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1 go where you wish. You're discharged from the
2 Rule and excused as a witness .
3 THE WITNESS: Thank you, Judge.
4 (The witness was excused from the
5 courtroom. )
6 THE COURT: The State may call your next
7 witness.
8 MR. DOBBS: We call Lorna Beasley.
9 (The witness entered the
10 courtroom. )
11 THE COURT: Ms. Beasley, if you would,
12 come on up and let me swear you in.
13 (The witness was sworn by the
14 Court. )
15 THE COURT: Okay. Please have a seat up
16 here. I guess the microphone is pretty well
17 adjusted.
18 You may proceed.
19 LORNA BEASLEY,
20 having been duly sworn to testify to the
21 truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
22 testified as follows:
23 DIRECT EXAMINATION
24 BY MR. DOBBS:
25 Q State your name for the record, please.
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS 75702
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A My name is Lorna Beasley.
Q And how are you employed?
A I'm a criminalist with the Texas Department
of Public Safety Crime Laboratory in Garland where I
currently serve as supervisor of the Serology DNA
Section.
Q Bow long have you been employed by the
Department of Public Safety?
A For almost 17 years.
Q Can you tell this jury over here the
background, the experience that you have for the
position that you now hold?
A Yes, sir. I have a Bachelor of Science
Degree in Chemistry from East Texas State University.
I was employed with the Department of Public Safety
and stationed at the headquarters laboratory in
Austin. There I was instructed in the examination of
blood specimens for alcohol content, the examination
of blood and body fluids and trace evidence, such as
hair, fiber, glass, and paint, and also the
examination of controlled substances.
After I finished my training in Austin, I
was stationed in Garland. Since being in Garland, I
have had the opportunity to attend more schooling in
preparation for our DNA program that we have
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS 75702
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implemented in the laboratory and have been working
in DNA now since 1996.
Q What are the duties that you currently
have?
A Currently, besides the normal duties of
accepting evidence and analyzing evidence, I also
oversee the chemists that work under my direction.
Q Is the Garland lab one of the regional
Department of Public Safety crime labs?
A Yes, sir.
Q How many regional labs are there, do you
know?
A There are approximately 12.
Q Is there one located in the City of Tyler?
A Yes, sir.
Q What is the difference in what the Tyler
lab can do and what the Garland lab can do?
A In Tyler, the laboratory performs drug
analysis, along with analysis of blood specimens for
alcohol content, and they do firearms and tool marks
analysis.
In Garland, we do the drug analysis and the
blood a~cohols. We don't do firearms, but we do
blood and body fluid and trace evidence analysis.
Q Now, in the course of your employment with
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the Department of Public Safety, have you received
submission forms from Smith County law enforcement
agencies on few or many occasions?
A Many occasions.
Q Have you testified in the district courts
of our county on a number of times?
A Yes, sir, I have.
Q Have you been certified as an expert in the
7th District Court?
A Yes, sir.
Q In the 114th?
A I'm not sure about the 114th.
Q That's Judge Kent.
A Yes.
Q Numbers don't mean much to you.
A No, they don't.
Q How about in Judge DeVasto's court that
used to be Judge Booker and Clayton?
A I believe I've testified before Judge
DeVasto also.
Q Do you remember Judge Tunnell?
A No, sir.
Q Okay. Now, in the course of your
employment, did you receive submissions specifically
from the Smith County Sheriff's Department regarding
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a case that you've numbered LlD67971?
A Yes, sir .
Q What does that LlD number mean?
A That means that it ' s Laboratory Region One ,
Dallas, which - - it's really in Garland, but it's
just called "D" for Dallas.
Q Now, why would representatives of Smith
County come to the Garland crime lab and submit
evidence? What would be the reason to come to your
laboratory?
A The evidence that we get from Smith County
is involving blood and body fluid analysis and other
trace.
Q Did you receive from the Smith County
Sheriff's Department as of July 27th, 1993, some
hairs and fibers collected from the master bedroom
comforter of a residence that you understood belonged
to Elnora Griffin?
A Yes.
Q Did you receive white panties from the
master bedroom comforter?
A Yes, sir.
