Opinion ID: 1713477
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence Placing Armstrong at the Murder Scene

Text: ¶ 37. The State presented two witnesses to support its theory that Armstrong went to Kamps' apartment after midnight, instead of before 10:00 p.m., as Armstrong asserted.
¶ 38. The first witness was Laura Chafee. [6] She lived at 134 West Gorham in the apartment directly below Kamps' and heard some music, which seemed to be coming from upstairs, starting at about 12:05 a.m. Chafee testified that she had not heard music from Kamps' apartment earlier in the evening. Detectives from the Madison Police Department had Chafee sit in her apartment and listen to music played in Kamps' apartment. Chafee testified that the sound was similar. Josef Rut, a Madison Police Officer, testified that he removed a Grand Funk album from Kamps' stereo. Dillman, Kamps' boyfriend, testified that Armstrong had once played Grand Funk Survival for him. Dillman said that a copy of the album was on Kamps' turntable when he accompanied investigators on a walk-through of her apartment several days after her murder. Judy Marty, who worked at the Pipefitter and was at May's party on June 23, also testified that Armstrong had once told her that Grand Funk Survival was among his favorites and that he played the album for her. [7]
¶ 39. Riccie Orebia was the second witness the State presented to place Armstrong at Kamps' apartment at the time of the murder. [8] Orebia lived at 120 W. Gorham and sat on his porch from shortly after 10:30 p.m. until almost 4 a.m. on the night of June 23 and during the early morning of June 24. Orebia did not have a watch or clock available, but asked a passer-by for the time and was told it was about 11:45 p.m. ¶ 40. Based on that time, Orebia estimated that at about 12:30 p.m., he saw a white car with a black top pass on West Gorham and described the driver as having dark, shoulder-length hair. [9] Orebia saw the car pass a second time and park out of view across the street. ¶ 41. About five or ten minutes later, Orebia saw a person walk from the direction of the parking lot, cross the street, and enter Kamps' apartment building. Orebia described the person he observed as lean and very muscular. [10] About five to ten minutes after that, the same man left the building and headed back the direction he had come. Orebia testified that another five minutes passed, and the same person crossed the street, entered the building a second time, and then, after staying inside another five minutes, left again this time without wearing a shirt. Orebia stated that five more minutes passed, and the same person ran across the street to the building a third time, stayed for about 20 minutes, and then left running very fast, shining as if he were oily. Orebia then observed the black-over-white car speeding away from the parking lot. ¶ 42. Thomas Anderson, another resident in Orebia's building, testified that on the afternoon of June 24, Orebia shared the following description of what he observed the night before: a muscular man with large arms and a flat stomach ran in and out of Kamps' building without a shirt on and that a black-over-white vehicle sped away from the scene.
¶ 43. Several days after the murder and prior to any police identification procedure, Orebia underwent hypnosis to enhance his memory. [11] Dr. Roger A. McKinley performed the hypnosis, and Detective Robert Lombardo of the Madison Police Department was present during the process to provide McKinley with information about important areas to cover. McKinley testified that prior to hypnosis, Orebia gave him a description of the man Orebia observed, indicating that he had shoulder-length hair, a muscular build, and that he was running and sweating when he left the scene. ¶ 44. McKinley testified that during the hypnotic session, Orebia described particular features of the suspect's face, including that the suspect had a long nose and bushy eyebrows. McKinley admitted that if Orebia would not have been able to make out the detail of Armstrong's face because of lighting conditions, then any description he gave of Armstrong's nose, eyebrows, and other features would have to be confabulation. [12] ¶ 45. Photographs of Armstrong and the vehicle were passed between Lombardo and McKinley during the hypnotic session, in front of Orebia. McKinley testified that in his presence Orebia was never shown photographs of Armstrong. However, Lombardo stated that Orebia saw photographs of Armstrong's vehicle when he handed them to McKinley during the session and that Orebia had also seen photos of the car prior to hypnosis. McKinley defended his hypnosis procedure with Orebia as non-suggestive. ¶ 46. At trial, Armstrong was critical of the decision to subject Orebia to hypnosis. Lombardo argued that prior to hypnosis Orebia stated he would have been able to identify the person he had seen. [13] ¶ 47. Armstrong presented the testimony of Dr. John F. Kihlstrom, a psychology professor who testified to the effects of hypnosis on memory. Kihlstrom stated that hypnosis can be used to access memories that are not ordinarily memorable in the wakened state, but the hypnotist also runs an equal risk of confabulation. [14] Kihlstrom stated that precautions to limit the introduction of inadvertent suggestion include keeping the hypnotist blind to the facts of the case, and to conduct the session out of the presence of an investigator who could suggest particular views. ¶ 48. During his testimony, Kihlstrom presented excerpts from the videotaped session between McKinley and Orebia. Kihlstrom noted that Lombardo was in the room during the session, and that Orebia initially described the suspect as being five-feet, three inches to five-feet five-inches tall, but McKinley suggestively inquired about a height of six feet tall until Orebia agreed with that height. Armstrong's attorney stated that Armstrong is six-feet, two inches tall.
