California v. Markhasev
"The Ennis Cosby Murder Trial"
Defense implies prosecution mishandled evidence
June 24 (Court TV) -- According to a state criminalist, DNA testing shows that there is a one in 15,500 chance that the hair found in the knit cap allegedly worn by Ennis Cosby's killer belongs to someone other that defendant Mikail Markhasev. But Markhasev's attorney, Henry Hall, who asked the state experts to retrace their steps in retrieving and examining the hair, implied that investigators mishandled -- and possibly tampered with -- the evidence against his client.
The third day of testimony in the Ennis Cosby murder trial found state criminalist Susan Brockbank return to the stand for a cross-examination where she was asked to recount every aspect of her involvement in the case. Brockbank began working on the case in March 1997 and told the court how she placed evidence in envelopes, studied hairs under a microscope, and submitted the hairs for DNA testing. Brockbank testified that on March 20, 1997, she logged in 20 hairs as evidence. But during cross-examination, Hall showed her that when the envelopes of evidence were returned to her in January 1998, only 13 hairs were present and one envelope was empty.
Brockbank had testified on the previous day that the DNA examined in the hair taken from the knit cap allegedly worn by Cosby's killer matched that of Markhasev. The cap was found wrapped around a gun believed to be the murder weapon two months after Cosby's slaying.
Jurors also heard the testimony of another criminalist Harry Klann. He testified that he was able to examine the DNA of only one hair in the cap because the other hair did not contain enough tissue at the root. Klann concluded from the DNA tests that the hair belongs to Markhasev or any other person with the same DNA marker characteristics. But, Klann said, only one person in 15,500 have those DNA characteristics. Klann also said that the hairs could not have come from Ennis Cosby.
Criminologist Diana Paul also was called to the stand to compare the bullet that killed Cosby to the bullets found in the alleged murder weapon. While holding the .38 caliber revolver before the jury, Paul said the fatal bullet was fired from the gun police found in the field two months after Cosby's murder. Paul will return to the stand on Thursday to continue her testimony.
The defense's attack on the evidence gathering techniques of state investigators came the day after Cosby friend and key prosecution witness Stephanie Crane could not identify Markhasev as Cosby's killer when shown a photo lineup in court. Crane's admission came after she testified that she saw the face of Cosby's killer on the night of the murder.
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