Testimony focuses on blood stains
Published 5:00 am Thursday, June 21, 2012
Nearly 150 red triangular stickers, each indicating a blood stain, covered a black Adidas track jacket, pants and sneakers worn by accused killer Richard Ward Clarke the night his roommate was killed.
Devin Mast, a forensic scientist for the Oregon State Police, told jurors Wednesday at Deschutes County Circuit Court of lab analyses in which 24 stains on the jacket, 16 on the sneakers and 87 on the pants either tested positive as blood or were visually consistent with blood.
Clarke is accused of beating Matt Fitzhenry, his roommate, to death with a pink baseball bat in October 2010.
Mast said that after an initial visual exam, scientists scanned the dark clothing using infrared cameras. Stains resembling blood were swabbed and sent to a laboratory in Portland.
He also said the blood stains found on the jacket are concentrated at the right back shoulder, which is consistent with the blood splatter documented at the crime scene. If someone swings a bloodied bat, blood is likely to drop over the shoulder, Mast said.
Pamela Bordner, the director of the OSP forensic laboratory in Bend, shared with jurors the patterns of analyses used to determine how blood stains are deposited, noting the difference between “splatter” and “transfer” stains.
If someone had blood on their hand and touched something, that would indicate a transfer stain. The stains found on Clarke’s clothing, however, were splatter stains cast off from impact, Bordner said. The gloves found in Clarke’s pocket tested positive for a transfer stain.
Heather Feaman, a forensic scientist from the Portland lab that received the swabs collected by Mast, testified about the DNA analysis involved. The swabs of blood taken from Clarke’s clothing each matched Fitzhenry’s DNA profile. She said statistically, less than one in 10 billion people would match this profile in the African American, Hispanic and white population.
A swab of an internal area of the bat believed to have been used in the attack matched Fitzhenry’s DNA. Small amounts of DNA were found on the bat’s handle, but testing was inconclusive.
Bend Police Detective Jason Maniscalco mentioned evidentiary processes during testimony.
Since being named the lead investigator the day after the attack, Maniscalco has been responsible for receiving and seeking appropriate reports, such as Clarke’s journals, cellphone records, recordings of calls made from the jail, and video surveillance.
He read the text of Bible proverbs noted on the back of a photo of Clarke and his on-and-off girlfriend of five years, Galyn Sisson. “‘So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished,’” Maniscalco read. Prosecutors believe Clarke suspected a romantic relationship brewing between Sisson and Fitzhenry.
The trial continues today at Deschutes County Circuit Court at 9 a.m.