¶ 49. In the early morning hours of July 1, 1980, after Orebia had undergone hypnosis, the Madison Police Department arranged a line-up procedure at 134 West Gorham. Armstrong's attorney at the time, Dennis Burke, instructed Armstrong not to cooperate and Armstrong complied with Burke's direction. The police then returned Armstrong to jail. [15] The line-up was rescheduled and held in the early morning hours of July 3, 1980. Again, Burke had instructed Armstrong not to cooperate. Detective Francis McCoy testified that at about 4:00 a.m. on July 3, he requested that Armstrong put on a shirt, a pair of jeans and a pair of cowboy boots to match the other line-up participants, but Armstrong refused. ¶ 50. At the line up, two police officers walked with each of the five line-up participants across West Gorham, up to the porch of Kamps' apartment at 134 West Gorham, and then back the opposite direction. Armstrong was the second person to go and he went limp as soon as he and the two officers accompanying him came into view of the observers standing on the porch of 120 West Gorham. Detective Roger Attoe and a patrolman accompanied Armstrong and dragged him up to the porch of Kamps' apartment and back again. Detective Attoe testified that Armstrong lost his shoes along the way and made the statement, better a little pain now than life imprisonment later. The police took the three remaining participants along the same route. ¶ 51. The five line-up participants were then each held by two police officers in front of a police van and Orebia was brought down to the parking lot to observe. Orebia walked down to view the participants at a distance of about 25 feet. The testimony of the State's witness, Detective McCoy, and the defense's witness, Attorney Burke, differ as to whether Armstrong was slumping or standing at full height at the time Orebia viewed the line-up in front of the van. ¶ 52. At trial, Orebia testified that upon seeing Armstrong's head come into view during the first portion of the line-up, he gasped and mentioned to police officers standing with him that Armstrong was the person he saw leaving the murder scene. ¶ 53. Orebia also stated that he recognized that the other line-up participants, including the first participant, were wearing shoulder-length wigs and mentioned that observation to the officers standing with him. Orebia testified that the police told him that they had a man in custody who would be in the line-up, however, the police also instructed Orebia not to pick anyone unless he was sure. Orebia admitted to telling Attorney Burke that as far as he was concerned, the line-up was fixed.
¶ 54. Armstrong presented Dr. John Fournier, an ophthalmologist, to refute the ability of Orebia to make certain observations. Fournier measured the distances and lighting conditions from Orebia's vantage point on the porch of 120 West Gorham to the route of the person he observed. Fournier testified that night vision acuity is about 1/10 that of daytime vision, and that given the conditions under which Orebia made his observationsa distance of 100 to 134 feet and low illumination from the street lamps with glare in the foregroundit was not physically possible for a person in Orebia's position to make out facial features.
¶ 55. On November 5, 1980, Orebia gave a statement under oath at Armstrong's attorney's office (Attorney Edward Krueger), in the presence of a court reporter and Armstrong's attorney's investigator, Charles Lulling, in which Orebia directly contradicted his identification of Armstrong to the police. In that statement, Orebia said that Armstrong absolutely could not have been the person he saw running in and out of 134 West Gorham. ¶ 56. Orebia gave a second statement in Attorney Krueger's office on November 10, 1980, indicating that he had read through the statement he had given five days prior and that it was true and correct. ¶ 57. However, at trial Orebia recanted his recantation and stated that he was positive that Armstrong was the person he saw enter and leave Kamps' apartment building three times on the night of June 24, 1980. Orebia testified that the statements he gave on November 5 and 10, 1980, were purposely untruthful, told as deliberate lies to undermine his credibility as a witness and to hopefully result in his withdrawal as a witness.
