, Dansby's other attorney, asked if it would be possible for the markers to match every black person in the courtroom. At the time, there were six or seven present.

She said it would be possible, but highly unlikely.

Pratt brought out the fact Cellmark is a private lab and charges for testing. Ranadive said the lab charged $550 per sample in this case, but the results would not be affected by who paid the tab.

She also said the database Cellmark compiled was made in the late 1980s with samples coming from a Detroit, Mich. blood bank.

Under questioning by Pratt, Ranadive said she did not know who killed or raped Clark.

He also asked why only 105 samples were taken for the database, as she had earlier testified. Ranadive said a population geneticist compiled Cellmark's database. Once certain parameters were met, there was no reason for further additions. The database, she said, has not been updated since the late '80s or early '90s.

Morman was then called back for redirect by Danny Rodgers, 8th Judicial District Deputy Prosecuting Attorney.

He elicited a chuckle from the courtroom when asking the witness if he was still Abb Morman.

Morman identified a form showing he had given Ursery the expended casings on Oct. 19, 1993.

Discussing the crime scene areas, Morman said he had pulled hundreds of thousands of marijuana plants from the region. "It wasn't unusual to find. I came up on it when I was a game warden," he said.

He also said part of his job with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was finding and gathering expended shell casings.

When Morman stepped down, Brian Daniel was called. He told of being part of the dive team which recovered the .22 from the bar pit.

Daniel said the dive team was relatively new, only being together about six months. The officers involved formed the team and worked on their own time and expense, because this was something the area needed.

He said he, Neel, Martin and Barger met at the NCSO on Jan. 25, 1994, but he didn't know what was going on.

Daniel talked of following the others to the scene, describing the pit as being about a quarter-acre in size.

The divers, he said, worked in a grid system, marking their lines with ropes.

Daniel said he found the rifle by feeling along the bottom. The divers had to feel along the bottom of the pit, he said, because it was murky and visibility was poor. In fact, he said, they couldn't see but about six inches.

The rifle, once brought out of the water, was turned over to Ursery and Morman. Neel, he said, wrote out the report on the incident.

Neel, next on the stand and last for the day, testified much the same, saying he and his partner (Daniel) were searching when Daniel gave the sign to surface. It was at this time Neel saw him with an automatic rifle, which later was determined to be a .22 caliber.

Sorrells opened testimony on April 16, telling the tale of Oct. 19, 1993, when he, Morman and Kisselburg went to Dansby's home.

He also told of how no one answered their knocks and said Morman found a .22 casing between the bricks and dug it out.

Sorrells said the casing appeared to have been there for some time, as it was impacted with dirt and about a half-inch down between the bricks.

He testified as to searching the area himself and finding nothing. He said he didn't see Morman spot any of the other casings, because of his own search.

Bramblett asked if he had prepared a report on finding the casings. Sorrells said if he had been instrumental in the investigation he would have, but as he wasn't, he didn't.

He testified as to typing a memo on the incident on March 13, 1997.

Sorrells said he and Morman used no tools, the search was not extensive and did not take long.

He told Bramblett Morman turned the casings over to Kisselburg and he didn't know what the other deputy did with them as he was still searching.

Kisselburg followed, telling of his experience as a deputy and familiarity with the crime scenes.

On May 16, 1992, he said, he and a trooper with the ASP were working traffic near Bluff City in the area of the Prescott Raceway, a drag strip.

They were, he said, close to the Reader cutoff at the time, working race traffic.

But, when it began raining, they called off their efforts and returned to Prescott. This, he said, was around 10 p.m.

By the time they had gone about four miles, though, the rain stopped. Still, they went to Prescott.

When he got back to the NCSO, Kisselburg said there was a call from Bluff City he answered. However, upon his return to the area it wasn't raining.

An arrest was made from the call, and the deputy returned to headquarters. He was called out again to help the Prescott Police