Prosecutors Want New DNA from Joseph James DeAngelo
Feb 20, 2020 4:38:51 GMT
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Post by mia on Feb 20, 2020 4:38:51 GMT
Prosecutors ask for new DNA from EAR/GSKFull text of the article from Mercury News:
Lawyers for accused Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist suspect Joseph James DeAngelo are in a fight over whether prosecutors should be allowed to seek new DNA samples of DeAngelo’s blood and saliva for DNA testing to be used in his upcoming preliminary hearing, the Sacramento Bee has learned.
At issue is a search warrant request from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office to obtain fresh samples from DeAngelo for use by prosecutors from Ventura, Santa Barbara and Contra Costa counties, where DeAngelo faces a total of six murder and four kidnap for robbery counts tied to sexual assaults years ago, court records say.
Prosecutors won approval of the search warrant from Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White at 8:26 a.m. on Feb. 3 and planned to obtain swabs of his cheeks the next morning at the Sacramento County Main Jail, court records say.
“The order signed by Judge White authorizes force to be used if Mr. DeAngelo refuses to comply with the taking of the buccal swabs,” according to documents filed by DeAngelo’s public defenders, who complained that they learned of the attempt on “extraordinarily short notice.”
“The warrant was provided to defense counsel more than five hours later, at 1:51 p.m. on February 3rd,” the defense wrote in a motion to stop the warrant from being served.
Prosecutors agreed to hold off until the end of the day on Feb. 4, but White ultimately ordered them to hold off pending a hearing on the matter March 12.
District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s office, which is prosecuting DeAngelo in a death penalty case charging him with 13 murder and 13 rape-related charges, declined comment Wednesday. The public defender’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Court documents indicate the new DNA samples were to be used to help with the preliminary hearing now scheduled to begin May 12, one that is expected to include as many as 150 witnesses and last eight to 10 weeks. If the preliminary hearing finds enough evidence to try DeAngelo, his trial will take place in Sacramento with help from five other counties.
DeAngelo, 74, was arrested at his Citrus Heights home in April 2018 after authorities spent decades searching for a suspect suspected of a string of murders, home invasions and rapes between 1974 and 1986 in Sacramento, Contra Costa, Orange, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties.
Schubert’s office and Contra Costa investigator Paul Holes pioneered the technique of taking old DNA evidence from the crime scenes and uploading them to genealogical websites in search of a match.
Once they found a potential relative of the person whose DNA was found at the scenes, they built out “family trees” of potential relatives, eventually tying the evidence to DeAngelo, a former police officer.
Surveillance teams staked out DeAngelo’s home and obtained DNA samples from his trash can and car door handle and, once they believed they had confirmed the DNA matched, he was arrested.
Within weeks of his arrest, prosecutors received permission from White to obtain DNA swabs from DeAngelo at the jail, where he is being held without bail, as well as photos of his penis, court records say.
But prosecutors want more samples of his DNA, and DeAngelo’s public defenders are strenuously objecting, complaining that the newest search warrant was sought and signed without their knowledge, “not in open court with defense counsel and a court reporter present,” they wrote in a court filing.
“In a capital case, all proceedings must be heard on the record with court and counsel and a court reporter present,” Assistant Public Defender Jennifer Cerri wrote in a motion.
Precise details of why prosecutors are seeking new DNA are not revealed in the documents; the judge sealed the 85-page search warrant affidavit.
But the defense contends prosecutors have no right to more DNA without giving them the ability to fight the effort.
“This is a discovery effort clothed in an affidavit attached to a search warrant,” Cerri wrote. “Mr. DeAngelo is entitled to counsel against whatever the DA is demanding in discovery on behalf of other counties.
“Once counsel has attached, if the people want something from Mr. DeAngelo they must follow protocols, via court litigation, as this is a critical stage of the proceedings.”