Q Did you receive a bra from the master
bedroom comforter?
A Yes.
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS 75702
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Q Did you receive a pink pillow with some
type of stain and unknown substance from the living
room floor where the deceased was found?
A Yes .
Q Did you receive a green pillowcase?
A Yes, sir.
Q Did you receive a comforter from the master
bedroom?
A Yes.
Q A curtain tie back from the master bedroom?
A Yes, sir .
Q Did you receive an envelope with a red chip
from the deceased's buttocks ?
A Yes, sir .
Q Did you receive a white blanket from the
guest bathroom floor?
A Yes .
Q Did you receive is a curtain from the
washroom?
A Yes, sir.
Q Did you receive two cigarette butts and a
burned match stick?
A Yes.
Q Did you receive a white housecoat?
A Yes.
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS 75702
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Q Did you receive a number of submissions of
hairs and fibers?
A Yes, I did.
Q And I'll skip over the rest of it from that
point forward. Did you receive hairs and fibers from
just a large number of locations throughout a crime
scene?
A Yes, sir.
Q Is that customary?
A Yes, it is.
Q For you to get a large number of hairs?
A Yes .
Q In someone's residence, does a residence
accumulate hair over time?
A I know mine does personally.
Q I was talking more about your professional
experience . When you do these crime scenes, do you
routinely find a large number of different hairs --
A Yes.
Q -- that may have nothing to do with the
actual crime, when the agencies go to the trouble of
vacuuming and lifting and doing things like that?
A Yes, sir .
Q Did you receive a green fitted sheet?
A Yes, sir.
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS 75702
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1 Q Did you receive a red polish chip?
2 A Yes.
3 Q Did you receive some blood specimens?
4 A Yes, sir.
5 Q Did you receive a sample of what was
6 believed to be feces?
7 A Yes.
8 Q From the master bedroom floor?
9 A Yes, sir.
10 Q Did you receive a carpet standard from the
11 master bedroom floor?
12 A Yes.
13 Q Did you receive a -- two possible nail
14 chips?
15 A Yes.
16 Q Hairs -- excuse me -- blood-soaked
17 pillowcase?
18 A
19 Q
20 knife --
21 A
22 Q
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24 Q
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Yes, sir.
Did you receive a butcher knife and a bread
Yes.
-- from the kitchen drawers?
Yes, sir.
Did you receive a washcloth?
Yes.
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS 75702
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Q Did you receive some scrapings from the
shoes of a suspect?
A Yes, we did .
Q Did you also receive a sexual assault
evidence collection kit?
A Yes.
Q Let me talk to you and take one issue out
of order. Do you-all do any testing on fecal
material?
A No, sir, we did not .
Q So did you perform any kind of testing on
what was marked as your Exhibit No . 45, which was the
scrapings from the shoes of Edward Ates?
A No, sir.
Q What did you do with that?
A That item was returned to Smith County
Sheriff 'a Office .
Q Do you know whether or not it was later
sent to the FBI lab in Washington?
A Yes, it was.
Q Did you while it was in your care,
custody, or control, did you even open the evidence
sack?
A No, I don't believe I did.
Q Did you do anything to change or alter the
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS 75702
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1 physical or chemical makeup of that item while it was
2 in the custody of DPS before you sent it back?
3 A No, sir.
4 Q Did you receive blood and hair standards
5 from the victim, Elnora Griffin?
6 A Yes, I did.
7 Q Did you receive blood and hair standards
8 from the suspect in this case, Mr. Edward Ates?
9 A Yes.
10 Q Do you know how those items were obtained,
11 if they were voluntary or not?
12 A I do not know.
13 Q Did you receive blood and hair standards
14 from a person by the name of Leonard Moseley?
15 A Yes, I did.
16 Q All right. Now, with regard to the
17 analysis that you did, perhaps the best way to do
18 this is to take these item by item. What was the
19 testing that you, if any, did you perform on item
20 number -- your Item No. 1, which are hairs and fibers
21 collected from the master bedroom comforter?
22 A These hairs were compared to hairs from
23 Suspect Ates.
24 Q
25 A
Okay. What type of comparisons?