¶ 58. The State also theorized that after Armstrong murdered Kamps, he stole the $400 from Kamps that he had given her earlier in the evening. In the early afternoon of June 24, 1980, the State established that Armstrong deposited $315 in cash into his bank account. In both the opening and closing statements, the State emphasized the $400 missing from Kamps' apartment and Armstrong's $315 cash deposit the following afternoon, asserting that both instances together were an indication of Armstrong's guilt. ¶ 59. Karen Renzaglia, a bank teller at First Wisconsin West Towne Bank, was familiar with Armstrong and testified on behalf of the State. She said that Armstrong did not usually deposit large bills or large amounts, but on June 24, 1980, he gave her at least one $100 bill and at least two $50 bills, along with five 20s, a ten and a five, and then a check. While Armstrong was typically talkative, he was quiet that afternoon. [16] ¶ 60. The State presented testimony from several detectives that investigators were unable to find the $400 in cash that Armstrong gave to Kamps to partially satisfy his debt to Kamps' boyfriend, Dillman. Dean Fisher, a uniformed special investigator with the Madison Police Department testified that he and another officer looked in just about any conceivable place we figured there would be money hidden. Drawers, dressers, cabinets, anything, including clothing, in Kamps' apartment without finding the $400. ¶ 61. James Meicher, a member of the Dane County Sheriff's Department, assisted Fisher with the scene. Meicher testified that he found $136 in a pair of blue jeans that was located halfway from the top of a fairly large pile of clothing in Kamps' apartment, stating that the denominations were six $20 bills, three five dollar bills, and a single one dollar bill. Dillman testified that on the morning of June 23, 1980, when Kamps left his home in McGregor, Iowa, he gave her $133 in cashsix 20's, a ten, and three ones. The State attributed the $136 found in Kamps' apartment to Dillman and argued that the $400 investigators could not locate could be found in Armstrong's bank account and in the $61 on his person when he was taken into custody. ¶ 62. Armstrong testified that his brother, Steve, gave him $300, in repayment for clothes Armstrong bought him and for Steve's summer rent. [17] At trial, Armstrong also explained that he was involved in a car accident in the middle of May and received an insurance check on June 20 for $600 from his insurance company. He also sold the salvaged car to his roommate for another $250. May testified at the John Doe hearing that she was with Armstrong when he cashed the insurance check and that she witnessed Armstrong receive large bills.
¶ 63. The police collected hair specimens and semen samples from Kamps' apartment, as well as two fingerprints that were found on a bong. The police also gathered what purported to be blood evidence from underneath Armstrong's fingernails and toenails. The State argued to the jury that the physical evidence conclusively and irrevocably established Armstrong as the killer.
¶ 64. Josef Rut, a Madison Police Officer, testified that one of the two fingerprints on the bong matched Armstrong and that the source of the other print was unknown.
¶ 65. Coila J. Wegner, a microanalyst at the State Crime Laboratory Bureau, tested semen samples found on the bathrobe recovered from the floor next to Kamps' body. Wegner testified that she found nine areas on the robe that tested positive for the presence of seminal material. She tested the stain nearest the hem of the robe and determined that it was indicative of a type A secretor. Wegner testified that both Armstrong and Dillman are type A secretors, as are 80 percent of the world's population. ¶ 66. On cross-examination, Wegner testified that the location of at least seven of the nine seminal stains on the robe were consistent with a person having sexual intercourse and then sitting down while wearing the robe. Wegner stated that these stains would remain on the robe until the garment was washed. Dillman testified that Kamps' wore the robe often, usually in the morning before she got dressed and when she retired in the evening. ¶ 67. The State argued the following about the semen evidence in closing argument: This picture shows Charise Kamps' robe. (Indicating.) It's right next to the bed. You heard testimony about that robe. Jill Wegner performed tests on it and she looked for seminal material and she found it. Found spots of it. She did an analysis on that. She was trying to determine the blood type of the person who put seminal fluids on the robe. So, she analyzed it and found that it came from a person with type A blood who secreted his blood type in his body fluid, in his semen, in his saliva, in his tears. And she analyzed Ralph Armstrong's blood and his saliva. Ralph Armstrong's a type A secreter.
