Post by thinkinkmesa on Mar 25, 2009 11:47:24 GMT -5
Prosecutor rejects DNA testing
Summit official says the evidence is clear against condemned killer Brett Hartmann
By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009
Summit County prosecutors say they will not agree to DNA testing requested by condemned killer Brett Hartmann unless ordered by a judge.
In a letter sent Friday to Hartmann's attorneys, Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh wrote that the former Akron man ''is faced with clear and convincing evidence of his guilt.''
She rejected DNA testing of hairs, such as those found on the body of murder victim Winda Snipes, because they are ''easily transferrable.''
She also wrote that a used condom found inside Snipes' Highland Square apartment ''means nothing, as we do not know where it came from, or when the condom was thrown away.''
Hartmann's attorneys had asked Walsh to cooperate with the testing of the items, which have never been examined since Snipes was killed in September 1997.
Hartmann maintains someone else killed Snipes.
He is scheduled to be put to death on April 7. He has asked Gov. Ted Strickland to delay the execution or reduce his sentence to life in prison with no parole so he may continue to appeal his conviction.
Hartmann, 34, has other appeals in federal court.
''It is troubling that the Summit County prosecutor has again taken the position that as long as there was sufficient evidence to convict Hartmann, there is no reason to test any evidence that might demonstrate that someone else committed the crime,'' said David
Stebbins, Hartmann's federal public defender.
Stebbins compared Hartmann's request for more testing to requests made to Summit County prosecutors in 2005 by Clarence Elkins, who served more than seven years in prison for a murder and rape he did not commit. Walsh resisted Elkins' release until confronted with DNA evidence collected by the inmate and his lawyers that showed someone else committed the crimes.
''This is apparently the same position the prosecutor took in the case of Clarence Elkins,'' Stebbins said. ''In addition, rather than examine all of the evidence, the prosecutor continues to rely on the — at best — questionable testimony of a jailhouse informant and a co-worker as 'clear and overwhelming evidence' of Hartmann's guilt when there is other evidence that may refute his guilt.''
In her letter, Walsh cited a similar denial of additional testing by U.S. District Judge James Gwin. The judge did allow testing of semen recovered from Snipes' body. The DNA was positively linked to Hartmann.
Walsh defended her stance against more testing by citing the testimony of a jailhouse inmate, Bryan Tyson, who told jurors that Hartmann confessed to the murder while awaiting trial.
She also cited the testimony of a former co-worker, who said Hartmann told him a month before the killing while discussing the O.J. Simpson murder case that he would remove a victim's hands to conceal evidence.
Snipes, 46, was beaten, strangled and stabbed or slashed more than 130 times. Her hands were severed.
Hartmann, then 23, claimed he found her body about 15 hours after the two had sex. He said he panicked after finding the mutilated body, cleaned up evidence of his previous visit and then made a series of anonymous 911 calls to report the slaying.
Police say Hartmann initially denied making the emergency calls and delayed telling detectives that he was the one who found the body. Detectives found a blood-stained T-shirt behind his bed, but they have never recovered the knives used in the killing or the severed hands.
Hartmann said that police detectives failed to fully investigate Snipes' former boyfriend, with whom she had what neighbors described as a volatile relationship. The man had lived across the hall, had access to her apartment keys and threatened to slash her throat days before her death.
In addition, Hartmann wants DNA and fingerprint testing on an analog electric clock found inside Snipes' apartment that stopped at 4:40. The cord was cut and used to strangle Snipes, who had been seen alive at 4:30 p.m.
Defense attorneys believe the clock stopped around the time of the murder. Phone records suggest Hartmann was at his home at 4:50 p.m.
''What is the harm in having this remaining evidence tested when there remain questions of Hartmann's innocence?'' Stebbins asked.
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
www.ohio.com/news/41800582.html
As with all Akron Beacon articles there is a comment section.
Summit official says the evidence is clear against condemned killer Brett Hartmann
By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009
Summit County prosecutors say they will not agree to DNA testing requested by condemned killer Brett Hartmann unless ordered by a judge.
In a letter sent Friday to Hartmann's attorneys, Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh wrote that the former Akron man ''is faced with clear and convincing evidence of his guilt.''
She rejected DNA testing of hairs, such as those found on the body of murder victim Winda Snipes, because they are ''easily transferrable.''
She also wrote that a used condom found inside Snipes' Highland Square apartment ''means nothing, as we do not know where it came from, or when the condom was thrown away.''
Hartmann's attorneys had asked Walsh to cooperate with the testing of the items, which have never been examined since Snipes was killed in September 1997.
Hartmann maintains someone else killed Snipes.
He is scheduled to be put to death on April 7. He has asked Gov. Ted Strickland to delay the execution or reduce his sentence to life in prison with no parole so he may continue to appeal his conviction.
Hartmann, 34, has other appeals in federal court.
''It is troubling that the Summit County prosecutor has again taken the position that as long as there was sufficient evidence to convict Hartmann, there is no reason to test any evidence that might demonstrate that someone else committed the crime,'' said David
Stebbins, Hartmann's federal public defender.
Stebbins compared Hartmann's request for more testing to requests made to Summit County prosecutors in 2005 by Clarence Elkins, who served more than seven years in prison for a murder and rape he did not commit. Walsh resisted Elkins' release until confronted with DNA evidence collected by the inmate and his lawyers that showed someone else committed the crimes.
''This is apparently the same position the prosecutor took in the case of Clarence Elkins,'' Stebbins said. ''In addition, rather than examine all of the evidence, the prosecutor continues to rely on the — at best — questionable testimony of a jailhouse informant and a co-worker as 'clear and overwhelming evidence' of Hartmann's guilt when there is other evidence that may refute his guilt.''
In her letter, Walsh cited a similar denial of additional testing by U.S. District Judge James Gwin. The judge did allow testing of semen recovered from Snipes' body. The DNA was positively linked to Hartmann.
Walsh defended her stance against more testing by citing the testimony of a jailhouse inmate, Bryan Tyson, who told jurors that Hartmann confessed to the murder while awaiting trial.
She also cited the testimony of a former co-worker, who said Hartmann told him a month before the killing while discussing the O.J. Simpson murder case that he would remove a victim's hands to conceal evidence.
Snipes, 46, was beaten, strangled and stabbed or slashed more than 130 times. Her hands were severed.
Hartmann, then 23, claimed he found her body about 15 hours after the two had sex. He said he panicked after finding the mutilated body, cleaned up evidence of his previous visit and then made a series of anonymous 911 calls to report the slaying.
Police say Hartmann initially denied making the emergency calls and delayed telling detectives that he was the one who found the body. Detectives found a blood-stained T-shirt behind his bed, but they have never recovered the knives used in the killing or the severed hands.
Hartmann said that police detectives failed to fully investigate Snipes' former boyfriend, with whom she had what neighbors described as a volatile relationship. The man had lived across the hall, had access to her apartment keys and threatened to slash her throat days before her death.
In addition, Hartmann wants DNA and fingerprint testing on an analog electric clock found inside Snipes' apartment that stopped at 4:40. The cord was cut and used to strangle Snipes, who had been seen alive at 4:30 p.m.
Defense attorneys believe the clock stopped around the time of the murder. Phone records suggest Hartmann was at his home at 4:50 p.m.
''What is the harm in having this remaining evidence tested when there remain questions of Hartmann's innocence?'' Stebbins asked.
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
www.ohio.com/news/41800582.html
As with all Akron Beacon articles there is a comment section.