Microscopic.
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS 75702
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Q Were you able to microscopically -- first
of all, let me just ask you this question: Hair
comparisons are not exact. Would you agree with me
on that?
A Yes, sir.
Q But do they give you some indication of
inclusion and exclusion?
A Yes, they can.
Q Did you microscopically compare any hairs
from the master bedroom that were similar to
Mr. Ates, the master bedroom comforter, your Exhibit
No. 1?
A Okay . I'm having to flip through two or
three different reports here. If you will bear with
me.
No, sir.
Q Now, could you tell us anything else that
you found from Item No. 1 that was of any evidentiary
value?
A I just noted that I recovered gray,
plastic-like material from the comforter.
Q Some kind of gray, plastic-like material?
A Yes.
Q Was it like -- what types of items,
microscopic items?
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A They were scrapings.
Let me refer to my notes.
I just described them as gray, plastic-like
scrapings were also in the envelope.
Q Okay. With regard to Item No. 2, the white
panties from the master bedroom comforter, what
testings did you perform on that item?
A I looked for the visible presence of blood
and did not detect any. There were slight stains in
the crotch area; however, presumptive tests for the
presence of semen were negative on those stains. I
also recovered hairs from those panties.
Q Did you compare them to all the standards
that you had?
A Yes, I did, and none were similar to
Mr. Ates.
Q Or Mr. Moseley?
A Let me see. No, they weren't similar to
Mr. Ates or Mr. Moseley.
Q Were they similar to the victim or
microscopically similar?
A Yes, they were .
Q Did that surprise you?
A No, it did not .
Q With regard to the Exhibit No. 3, the bra
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from the master bedroom comforter, what testing did
you do on that item?
A I looked at it for the visual presence of
stains. I did not detect any significant stains. I
did recover hairs, though.
Q All right. And did you compare those to
the three standards that you had?
A Yes, sir. It was not similar to Ates' head
or pubic hair standard.
Q Did you compare it to Moseley and the
victim?
A No, I didn't.
Q Did virtually everything you find have some
type of hair somewhere on it?
A There were hairs on quite a number of the
items, yes.
Q Is that uncommon?
A No.
Q Were you able to -- with regard to
Exhibit 8, the pink pillow with stains from the
living room floor, were you able to test that for the
presence of any blood?
A Yes, and it was negative on several stains
on the pillow.
Q With regard to your Exhibit No. 9, the
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green pillowcase with stains, did you do a
presumptive test for the presence of semen on the
stains and the presence of blood?
A Yes, and both tests were negative.
Q With regard to the comforter in the master
bedroom, did you do a presumptive test for the
presence of blood?
A Yes, I did.
Q And did you do a -- was there actually a
semen of blood group substances which were detected
on one stain on the comforter?
A Yes, there was.
Q And would it have been degraded enough to
not to respond to PGM typing?
A That's possible.
Q What does PGM mean?
A PGM is an abbreviation for the name of an
enzyme called phosphoglucomutase, and this enzyme is
found in blood, semen, and vaginal fluid.
Q Now, the -- a comforter, did you
routinely -- maybe you can tell the jury the answer
to this question that was posed to a previous
witness. If a semen stain is left on something like
a comforter and it's not dry cleaned or washed and it
has dried, how long can it still have some
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evidentiary value?
A It can be viable for typing for years in
some cases.
Q The fact that a semen stain may be found on
something like a comforter, does that mean that there
has been someone who has ejaculated on that comforter
even in the last six months?
A That's possible, yes.
Q Does it tell you that it's happened within
six months, within a year, within two years?
A No, I have no way to date it as far as the
time it was deposited.
Q Would it surprise you to find something
that is similar to blood group substances that are
similar to someone who has had a romantic
relationship with the victim on a comforter?
A No.
Q Does it in any way indicate proximity in
time to leaving of the stain?
A I'm sorry. I'm not following that one.
Q Do you understand my question? Does the
presence of a stain on something like a comforter
indicate that that person has been in proximity to
the comforter recently?
A It just indicates that they have been in
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proximity to that comforter.
Q At some point in time?
