softheart
05-28-2003, 03:07 PM
May 28, 2003
By Scott E. Williams
The county's top prosecutor told five state district court judges Tuesday
that he would order retesting of DNA evidence in the case of a man on
death row for killing a Friendswood woman.
The judges had called a public meeting Tuesday to discuss DNA evidence
tested at Houston's crime lab.
County Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said that retesting in the
case of Robert Shields would probably not change his fate, but was
appropriate because of the gravity of Shields' sentence.
DNA evidence in the case was tested at the Houston crime lab that has been
the focus of a probe involving numerous allegations of problems with
evidence handling.
"It doesn't matter what it costs. We're going to have it retested,"
Sistrunk said. "There was an overwhelming amount of other evidence in the
case, but we're still retesting because it was a death penalty case."
Shields' case was one of three in Galveston County in which the Houston
lab tested DNA. Sistrunk said the other four cases did not call for
retesting.
A state district court jury sentenced Shields, 28, to death in the 1994
murder of Paula Stiner, 27. Jurors said it was Shields who broke into
Stiner's house and waited for her to return from work. When she did, he
attacked her with a hammer and then stabbed her 28 times.
Police arrested Shields in the Woodlands three days later, when they
pulled him over after identifying the car he was driving as the one stolen
from Stiner's home.
Among the non-DNA evidence presented at Shields' trial were bloody
shoeprints found at the scene of the crime that matched the shoes he was
wearing at the time of his arrest. He was also wearing clothes belonging
to Stiner's husband.
A clerk at Willowbrook Mall in Houston also testified that Shields was
making purchases with Stiner's credit card about two hours after her
death, and police found a bloody thumbprint of Shields' on a checkbook
belonging to Stiner.
Findings late last year of an external review prompted a review of
hundreds of cases in which DNA analysis was done by Houston Police
Department workers and the center's assessment of the entire lab,
including its ballistics and narcotics sections.
Findings included a lack of training for analysts, insufficient
documentation by workers and possible exposure of DNA samples to
contaminants.
Sistrunk also told the judges he would continue to look for Galveston
County cases in which the Houston lab was employed and retest findings,
where appropriate.
The capital murder case of Robert Shields was one of five Galveston County
cases to use DNA evidence tested at the Houston crime lab. County Criminal
District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said the other four cases did not require
retesting.
* John Reyes was found guilty in 1992 of sexual assault of a child. DNA
evidence tested at the Houston lab linked Reyes to the attack. That
evidence was retested at a Texas Department of Public Safety lab in
Austin, and the findings were the same.
* Michael Thorsen, Donald Flanagan and Larry Barker were tried separately
for capital murder stemming from a 1993 killing in Texas City. Barker was
convicted and sentenced to life, but no DNA evidence was used. DNA
evidence was used in Thorsen’s trial, which ended in a mistrial. He later
pleaded guilty to murder, as did Flanagan.
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Source : Galveston County Daily News
By Scott E. Williams
The county's top prosecutor told five state district court judges Tuesday
that he would order retesting of DNA evidence in the case of a man on
death row for killing a Friendswood woman.
The judges had called a public meeting Tuesday to discuss DNA evidence
tested at Houston's crime lab.
County Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said that retesting in the
case of Robert Shields would probably not change his fate, but was
appropriate because of the gravity of Shields' sentence.
DNA evidence in the case was tested at the Houston crime lab that has been
the focus of a probe involving numerous allegations of problems with
evidence handling.
"It doesn't matter what it costs. We're going to have it retested,"
Sistrunk said. "There was an overwhelming amount of other evidence in the
case, but we're still retesting because it was a death penalty case."
Shields' case was one of three in Galveston County in which the Houston
lab tested DNA. Sistrunk said the other four cases did not call for
retesting.
A state district court jury sentenced Shields, 28, to death in the 1994
murder of Paula Stiner, 27. Jurors said it was Shields who broke into
Stiner's house and waited for her to return from work. When she did, he
attacked her with a hammer and then stabbed her 28 times.
Police arrested Shields in the Woodlands three days later, when they
pulled him over after identifying the car he was driving as the one stolen
from Stiner's home.
Among the non-DNA evidence presented at Shields' trial were bloody
shoeprints found at the scene of the crime that matched the shoes he was
wearing at the time of his arrest. He was also wearing clothes belonging
to Stiner's husband.
A clerk at Willowbrook Mall in Houston also testified that Shields was
making purchases with Stiner's credit card about two hours after her
death, and police found a bloody thumbprint of Shields' on a checkbook
belonging to Stiner.
Findings late last year of an external review prompted a review of
hundreds of cases in which DNA analysis was done by Houston Police
Department workers and the center's assessment of the entire lab,
including its ballistics and narcotics sections.
Findings included a lack of training for analysts, insufficient
documentation by workers and possible exposure of DNA samples to
contaminants.
Sistrunk also told the judges he would continue to look for Galveston
County cases in which the Houston lab was employed and retest findings,
where appropriate.
The capital murder case of Robert Shields was one of five Galveston County
cases to use DNA evidence tested at the Houston crime lab. County Criminal
District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said the other four cases did not require
retesting.
* John Reyes was found guilty in 1992 of sexual assault of a child. DNA
evidence tested at the Houston lab linked Reyes to the attack. That
evidence was retested at a Texas Department of Public Safety lab in
Austin, and the findings were the same.
* Michael Thorsen, Donald Flanagan and Larry Barker were tried separately
for capital murder stemming from a 1993 killing in Texas City. Barker was
convicted and sentenced to life, but no DNA evidence was used. DNA
evidence was used in Thorsen’s trial, which ended in a mistrial. He later
pleaded guilty to murder, as did Flanagan.
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Source : Galveston County Daily News