Kathy E <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
I apologize some of my private comments are inserted. Yet sometimes one
can not remain silent when they have a strong reaction.
==========================================
Perhaps the most damaging testimony yet against Reco Jones came today
from a DNA and blood expert who found that the DNA of blood found at the
sink of victim Yolanda Bellamy matched those of the five murder victims
and Jones.
Cathy Carr, who examines bodily fluids collected from crime scenes, said
the one drop of blood that proved consistent with the DNA of the five
victims and Reco Jones was found at the edge of the kitchen sink. Carr
said it was not noticed at first by investigators because the countertop
there was wet when police first arrived. But over the course of the day,
as investigators sifted through the house for clues, the water dried,
leaving a crusty residue of blood. The state says the mix of blood was
caused when Jones washed his bloody hands in the sink. Prosecutor Kevin
Simowski maintains that Jones carefully washed and dried his hands, but
one undetected drop fell to the countertop.
Carr also testified about how she matched up blood splatters in the
living room of Yolanda Bellamy's house with the victims. Her conclusion
was that Bellamy must have struggled because her blood DNA was found all
over one side of the living room. Her niece, Shafontah, and nephew,
Delvontay, probably died where they were lying on their sleeping bag.
Bellamy's youngest son, Nathan III, probably died near his mother's
arms. (It sounded to me like Yolanda was killed, Nathan ran trying to
escape into the front room he tried to get out the door but couldn't he
then dashed to the stairs where he was caught his throat was slit and
his body was found at his mothers feet).
This witness's most chilling theory, however, was her conclusion
regarding five-year-old Nathan Burns Jr., Bellamy's oldest son. His
blood DNA was found on the lower steps of the stairway leading to the
second floor and in other parts of the living room by the front door. It
could be concluded he was running, hurt, trying to get away from his
attacker before he was killed.
It should be noted that the niece and nephew had no blood on the bottom
of their feet, so they were most likely the first ones killed. Their
blood was only found in their sleeping bags and on their bodies where
they were found. Nathan III was the child with a knife wound through his
hand, it's been theorized he was holding on to his mothers neck when the
attacker plunged the knife through his hand into his mothers neck. One
problem the defense faced concerning their theory is this, there were no
signs of forced entry, that showed that the mother let in her killer,
the defense is claiming that Maliaka Martin was the actual killer,
Yolanda and Maliaka did not like each other that was well known and
Yolanda would not have let Maliaka into her house.
On cross, the defense seemed to focus on what was not found in Carr's
analysis. According to Carr, no matching blood matter was found on any
knife taken from Jones's home (Note that it was previously testified to
that he told a witness he was going to throw the gun in the lake). And
no DNA matter was discovered in any of the sink drain traps in the
victims' house. (Note that is normal not to find DNA in the sink
drains.)
In addition to Carr's testimony, Detroit police officer and state shoe
print expert Steven Gawlik testified that two of the three bloody
footprints found at the scene were made by Nike gym shoes. This is
important because prior witnesses Maliaka Martin and Tamika Terrell, who
said they helped Jones cover up the crime, said he bloody Nike gym shoes
with him on the morning of the murders. However, none of the defendant's
three other pairs of Nikes matched the footprints. (There has already
been testimony that Jones had another pair of Nikes destroyed after the
murders.)
The day's proceedings began with a defense motion to prevent the state
from showing the shocking crime-scene photos to the jury. Defense
attorney John McWilliams' main complaint was that the photos are in
color and show a lot of blood, making them prejudicial to the defense.
However, prosecutor Simowski claimed the photos were necessary because
they supported the testimony of the state medical examiner and rebutted
the defense argument that the 5-foot, 2-inch Martin, not Jones,
overpowered and killed the 5-foot, 4-inch Yolanda Bellamy. Furthermore,
Simowski said, there were more than 30 state crime scene photos, but the
two he chose to show the jury were the least inflammatory. After
reviewing all the photos, Judge Kym Worthy ruled in favor of the state.
It should be noted the DA had a horrible time with this and these
photo's. They were some of the most horrific murder photo's he had ever
seen, the reason this affected so many in this manner is that the
children were all small, and all were stabbed in the head/neck/face the
effects of a knife on a child are more pronounced than they are on a
adult. The Judge did agree that the DA did choose the least offensive
photo's for the jury. The jury reaction was noticeable. One jury member
made an audible gasp and covered her eyes not wanting to view the
photo's, a male juror also covered his eyes visibly shaken, after a bit
he brought his hands down from his eyes keeping his mouth covered while
he viewed the photo's and he kept looking down at the floor. The photo's
were also shown on CTV.
IMHO this was the hardest day of the trial, viewing the crime scene and
the photo's let alone the conclusions reached on what happened that
night. It's not something anyone involved in this case will ever forget.
At least I won't.
Cathy Carr is expected to return to the stand and finish her
cross-examination by the defense. Prosecutors are expected to call their
last witnesses, and Jones's defense is expected to begin.
Now I'm going to take a bit of a break and try to remember there is some
good somewhere in this world, I just don't know where right now. TTYL.
--
Kathy E
"I can only please one person a day, today is NOT your day, and tomorrow
isn't looking too good for you either"
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