Opinion ID: 2977292
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Gasoline traces

Text: When the police searched Saxton’s residence, they found several articles of clothing soaking in the bathtub of the upstairs bathroom, including, among others, a pair of shoes and a pair of denim shorts. Officers testified that they smelled gasoline and a strong detergent coming from the bathtub. Results of lab testing revealed that traces of gasoline were present on either the shoes or the denim shorts. Which specific item contained the gasoline could not be determined because those articles were packaged together and were possibly cross-contaminated. However, there were no gasoline traces found on any of the other items of clothing in the bathtub, nor in the water sample that the police took from the tub. Saxton claimed that the clothing had been soaking in the tub since the night of July 4 or the early morning hours of July 5. But Stephanie Pittman, a friend of Saxton, testified that Saxton had worn the yellow shirt and the shoes found in the tub on July 6, the day before the murder. The police also found that one of the shoes in the bathtub had a perfectly transferred impression of a magazine advertisement on its sole. After the police came across the magazine in Saxton’s home, they determined that the issue did not arrive in Marion, Ohio until Tuesday, July 6. This further contradicted Saxton’s statement that the clothes and the shoes had been in the bathtub since at least the early morning hours of July 5. The state’s expert witness testified at trial that Saxton probably had gasoline on the bottom of his shoe when he stepped onto the magazine. According to the expert, the gasoline acted as a solvent to dissolve the colors on the page and transfer a perfect imprint onto the sole of Saxton’s shoe. The magazine itself, however, was not tested for gasoline because the state wanted to preserve the pages for other types of tests. A state-hired expert performed an out-of-court experiment with bond paper and gasoline that achieved a similar result. But Saxton’s expert testified at trial that in his experiments with the sole of a tennis shoe, the colors of the magazine transferred when the bottom of the shoe was moistened only with water or even when it was dry. The state’s case was weakened by the fact that there was no gasoline found in either the water sample or in other pieces of clothing retrieved from the tub. The police, moreover, did not test for gasoline on either the pedals of the bike or the carpets in Saxton’s house. During an interrogation by the police, Saxton claimed that he used gasoline borrowed from a neighbor to clean his hands after working at the county fair, and that some drops may have splashed on his clothes. No. 07-3706 Saxton v. Sheets Page 6 But this claim contradicted Saxton’s earlier statement that no gasoline would be found on his clothes. The neighbor did not testify at the trial. On the basis of this evidence and after drawing all inferences in favor of the state, a rational trier of fact could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Saxton had been in recent contact with gasoline. The policemen who handled the clothing testified as to their actions. Their testimony, if believed, eliminates the possibility of contamination by the police as Saxton suggests. Saxton could not point to anything more than allegations of police misconduct to prove that his clothing was contaminated during the collection process, nor did he provide any corroboration for his alternative explanation of why gasoline was found on his clothing. A rational trier of fact could have therefore concluded that Saxton’s unexplained traces of gasoline and his self-contradictory statements are evidence of aggravated arson.