Opinion ID: 1120045
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: destruction of possibly exculpatory evidence

Text: State Trooper Gary Lewis, one of the first officers to arrive at the scene of the shooting, took possession of Adkinson's shotgun. At trial, he testified that he handled the weapon before it was sent for analysis to a fingerprint expert, John Sauve. Upon examination of the gun, Sauve found only Trooper Lewis' prints, near the end of the barrel. Adkinson contends that Trooper Lewis' handling of the shotgun destroyed any fingerprints that might have been on the gun. Since it is the central claim of his defense that Butts grabbed the gun and pulled it towards himself before it discharged, Adkinson contends that the presence of Butts' fingerprints on the gun was absolutely crucial to the question of his guilt or innocence, and that the state's alleged destruction of this exculpatory evidence denied him due process of law. [19] We do not agree. Although Lewis admitted handling the barrel of the gun while taking it out of his car at the police station, the evidence was conflicting as to whether he had otherwise touched the barrel. He denied doing so. Moreover, while the presence of Butts' fingerprints on the shotgun barrel would have corroborated Adkinson's version of the shooting in part, it would not have been exculpatory in itself. Even if Butts had grabbed the shotgun, if it had been pointed at him, Adkinson would have been guilty of manslaughter, and the presence of Butts' prints would not prove that Adkinson did not point his weapon at Butts. Finally, any mishandling on the part of the police was unintentional. Trooper Lewis testified that he didn't think to preserve the gun for fingerprints until after he had brought the gun to the police station and dismantled it. Under these circumstances, we do not find a failure of due process. [20]