PORT ANGELES — Lawyers seeking a new trial for convicted double murderer Darold Stenson questioned the handling of evidence nearly two decades ago and argued that the results of a gun-residue test cannot be trusted during a hearing in Clallam County Superior Court on Thursday.
The purpose of the hearing is to determine whether death row inmate Stenson — who was convicted of the 1993 killings of his wife and business partner in Sequim — deserves a new trial.
Judge Ken Williams, who is presiding over the hearings, will make a recommendation to the Washington Supreme Court by March 30.
Stenson is being held in the Clallam County jail during the hearing.
The hearing began Monday. It recessed for today, will resume Monday, and continued through Wednesday.
He was transported from death row in the state prison in Walla Walla.
Execution has been stayed
Stenson’s execution has been stayed, pending the outcome of his several legal challenges.
He is also requesting through the state Supreme Court that pieces of evidence from the investigation be sampled for DNA and is challenging the state’s lethal injection policy in U.S. District Court.
Robert Gombiner and Sheryl McCloud of Seattle, who are representing Stenson, said that a photograph taken about a year after Denise Stenson and Frank Hoerner were killed may shed doubt on evidence used against Stenson.
The photograph, which was not used as evidence in Stenson’s 1994 trial, shows a detective sergeant with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office wearing the pair of jeans that Stenson was said to have worn on the day of the murders.
The purpose of the photograph, taken by law enforcement, was to show whether Stenson could have smeared blood on his jeans by kneeling by his wife’s body, said Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly.
The photograph was never used during the trial, she said.
Evidence contaminated?
Stenson’s legal team is arguing that the photograph shows that jeans were contaminated before they were put through a gun-residue test about a week later.
The FBI found four particles, created by a gun discharge, in the front pockets of the pants during the initial investigation.
The results of that test were used as evidence in the trial to convict Stenson.
On Thursday, testimony by a specialist who audits such tests said the absence of gloves on the detective in the photograph and the fact that the right pocket was turned inside out, and was therefore exposed, should disqualify the results.
The particles emitted by a gun when it is fired are easily transported, and may be found on a law enforcement officer who is in frequent contact with a firearm, said Janine Arvizu, certified quality auditor.
“It troubles me greatly that the Sheriff’s Office really didn’t understand what needs to be done to protect [evidence],” said Arvizu, who appeared visibly disturbed by what she saw in the photograph.
“It’s like seeing someone light a match in front of a propane leak,” she later added.
The detective in the photo, Monty Martin, who is now a staff sergeant, told the Peninsula Daily News that he was unaware that the jeans were going to be tested for gun residue at the time that he wore them.
Arvizu also said that the jeans could have been contaminated while at the FBI Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., since there was a firing range in the building at the time.
“My recommendation is that they should never have been tested,” she said.
Also appearing in court Thursday was the FBI forensic examiner assigned to the case during the 1993-1994 investigation.
While being questioned by Kelly, retired Special Agent Roger Peele said he would have done the test. The results would have some use during the trial, he said, not for the prosecution, but for the defense.
Peele explained that the defense could have argued that the presence of the particles show that Stenson was at the scene of the murders, but after they took place.
The particles could have been transported, he said, by coming into contact with either of the bodies of those who had been killed.
Prosecution argument
Pam Loginsky, deputy prosecuting attorney, said Stenson’s attorneys have to prove that his defense at the time of the trial didn’t have access to the photograph in order to be granted a new trial.
She said the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is arguing that the picture was available at the time, but the defense just didn’t do the necessary research.
Loginski said oral arguments regarding DNA sampling will be heard in Supreme Court next Thursday.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.