¶ 68. Armstrong drove to the police station at about 2:15 p.m. on the afternoon of June 24 to wait for May, who was asked to give a statement to police. After arriving at the station, Armstrong was asked by Officer Hathoway to give a statement. After three interviews, at about 8:30 p.m., Armstrong signed consent forms for searches of his person, car, and apartment. Wegner took samples from Armstrong, including a standard head hair, pubic hair, a saliva sample, and tested Armstrong's hands and feet for traces of blood. ¶ 69. Wegner testified that after running hemosticksplastic strips with treated absorbent pads that react to the presence of certain proteins found in bloodunder the nails of Armstrong's fingers and toes and around the cuticles, she found a presumptive positive reaction on every finger and on several toes. [18] ¶ 70. Wegner then scraped material from underneath Armstrong's thumbs and large toes, tested the samples, and determined that the material indicated blood of human origin. However, Wegner testified that she did not have sufficient material to run additional tests and could not identify from whom the blood came or how old it was. In fact, Wegner agreed that in her experience, she had blood over one-year old produce positive hemostick results. ¶ 71. Wegner agreed that the sensitivity of the hemosticks is one in 300,000 to trigger a presumptive positive. She also agreed that the hemosticks simply react to particular chemicals within bloodiron, and plant peroxidewhich are also found in other substances besides blood. ¶ 72. Armstrong presented evidence supporting alternative explanations for the presence of human blood under his thumbnails and large toenails. During the tests in the evening of June 24, 1980, in the presence of Detectives Roger Attoe and Rudolf Jergovic, and at trial, Armstrong stated that he had fallen and scraped his elbow and his knee the previous day in a footrace with his brother in the Arboretum. Armstrong also explained that in the days preceding the tests he had sex and had taken showers with his fiancée, May, while she was experiencing her menstrual period and that she tended to bleed profusely. ¶ 73. Indeed, Wegner testified that Armstrong showed her the scab on his knee when she conducted the tests, and Armstrong presented photographs of his scrapes in a trial exhibit. Wegner's testing also found blood on the inside of Armstrong's pants that was consistent with his scraped knee. No other traces of blood were found on Armstrong's clothing or inside or outside of his boots. ¶ 74. May's testimony corroborated Armstrong's explanation about his fall during the footrace and about Armstrong's and May's physical intimacy during her menstrual period. May specifically stated that she sought medical attention regarding her particularly heavy bleeding in the days prior to Kamps' murder. May testified that she was bleeding heavily during a shower with Armstrong and that she later had surgery to correct her condition. ¶ 75. Wegner also testified that she spent two full working days examining the interior of Armstrong's car for traces of blood. Wegner tested for blood in the car's interior, including the trunk compartment, and focused on the steering wheel, gearshift lever, lock button on the driver's door, the floor, ceiling, and the front and rear seats. Wegner found no traces of blood anywhere within the vehicle and testified that it did not appear as if there had been an attempt to clean the car. ¶ 76. The State characterized Wegner's findings of trace amounts of blood underneath Armstrong's fingers and toenails in closing with the following: The defendant's fingers were tested down at the police station. Jill Wegner ran the hemosticks around the cuticles and under the thumb and under the nails and around the cuticles of every finger and lo and behold there was blood under every fingernail, every single one. That was Charise Kamps' blood. (Emphasis added.)
