Opinion ID: 1867526
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Blom's Defense

Text: Blom's defense was based on his claim that he did not commit the abduction and murder and could not have committed the crime because he was at home with his wife on the night of May 26. Both Blom and his wife testified that he was at home the night Poirier was abducted. Blom admitted to being in Moose Lake on May 25, the day before the abduction, but not the remainder of the week. He also testified he had been in DJ's Expressway only one timein 1998. Blom's 20-year-old daughter and his ex-wife testified that they did not recognize Blom in the surveillance video. In addition, even though the district court had ruled against Blom's presentation of alternative-perpetrator evidence, the court did allow Blom to present the testimony of witnesses who identified Christiansen as the abductor in the video. Blom presented five witnesses, including friends and coworkers of Christiansen, who testified that Christiansen appeared to be, resembled, or was believed to be the person in the video. One of these witnesses was a woman who had been sexually assaulted by Christiansen. By instruction, the court limited the purpose of this witness's testimony to showing the weakness in the state's identification of Blom. Nevertheless, the court did permit the victim to state that she knew Christiansen because he had sexually assaulted her in the past. The court said it allowed this evidence because Blom planned to present the witnesses who identified other individuals as the abductor in the video, and thus the focus of the evidence was not to show Christiansen as an alternative perpetrator, but rather to show the weakness of the surveillance video evidence.