LAS VEGAS — A forensic scientist blasted Las Vegas crime-scene analysts from the witness stand Monday, saying there is "absolutely no physical evidence" linking 23-year-old Kirstin Lobato to a homeless man's murder and mutilation.  

After reviewing all of the evidence and the testing performed on items recovered near the Dumpster where Duran Bailey was found murdered, defense witness Brent Turvey expressed his disbelief at what he considered to be shoddy work by the police crime-scene analysts.

"I cannot imagine the crime-scene school that someone would go to that would teach them to look at evidence and throw it away without logging it in, and certainly without making a note of their findings," Turvey said. "It's jaw-dropping."

Prosecutors allege that on July 8, 2001, the then-18-year-old Lobato was on a three-day methamphetamine binge when she ran out of money and drugs and attempted to trade sex for drugs with Bailey.

They contend that when Lobato realized Bailey had no drugs, she used a butterfly knife and aluminum baseball bat to kill him. They say she then severed his penis and stabbed him in the anus.

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The prosecution has based the bulk of its case on Lobato's own confessions to a former high school teacher and police that she mutilated a man who sexually assaulted her. But they have produced no physical evidence to link her directly with Bailey's murder.

Lobato claims she was instead confessing to stabbing a man who sexually assaulted her over Memorial Day weekend in 2001. She says she was 160 miles north of Las Vegas in her hometown of Panaca when Bailey was murdered. Her alibi has been supported by several friends and neighbors in Panaca.

Turvey reviewed each piece of crime-scene evidence for the jury to show there was no physical evidence linking Lobato to Bailey's murder.

He said bloody shoeprints at the crime scene don't match Lobato's — a point underscored by a defense footwear expert, who determined that Lobato's shoe size is two and half sizes smaller than the size of the prints found at the scene.

Turvey also noted that chewing gum recovered from the scene could not be linked to Lobato, and that the one "good" fingerprint found did not match Lobato.

A cigarette butt found on Bailey's body was linked to Bailey and another unknown male, but not to Lobato, according to Turvey.

The aluminum bat found in Lobato's car tested negative for Bailey's blood, he said.

Although testing for blood inside and outside Lobato's car came up positive under a presumptive test (which tentatively determines the presence of a substance), it came up negative in subsequent tests to verify the presence of blood.

He said extensive tests for blood on the exterior door handle interior, keys, steering wheel, gear shift knobs, lights, and pedals all came back negative.

Turvey reasoned that anyone who had committed Bailey's murder and mutilation would have had large amounts of blood on their hands and feet, which would have shown up on the car. He said there was no evidence that commercial cleaning products were used to clean bloodstains from the car.

Turvey added that the tire tracks from the scene had a different tread than the tires on Lobato's car.

Turvey was also perplexed that every piece of garbage found covering Bailey was not taken into evidence and tested for DNA. The failure to test everything at the scene resulted in a "mountain of potentially exculpatory evidence" that was not admitted for testing in the case, Turvey said.

Lobato, now 23, was convicted of first-degree murder and sexual penetration of a corpse for Bailey's murder on May 18, 2002, and later sentenced to 40 to 100 years in prison.

The Nevada Supreme Court, however, granted her a new trial in September 2004, citing the trial judge's failure to admit evidence that could have weakened the credibility of a jailhouse informant.

Lobato's retrial is being covered live by Court TV Extra.