¶ 77. Wegner assisted Dr. Huntington with his postmortem examination of Kamps' body. Wegner recovered pubic hair combings and head and pubic hair standards from Kamps for comparison. ¶ 78. A number of hairs were recovered from Kamps' apartment, which Wegner compared to the standard head and pubic hairs from Armstrong, Kamps, and Dillman. At trial, Wegner explained her process of comparison to the jury, elaborating on the characteristics of importancethe scales on the hair's surface, or cuticle; the form, color, and distribution of pigmentation; the consistency of the center, or medulla, of the hair; whether the hair has been shed, broken, or forcibly removed; any unusual characteristics, such as double medulla or cracked cuticles; and physical condition of the hair. ¶ 79. Wegner testified that there are 60 to 70 characteristics she compares between hairs to determine whether two are similar or consistent. Only a majority is needed to determine two hairs are consistent. Wegner stated that in almost all instances99.9 percentone could not say through microscopic analysis that a specific hair came from a specific individual. Wegner testified that hair analysis can include or exclude a person but could not identify them. ¶ 80. Wegner testified that two head hairs and one pubic hair were removed from the bathrobe belt that was draped across Kamps' body. One head hair was consistent and one was similar with Armstrong's hair. The pubic hair removed from the belt was consistent with Kamps. ¶ 81. From Kamps' bathroom sink, investigators recovered two head hairs and two head hair fragments. Wegner testified that one head hair was similar with Kamps, two were consistent with Armstrong, and one could not be attributed to either Kamps or Armstrong. Armstrong's counsel elicited testimony from May that May, Kamps, and Armstrong routinely shared the same hairbrushes, and May identified a hairbrush in the photograph of Kamps' bathroom counter as one of May's own. ¶ 82. Wegner analyzed 13 hairs from blood and fecal-like matter collected at the scene, including five head hairs, four pubic hairs, three body hairs, and one animal hair. Of those, Wegner found one head hair that was consistent with Armstrong's. All four of the pubic hairs were consistent with Kamps. ¶ 83. From the fan in Kamps' apartment, investigators recovered four head hairs, one of which was similar to Armstrong's, and three were consistent with Kamps. Wegner attributed one head hair recovered from Kamps' apartment to Dillman. ¶ 84. From the robe itself, Wegner collected one head hair, which was consistent with Kamps, and three pubic hairs. Two of the public hairs removed from the robe were consistent with Kamps, and one was not consistent with either Kamps or Armstrong. ¶ 85. On the bedspread from Kamps apartment, Wegner found one head hair and nine pubic hairs. Five pubic hairs were consistent with Kamps, and four pubic hairs, which had been forcibly removed, [19] were inconsistent with both Kamps and Armstrong. ¶ 86. Of the hairs collected in the vacuum sweeping around the bed, [20] none were found to be consistent with Armstrong. Ten pubic hairs, five of which were forcibly removed, in the vacuum sweepings were not attributable to either Kamps or Armstrong. ¶ 87. Wegner agreed that in about half of all sexual assault cases pubic hair is transferred from the assailant to the victim or from the victim to the assailant. Wegner stated that no pubic hairs collected from Kamps' apartment were determined to be consistent with Armstrong, and no hairs were found on Armstrong, or on articles seized in the search of Armstrong's apartment, that were consistent with Kamps. ¶ 88. In closing arguments, the State argued that the two head hairs found on the bathrobe belt draped across Kamps' body (one of which Wegner determined to be consistent with and the other to be similar to Armstrong's hair), the two head hairs found in the sink (which were consistent with Armstrong's hair), the head hair found in the fan (which was similar to Armstrong's hair), and the head hair found in the fecal matter near Kamps' body (which was consistent with Armstrong's hair) proved that Armstrong murdered Kamps. The State made the following statements characterizing the hair evidence: Now, you have an opportunity to see what that scene looked like right after Ralph Armstrong committed the murder (indicating). [21] That's what they saw on the bed (indicating). Charise Kamps. That was Charise Kamps. I want you to look at the smear marks on the legs. You can't see it real well from this angle (indicating). You have heard Officer Fisher describe it. You heard Jane May describe it. It says it was like finger paints (indicating). [22] So, Charise Kamps was found lying in blood and feces and on her bed with that robe on. This is it (indicating) lying on top of Charise Kamps' body. Two of the defendant's hairs were on this robe. One of Charise Kamps' hairs right there across the body (indicating). . . . . They looked for hairs. Where did they find the hair in that apartment? Found it in the bathroom sink. Found it in, on the robe tie. Found it in the fan, and they found it in a pile of feces on the floor underneath the body. The defendant's hair in every place in that apartment was consistent with his killing Charise Kamps. The cabinet in the bathroom was open. Right where the towels were kept were open. The defendant had gone in there to clean up after he murdered Charise and his hair was in that sink. [23] The defendant would want you to believe that hair kind of floats around and lands where it was and has a mind of its own. There is no explanation for why that hair was found in every place that the defendant was except that he murdered Charise Kamps. (Emphasis added.) ¶ 89. In closing, Armstrong disputed the State's characterization of hair evidence at length. Specifically, Armstrong argued that the sharing of hairbrushes among Kamps, May, and Armstrong provided an innocent explanation for why Armstrong's hair was found in Kamps' bathroom sink. Armstrong noted that many forcibly removed pubic hairs were found at the scene, all of which were inconsistent with Armstrong's hair, and asserted that the hairs belong to the person who killed Kamps. ¶ 90. The jury convicted Armstrong on all counts.