A At some point in time, yes.
Q And this stain, semen, and blood group that
you found, didn't even respond to PGM typing; is that
correct?
A That's correct.
Q Let me ask you: The blood group substances
B and H, is that sort of a preliminary screen as you
start beginning to isolate the identification of a
particular stain or substance?
A Yes.
Q What can you say about the frequency of
blood group substance B or H? Do you know if they're
common?
A Blood group substances B and H are both
found in blood group B from a person who is a blood
type B. In this case, they would have to be a
secretor. Approximately 75 percent of the population
will secrete their blood group substances in their
other body fluids, and the other 25 percent of the
population, you won't be able to detect their ABO
blood type in their body fluids, and this only refers
to ABO blood typing, the secreter status.
The significance of BNH blood group
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substances in a stain is that it can be -- the BNH
blood group substances can have been deposited by
someone that's a blood group B or it can also be a
combination of a blood group B and a blood group 0
secreter.
Q Did you find that Leonard Moseley had a
blood group B?
A Yes, he is an ABO blood group B. I was
unable with his blood specimen, however, · to determine
his secreter status.
Q You don't know even know if he was a
secreter or not?
A That's right.
Q That stain did not match the Defendant's
blood; is that correct?
A That's correct.
Q Now, with regard to Item 11 or the curtain
tie back, did you notice anything other than some
fibers?
one?
A No, sir.
Q Clear fibers and some blue fibers?
A Yes.
Q Is that the extent of your analysis on that
A Yes, sir.
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1 Q With regard to Item No. 12, the envelope
2 with the red chip, what did you discover about that
3 item?
4 A It contained a small, pinkish-red metallic
5 chip that appeared to be nail polish.
6 Q Was it a slightly darker color than the
7 polish that was on the victim's fingernails at the
8 time of the autopsy?
9 A Yes, sir.
10 Q Did you also do some presumptive tests on a
11 blanket that was found in actually the guest bathroom
12 floor?
13 A My Item 13?
14 Q Yes, ma'am.
15 A Yes, I did.
16 Q Were both those tests negative?
17 A Yes.
18 Q Did you perform any kind of analysis on a
19 curtain that was in the washroom?
20 A Yes, sir. Presumptive tests for the
21 presence of blood was positive on three minute stains
22 on that curtain.
23 Q On Item 17, cigarette butts from the guest
24 bathroom ashtray, what analysis did you perform on
25 that?
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A I examined the cigarette butts. Determined
that amylase, which is a constituent of saliva, was
present on the cigarette butts, and I also detected
blood group substance H on those cigarette butts.
Q Was that consistent with the victim's
blood?
A Yes. The victim is blood group 0 secretor,
and H is consistent with her blood group.
Q Did you know at the time -- were you given
any historical data as to whether or not she might go
in that bathroom and smoke and not let anybody know
about it?
A I didn't know anything about that.
Q You just did the scientific tests?
A Ye s, sir.
Q Now, with regard to the housecoat, tell the
jury what you did in regard to your Item No. 18, the
housecoat.
A Once again, I examined it for stains and
did not see any visible blood or semen stains on the
item . I did denote that there was a brown substance,
possible feces, present on the housecoat, and then
recovered hairs and a small green thread.
Q Were there any visible blood or semen
stains?
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A No, sir.
Q In regard to your Item No. 20, the green
top sheet from the master bedroom, did you notice any
significant stains?
A No, sir.
Q Did you recover some hairs from there,
also?
A Yes, I did.
Q Did you compare those to the Defendant's
and the victim's and Mr. Moseley's hair?
A Yes. On Item No. 20 or my Item No. 20,
there were no hairs. All of the hairs that were
visually similar to the victim's -- excuse me -- so I
did no further comparison.
Q With regard to Item No. 21, the hairs and
fibers collected from actually the fitted sheet of
the master bedroom, did you find a hair from that
group that you found to be microscopically similar to
Mr. Edward At e s' pubic hair?
A Yes, I did.
Q Now, did you perform a supplemental test on
that, a DNA test, and compare that hair to the
victim's blood, Mr. Ates' blood, and to Mr. Leonard
Moseley's blood?
