Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Evidence Hearing To Be Last Local Court Visit For Dansby

Joe Louis Dansby will be in court one more time in Nevada County, before his murder trial begins in Texarkana.

Dansby will be tried for the May 16, 1992 murders of Jeff Lewis, 24, and Malissa Clark, 21. He was charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of rape.

A hearing on how the DNA evidence was processed and handled was held this morning in the Nevada County Courthouse.

James Pratt, one of Dansby's attorneys, brought up the question on the DNA testing at a hearing held March 19, with 8th Judicial District Circuit-Chancery Judge Joe Griffin waiting to make a decision on having a hearing for the matter.

Pratt, with the Camden law firm of Bramblett and Pratt, sought to suppress the DNA evidence arguing there had been overlapping testimony.

He said the warrant to take blood was a violation of Dansby's rights, because his client had not been informed of his rights under the Miranda ruling, and had no attorney present when the procedure was done.

In fact, Pratt said the blood testing violated the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, along the 5th and 6th Amendments. The 4th Amendment, Pratt informed the court, concerns illegal search and seizure, while the 5th Amendment protects a person from self- incrimination. The 6th Amendment, he said, provides a person the right to have counsel.

The barrister argued the court must hold a preliminary hearing to determine if the results of the DNA testing are admissable and the expert witnesses performed the testing properly in a reliable method so as to create a DNA profile.

Pratt called former Nevada County Sheriff Abb Morman to the stand, reminding him he was still under oath after his earlier testimony concerning .22 caliber shell casings found at Dansby's home when officers had gone to pick Dansby up for the blood tests.

Morman said he, along with deputies Wayne Kisselburg and Hep Sorrells, went to Dansby's residence in the Upchurch Community with a seizure warrant signed by Judge Jim Gunter for the blood testing.

When they arrived, Dansby was not home. Morman had earlier told the court they waited for a while, and he spotted a .22 shell casing in some bricks lain out by the back door steps. Morman and Sorrells searched the back yard, with Morman reportedly finding three other casings.

When the officers left, Morman said he saw people at Leotis Dansby's home and turned into his residence. Leotis Dansby is Joe's brother, and the suspect was located there at the time.

Dansby was informed of the warrant for blood testing and offered no resistance, according to Morman.

The former sheriff said Dansby was not placed under arrest at the time and was allowed to look over the seizure warrant, but not given a copy to keep.

He also said Dansby was not read his rights, nor advised he could have counsel present at the testing site, Dr. Michael Young's office in Prescott.

Morman said the warrant was obtained by former Arkansas State Police Trooper Finis Duvall from Gunter, with Morman meeting Duvall at the NCSO to get it.

He said the trooper did not go with them to pick Dansby up, but met them at Dr. Young's office later.

Two vials of blood were drawn from Dansby's elbow and sealed with purple caps. These samples were presented to Duvall, Morman said.

This, he told the court, was the last he saw of the blood samples. After they were taken Dansby was taken to the NSCO for handwriting tests and then home.

Morman said either Duvall or ASP Investigator Jack Usery took the handwriting samples.

Pratt, after Morman stepped down from the witness stand, began telling the court why the DNA testing should be suppressed.

He said in a letter dated Jan. 24, 1994, written by Kermit Channell of the Arkansas Crime Lab, the FBI's DNA profile did not match Dansby from the vaginal swabs taken from the victim.

Court records show seminal emissions from more than one person on the swabs taken.

In a second report from the FBI, dated Jan. 17, 1995, directed to Channell, the tests determined there was a match with Dansby from the swabs with a probability of a random match being 1:180 to black males.

The samples were then sent to Cellmark Labs in Germantown, Md. for testing. Cellmark is most notable for doing the DNA testing in the O.J. Simpson murder case.

These test results, according to a response from Mike Lowe with the ASP on May 1, 1995, showed Dansby couldn't be excluded as a suspect. The odds given at this time were 1:6,700 for black males.

Pratt said the state's case isn't there because the defense doesn't believe the protocol for testing was proper.

He said because of the strangeness of the exhibit serious questions need to be addressed, especially as one test showed Dansby was not a match.

The testimony and evidence, he argued to the court, is not relevant and is unreliable and would prejudice the jury if admitted.

Griffin said nothing had been done illegally in obtaining the blood samples, and, therefore, allowed them into evidence.

However, he declined, at the time, to make a ruling on the testimony to be heard from expert witnesses, telling the state and defense to keep their calendar's clear until he ruled on the issue.

Griffin has informed both sides of the hearing to be held today, starting at 9 a.m.

Dansby's murder trial is scheduled to begin Monday, April 7, at 9 a.m., in the Miller County Courthouse.