No fingerprints, no blood, no DNA — three expert witnesses from the State Bureau of Investigation could not place Marlon Williams at the scene where his grandfather was killed, nor at his grandparents’ residence.
Williams is accused of arranging to meet his grandparents at the Wayne Chapel AME Zion Church on Sept. 26, 2006, where he allegedly murdered his grandfather, Robert Bryant, and attempted to murder his grandmother, Mildred Bryant.
Lindsey D’Amour, a forensic scientist in the latent evidence section of the State Crime Lab, testified she began her analysis of a number of items on July 9, 2007. Looking for any full fingerprints, she tested both the interior and exterior front passenger door handles of the 2004 Chrysler Pacifica owned by the Bryants, two coffee cups, a flower-print plate, two Rubbermaid-style lids, four sugar packets and one non-dairy creamer packet.
D’Amour said she could not find a useful print on any of the evidence presented.
In May of 2012, Martha Traugott, an SBI blood stain expert, tested 10 cotton swabs from the exterior of the Pacifica and seven swabs from the interior of the minivan for the presence of blood. By exposing a small amount of the substance obtained from the swabs to a special cocktail of chemicals, she deduced each of the 17 swabs could be blood, and the swabs were sent along for DNA testing.
Asked by defense attorney Tom Sellenger why the swabs were tested in 2012 and not earlier, Traugott said she didn’t know.
The blood swabs, cigarette butts from the scene and from the Bryants’ home, coffee cups and a red stirring straw went to SBI forensic scientist Kristen Hughes for DNA analysis.
In her initial attempt — in 2007 — at comparing DNA profiles from the Bryants to the blood and other items found, Hughes determined all of the blood on and in the Pacifica, including two partial matches, came from Mildred Bryant.
Further, Hughes determined a Winston brand cigarette at the crime scene came from Robert Bryant, and most cigarette butts in the trash at the residence had Robert Bryant as the predominant DNA marker, though some had other DNA mixed in.
Hughes said she could not develop a DNA profile from the coffee cups and stirring straw, and a Doral menthol cigarette butt found at the scene did not match either Robert or Mildred Bryant.
After receiving cheek swabs from Williams in May 2012, she went back and retested evidence that didn’t have a complete DNA match.
Hughes said Williams’ DNA profile did not match any of the evidence she was asked to analyze.
Also testifying Tuesday was Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Chris Russell, who worked to conduct a search of the Pacifica for projectiles after it was moved to Webb’s Automotive.
He said two shots hit on or by the right rear seatbelt cover, one struck the inside of the passenger-side cargo window trim — forcing the plastic to bow out — and two hit the right tail light area, one in the assembly and one in the cavity behind the assembly.
Assistant District Attorney John Newby said he would call to the stand today an SBI expert in ballistics, two officers with the Contra Costa County (Calif.) Sheriff’s Office and a U.S. Marshal.
The trial resumes today at 9:30 a.m.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.