A Yes, I did.
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1 Q What did you find when : you did that? What
2 further DQ Alpha and DlS80 DNA tests?
3 A When I performed that testing, the root of
4 the hair that I recovered from the sheet was
5 different DQ Alpha and DlS80-type from Mr. Ates and
6 Mr. Moseley. It was -- the DQ Alpha type was
7 consistent with the victim's.
8 Q With regard to Item 23, the submission
9 sheet said red chip from the master bedroom bed. Did
10 you find this to be a small finger polish chip?
11 A Yes.
12 Q Did you -- was there anything in the
13 envelope when you opened it up?
14 A No, there wasn't.
15 Q Did you note that in your report?
16 A Yes, sir.
17 Q Did you also perform some testing on the --
18 on the blood stains, suspected blood stains from the
19 site of the kitchen bar from the kitchen floor tile?
20 A
21 Q
22 A
23 Q
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25 detected
Yes, I did.
Your evidence 27 and 28?
Yes, sir.
What was the result of those tests?
Human blood containing H antigen was
in the stain from the kitchen bar.
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Q Is that consistent with blood group O?
A Yes, sir, it is.
Q Is the victim's blood group O?
A Yes.
Q On Item 28, what did you find?
A Human blood of group O, PGM one plus, two
plus was detected in the stain from the kitchen
floor.
Q Di d you -- I think you've already indicated
that all the samples of feces that were submitted to
you, you did no analysis on; is that correct?
A Yes, sir.
Q Now, with regard to Item No. 31, the
fingernail chip, did you take a look at that?
A Yes .
Q What did you discover: about that?
A That it was painted with a pinkish-red
metallic polish and was slightly darker than the
polish on the victim's fingernail clippings in my
Item 51. This chis appears to have been cut and not
torn.
Q Cut, you mean like with clippers, clipped?
A Yes, sir.
Q Now, I'll ask you to take a look at your
Item 32, which is also, I believe, a chip . Would you
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tell us what you found with that?
A This exhibit contained a chip of apparent
nail polish in a pinkish-red with silver glitter .
It ' s not the same color as the polish on the victim's
fingernail clippings in Item 51.
Q Did you perform any testing on your Item
No. 34?
A Yes, I did.
Q What can you tell the jury about Item 34
and what was your test result?
A I detected human blood of group O in the
stain on the pillowcase. It did not respond to PGM
typing.
Q Did you do a presumptive test for the
presence of blood on Items 38 and 39, the two knives?
A Yes, sir.
Q What was the result of that ?
A It was negative on both knives.
Q Did you find anything else on the knives?
A I recovered a few minute white fibers.
Q If there had been blood on the knives and
they had been wiped down with something that had a
white fiber texture to it, would it be possible to
get all of the remnants off of the knife and leave
white fibers?
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS 75702
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1 A It would depend, I think, in part on how
2 much blood was on the knife to begin with.
3 Q If there was a tremendous amount of blood
4 on the knives, would you expect someone would be able
5 to wipe them down where you wouldn't find any type of
6 remnant?
7 A I guess that's always possible.
8 Q Would they have to do a pretty decent job
9 of wiping it down, though?
10 A Yes, sir.
11 Q If there was anything left, your
12 presumptive test would have caught it?
13 A If anything was left on the knife, yes.
14 Q With regard to the washcloth, did you find
15 anything on Item 40?
16 A No, sir.
17 Q Did you find some hairs and fibers from the
18 living room floor, the master bedroom floor, and the
19 guest bathroom floor?
20 A Yes, sir.
21 Q Were there some there that you were not
22 able to match to either -- were there hairs that did
23 not match the victim, the Defendant, or Leonard
24 Moseley? That's your Item 42, 43, and 44.
25 A Yes, sir. On Item 43, the hairs were not
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1 similar to Mr. Ates' head or pubic hair standards.
2 One of the hairs was somewhat similar to the victim's
3 pubic hair .
4 On the living room floor -- let's see
5 that's also Item 43 -- there were several hairs that
6 I looked at. None of them were similar to Mr. Ates .
7 On Item 44, one pair was examined
8 microscopically, and it was not similar to Mr. Ates.
