Murder trial testimony: DNA evidence found in vehicle connected to defendant and victim By:

and Jon Kelvey, Lauren Loricchio, Carroll County Times (Westminster, MD), Aug 21, 2015
Lauren Loricchio and Jon Kelvey
Aug. 21--A forensic scientist testified Thursday that DNA evidence found in the car driven by the
girlfriend of a Baltimore County man, who is accused of murder in a Carroll County killing, was linked
to the victim and the accused.
Lester Aaron Snyder, 27, of Windsor Mill, is charged with first- and second-degree murder,
manslaughter and other related charges connected to the fatal shooting of Luis Javier Pol, 23, of New
York, the night of Oct. 4, 2014, according to electronic court records. Prosecutors say Pol was shot by
Snyder after he and his girlfriend at the time, Meghan Renee Goforth, dropped Pol off the near
intersection of East Nicodemus Road and Md. 32 in Gamber.
Police testified earlier in the trial that, when Goforth was arrested the morning after the shooting, the
1999 white Chevy Lumina had recently been taken to a carwash and officers noticed the interior had
been recently cleaned. Still, a crime scene technician was able to collect from the vehicleevidence that
tested positive as blood, according to testimony Wednesday.
Julie Kempton, forensic scientist for the Maryland State Police Forensic Science Division, testified
Thursday that she analyzed the blood samples collected from the vehicle from the outside of the glove
box, the front passenger seat and the front passenger seat headrest.
Blood swabs collected from cuttings taken from the front passenger seat and the front passenger seat
headrest contained DNA from Pol, and from other people who could not be identified by the test
because the evidence was of a much lower level, she testified. A blood swab sample taken from the
glove box cutting matched Snyder's DNA, Kempton said.
During cross examination, Snyder's defense attorney, Samuel Nalli, pointed out that Kempton could
not tell when the stain was deposited or how it got there.
"DNA can last for a very long time if it is stored properly, which means it needs to be dried," Kempton
said.
In an interview after court Thursday, Nalli said the DNA evidence doesn't prove that Snyder murdered
Pol.
"It just tells us that he was in the car but it doesn't tell us anything besides that," Nalli said.
The prosecution also called a crime scene investigator, a firearms and tool markings expert from the
Maryland State Police Crime Lab, a Maryland State Trooper that helped serve the search warrant on
Snyder's home, a cellphone forensics expert from the Carroll County Sheriff's Office, ablood stain and
blood pattern analysis expert, chief custodian of records at the Carroll County Detention Center, and a
man who lived in the house where Pol was heading before he was shot.
Mitchell Dinterman, crime scene section manager for the Maryland State Police, who testified as an
expert in blood stain and blood pattern analysis, said blood found on Snyder's left hand and left pant
leg that was photographed by a Carroll County Sheriff's Office deputy during a traffic stop did not
indicate the blood stains were caused by force.
The stains were more consistent with what he would expect to see from a blood transfer, which occurs
when blood comes in contact with another object, Dinterman testified. He added that the stains
indicated that something with a large amount of blood on it came in contact with Snyder's pants.

During cross examination Nalli pointed out the photograph Dinterman used to analyze the bloodwas
blurry and had dark shadows. Dinterman testified he "could not say for sure that they are transfer
stains."
Jessie Campbell, a forensic scientist with the Maryland State Police Crime Lab, testified she had
examined six cartridge casings -- .45 auto caliber ammunition -- found at the scene of Pol's death and
determined they had all been fired from the same firearm, based on unique markings made by the
weapon.
Campbell also testified that four bullets recovered during Pol's autopsy had been fired from the same
firearm, but she could not determine if the firearm that fired those four bullets was the same firearm
that fired the six cartridge casing without the firearm or firearms for comparison. She testified the
bullets were also .45 caliber, but that they could have come from either .45 auto or .45 gap casings.
Nalli asked Campbell how certain this matching of bullets to firearm is and if she could give a
percentage of confidence in the finding.
"In my field, we do not use percentages," Campbell testified. "But it is my opinion that those were
fired by the same firearm."
Campbell made it clear, at Nalli's request, her findings could be interpreted as saying there could have
been two firearms -- one firearm that fired the four bullets, and another that left the six cartridge
casings -- although it is equally possible there was a single firearm that fired all of them. Without a
firearm to compare with, she said it was not possible to say for certain.
The trial resumes at 10 a.m. Friday with Carroll County Circuit Court Judge Michael M. Galloway
presiding.
lauren.loricchio@carrollcountytimes.com
410-857-7862
jon.kelvey@carrollcountytimes.com
410-857-3317
Twitter.com/CCTCrime
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Source: Carroll County Times (Westminster, MD), Aug 21, 2015
Item: 2W62950623205