Opinion ID: 2590326
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Crime scene blood spatter evidence

Text: Kern County crime lab Criminalist Jeanne Spencer collected samples of blood spatter from the dresser, the door to the bedroom, a bedroom wall, the vacuum cleaner, and the kitchen floor. Using enzyme testing, she was able to identify all the spatter as human blood that had come from the same source. However, because no control samples were available from the victims, [3] she could not tell whose blood it was. She also collected a wadded-up paper towel from the floor of the living room and a roll of paper towels from the kitchen, both of which contained bloodstains. She likewise determined both items had human blood on them, and that the blood could have come from the same source as all the blood spatter samples. Spencer also compared the hair strands recovered from just below the indentation in the kitchen wall, and from one of the bedposts, to both the victims' and defendant's hair samples. She found the hairs could have come from Shirley, but did not come from defendant or Joey. She noted one of the hairs had no root, suggesting it might have been torn off. Spencer also examined the white-handled knife defendant had given Amos that was recovered by police, and found no blood on it. Supervising Criminalist Gregory Laskowski, an expert in blood spatters, stains, patterns and events, examined the scene a few days after the bodies were discovered. He identified the blood on the fronts of the dresser drawers as medium-velocity blood spatter events, which would be associated with kicking, bludgeoning, stabbing, or punching. He concluded the spatter patterns were probably caused by more than two or three discrete events, and that the source of the blood was impact-generated, meaning the force that caused the spatter was moving towards the dresser. The absence of blood on the sides of the drawers evidenced that they were closed at the time of the events causing the spattering. Blood and hairs were found adhered to a bedpost. Laskowski determined the blood on the bedpost and surrounding area had come from a source six to 10 inches away, and that the spatters were caused by mechanical force such as that associated with a punch, kick, or blow, with the blow driving the part of the body with the open wound against the bedpost. Laskowski also observed a shoe print or impression on the carpet in the bedroom, the source or nature of which was uncertain. His initial impression was that the print may have been made by a cowboy boot. At trial, he testified the impression could also have been made by a smooth-soled shoe or boot, or possibly could have been made by a large limb like a thigh or by a knee. Based on his overall examination of the crime scene, Laskowski determined there were probably three to four spatter events in the area of the dresser, one to two in the area of the bedpost at the foot of one bed that contributed to the spatter stain across the bottom of the bedroom door, two to three on the north wall between the second bed and the dresser, one at the foot of the bed where Shirley's head rested, and at least one event that resulted in blood being spattered on the living room carpet outside the bedroom entryway.