9 And the rest of the hairs were ~isually similar to
10 the victim, so I did not do a microscopic comparison
11 on those.
12 Q Estimate for the jury how many hairs,
13 individual hairs, were submitted to you. Do you have
14 any kind of estimation?
15 A I would say just unknown hairs, probably
16 around between one and two hundred hairs possibly.
17 Q Is that customary for a crime scene?
18 Customary is probably a bad phrase to use, but do you
19 routinely get a large number of hairs submitted?
20 A No, this seemed like a large number of
21 hairs in a submission to me.
22 Q
23 A
24 Q
25 A
They pulled a bunch of them?
Yes, sir .
Trace evidence to send to you?
Yes.
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Q If I walked up there and handed you this
exhibit and stayed there for a little while and
talked with you and came back, would you likely be
able to go up there and somehow find some hair of
mine sitting there that you could compare it with?
A I guess that's possible.
Q Now, let's go to Item 51. Tell the jury
what Item 51 was.
A Item 51 was victim's head and pubic hair
standards, head and pubic combings and nail
clippings. I'm looking at that submission form. Let
me look back at my notes.
It was, in fact, a sexual evidence
collection kit from the victim.
Q And what do you do as a serologist in terms
of looking at a sexual assault kit before you can
come into this jury or any other jury and determine
whether or not you have found evidence of sexual
assault?
A We analyze the items in the kit.
Specifically looking for the presence of semen on
samples that hospital personnel have taken from a
victim. These are usually vaginal, anal, or oral
swabs and smear slides that we're looking at.
Q Did you find any type of positive results
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on any of those swabs?
A No, I did not find any semen on vaginal
swabs, anal swabs, or oral swabs. The vaginal, anal,
and oral smear slides, I found no spermatozoa. In
the victim's fingernail clippings, I did detect human
blood . On the pubic hair combings, there were no
apparent foreign hairs. This is just a visual
examine comparing hairs that were combed from the
victim's pubic areas to a known sample that was taken
from the vic t im's pubic area.
There were hairs present also in the
exhibit marked hairs from the victim's body, and
these were microscopically compared to the victim and
to Mr. Ates. None of them were similar to Mr. Ates.
Q In a situation where a body is rolling
around on shag carpet, would you expect them to pick
up hair remnants and other fibers things like that?
A I would think that would be likely, yes.
Q Did you -- in the fingernail clippings from
the victim's hands, did you observe those? Were they
submitted to you?
A Yes, they were.
Q What did you find in those fingernail
clippings of any evidentiary value?
A Just the fact that there were blood crusts
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present; very minute fibers also present. I did note
that the tips of the clippings were smooth and
shaped, that none of them were torn and broken.
Q All the blood found was consistent with the
victim's blood?
A Yes.
Q In terms of blood groups or antigens and
things like that that you found, all consistent with
the victim?
A That's correct.
MR. DOBBS: May I approach the witness?
THE COURT: Yes.
Q (By Mr. Dobbs) In order for the jury to
understand some testimony from earlier today, let me
ask you to take a look at State's 97. Is that your
Exhibit No. 8?
A Yes, it is.
Q Now, there are some -- there are some
notations on here that this was in an FBI evidence
bag with FBI stickers. Do you recognize those
stickers? Do you know what kind of stickers they
are?
A Yes, they're evidence tape.
Q At the time that this would have been sent
to the FBI lab, would it have been after you had
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actually looked at this item?
A Yes, it would have.
Q Do you see that this item has your initials
on it?
A Yes, sir.
Q As your Exhibit No. 8?
A Yes. And my laboratory case number.
Q Did you do anything to change or alter the
makeup of this item before you sent it to the FBI
lab?
A No. I just collected it and packaged it in
the baggy.
Q Did you perform any testing whatsoever on
what I'll mark as State's Exhibit 97?
A No, sir.
Q On this Q-2, would that be your writing or
would that be something that Mr. Reem from the FBI
would have written on that?
A That's not my writing.
MR. DOBBS: We would offer 97.
THE COURT: State's Exhibit 97 is
admitted.
MR. DOBBS: We'll pass the witness.
THE COURT: Cross?
CROSS-EXAMINATION
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BY MR. ROBERSON:
Q Ms. Beasley, how are you doing?
A Just fine.
Q Ms. Beasley, there were several items
submitted to you on different days from the, I guess,
Sheriff's Department here in Smith County?
A Yes, sir.
Q I think on July the 27th of 1993, they
submitted a lot of the things that Mr. Dobbs just
went over : The comforter, sheets, things of that
nature?
A Yes, that's correct.
Q Okay. Now, items were also submitted on
August 27th of 1993?
A Yes, sir.
Q I guess that was when they pulled the pubic
hair and things of that nature from Mr. Ates, Edward
Ates in this case?
A Yes. They submitted blood, pubic hair,
head hair, and a semen sample.
Q And also you received the items on
September the 8th, 1993, and that was from Leonard
Moseley?
A Yes, sir.
Q What was that?
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1 A It was blood, pubic hair, and head hair.
Q Okay. And then you received items
3 submitted to you on September 13th of 1993.
4 A Yes, sir.
5 Q What was that?
6 A It was a pair of Nike tennis shoes from
7 Edward Ates and a Schrade pocket knife from the
8 highway near the scene.
9 Q All right. Now, when they submitted these
10 things to you on the 27th of July, 27th of August,
11 September 8th, and September 13th, they wanted you to
12 run tests on them to determine certain things, right?
13 A Yes, sir.
14 Q Okay. Now, the comforter, when we talk
15 about there was semen found on the comforter that
16 came out of the house or trailer house of Elnora
17 Griffin, were you able to match that up to Leonard
18 Moseley?
19 A He was included as a possible source of
20 that stain based on the fact that I found blood group
21 substance B, and he is an ABO blood type B.
22 Q I think . Mr. Dobbs this on direct
23 examination. You can't tell how long that semen had
24 been on that comforter?
25 A That's correct.
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Q Okay. You can't state if it was placed
there on or about July 22nd of 1993, or before that
date?
A That's correct.
Q Also, he talked to you about some cigarette
butts, that they were found in the victim's home,
also. Were you able to connect thQse cigarette butts
to the victim so that she smoked those cigarettes?
A I was able to determine that blood group
substance H was present, and she being a blood group
O secreter, it was consistent with her blood type.
Q Now, you stated that you received some Nike
shoes or tennis shoes or sneakers on September 13th,
1993, from the Smith County Sheriff's Department.
Did they want you to run tests on those shoes to see
if there was any blood on them?
A Yes. They specifically asked that we look
for blood.
Q What was the result of that test?
A I tested several areas of the tennis shoes,
and it was negative for presumptive tests for the
presence of blood.
Q Also, I think on the same date of September
13th, 1993, they submitted a knife to you from the
Smith County Sheriff's Department said they found
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this knife at the Defendant's place of employment.
Did they ask you to do anything with that knife?
A Yes. They asked me to examine that also
for blood.
Q And what was the test result?
A It was also negative.
Q Let me ask you this: Mr. Dobbs posed a
situation to you or scenario to you: Can someone
clean a knife and wipe all the blood away. Is that
possible?
A Once again I'll state it depends to begin
with on how much blood is on the knife to begin with.
Q Now, these knives have got crevices and
things of that nature on it?
A Yes, they do.
Q In order for someone to do that, they would
probably take that knife apart and clean out the
crevices and things of that nature. Would you agree
with me?
A They might have to take it apart. Once
again, it's going to depend on how much blood was
there in the first place, if there was enough to run
down into crevices.
Q Now, the knife that they submitted to you
on September 13th, 1993, where they said they got it
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1 from the place of employment of Mr. Ates, did it
2 appear to you that someone tried to clean that knife?
3 A If I could refer to my notes.
4 My notes indicated that I detected a sandy
5 material on the knife along with fibers in the
6 adhering in the grooves of the handle, and that the
7 blades appeared rusty .
8 Q It appeared to be dirty and rusty, things
9 of that nature?
10 A Basically, yes .
11 Q Now, from the evidence that was sent to you
12 on these four different dates involving pubic hair
13 and things from Leonard Moseley, the victim in this
14 case Elnora Griffin, and Edward Ates, what you
15 detected in your case when you did lab results was
16 that there was some semen that was consistent
17 belonging to Leonard Moseley on the comforter, and
18 there was hair and things in the house, things
19 belonging to the al l eged victim?
20 A There was semen on the comforter that was
21 consistent with Leonard Moseley's blood group being
22 B. There were fingernails. I did not attempt to
23 associate those with the victim at all, and there
24 were hairs recovered from various areas of the home,
25 and none of these were found to be similar to
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Mr. Ates after I finished all of my testing.
Q One other area I've got to cover here and
maybe you can help me out with this. Were there some
fingernail chip or chips of fingernail polish
submitted to your lab and when you received the
envelope or whatever from the Smith County Sheriff's
Department there was nothing in it?
A Yes, sir.
Q Did you ever find what happened to the
evidence or whatever was submitted to your lab
whatever happened to it?
A No.
MR. ROBERSON: Pass the witness, Your
Honor.
THE COURT: Anything else?
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. DOBBS:
Q Do you know how large that item was?
A No. It was reported to be very small.
Other than that, I don't know any dimensions.
Q Did you know how large Ms. Griffin was?
A No, I did not.
Q I believe the testimony has been
four-foot-four, 104 pounds. This is a picture of her
buttocks area. Do you see the item I'm pointing to?
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A Yes .
Q If that were the piece we would be talking
about, can you imagine a situation where that would
disappear somehow?
A I would think it would be possible if the
envelope was not sealed completely that it might have
sifted out.
Q Does that appear to you to be a piece of
dried fingernail polish , a small piece of fingernail
polish?
A I really can't say.
Q It's hard to say looking at the picture?
A Yes, sir .
Q Does it look like a torn piece of
somebody's fingernail or anything like that?
A Once again, I really can't say that it
looks like that, no.
Q One last line of questioning, and we'll let
you go back to Dallas or Garland . Mr. Roberson has
been asking you about this semen stain on the
comforter that didn't respond to PGM markers. I
believe the question he asked you was did it match
Leonard Moseley .
Can anybody who has B blood who is a
secretor be a source of that sample?
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1 A Yes, sir.
2 Q How many people in the United States have B
3 blood and be a secretor? Do you have any idea?
4 A Just a second and I can --
5 Q Are you looking the answer up?
6 A Yes. If you don't mind.
7 Q You can really answer that question?
8 A Yes, I can, if you if you'd like me to.
9 Q You don't have to look that up.
10 Are there a whole bunch of them?
11 A It's a significant percentage of the
12 population, yes.
13 Q I guess the point I'm making is that's the
14 extent of the match you can make to Leonard Moseley.
15 If he has B blood, we don't even know if he's a
16 secretor or not; that's something that adds up with
17 someone with B blood who is a secretor?
18 A That's correct.
19 Q If it is Leonard Moseley and he is the
20 former romantic partner of Ms. Griffin and it's on
21 her comforter, you can't say when it was left, true?
22 A
23 Q
24 A
25 Q
That's correct.
And it could have been left years ago?
Possibly, yes.
It could have been left months ago?
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A Yes.
MR. DOBBS : That ' s all we have
Q (By Mr. Dobbs) Months before it's found,
is what I meant to say.
MR. DOBBS: That's all we have.
THE COURT: All right .
MR . ROBERSON: Judge, I don't want to
play Ping-pong with you here.
RECROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. ROBERSON:
Q Bu t if the evidence was submitted to you
that he was supposed to be coming over there on the
night that the deceased victim was killed, there's a
possibility it could have been left over there on
July 23rd, too, isn't it, of '93?
A It's possible, yes.
Q It's possible it could have been left on
any number of days or dates?
A Yes, sir .•
MR. ROBERSON: Pass the witness, Your
Honor.
THE COURT: Anything else?
MR. DOBBS : One question.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. DOBBS:
GINGER COMPTON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER 7TH DISTRICT COURT TYLER, TEXAS . 75702
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