PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "David Wayne Nelson’s wife Eileen Nelson testified next. Eileen and David Wayne Nelson have been married for 24 years and told the state that when she heard David’s DNA had been found on the rope, “it was a shock, yes.” Eileen told the court Nelson’s DNA got on the rope when they had a garage sale in Butte in 1993 and David had put the rope in a box of free materials. Eileen said that Jenkins had come to the garage sale and there was an altercation about whether or not Jenkins could take the materials. She identified him in court, saying that “the one in the green tie,” Jenkins, had taken the box and argued with David, and that she “remembered the eyes.” The defense raised questions about whether Eileen had been coached by David about the garage sale story. In recorded conversations between Eileen and David, David had spoken about how the story was ”indisputable … no one can refute it because it’s so long ago,” according to a transcript of the conversation Jent read out loud in court. Jent also read a portion of the transcript in which Eileen told David that he had to tell the whole truth. Eileen also told the defense that “I don’t remember everything I said. I won’t know for sure until I see him,” about being able to identify Jenkins. Eileen said she had suffered brain damage and that “I get things mixed up … it can take a couple of days to get my thoughts together.”
STORY: "After full-day hearing, judge will decide whether to exonerate men in Montana City murder,
GIST: After a full-day hearing Friday in Helena, Judge Kathy Seeley will decide whether to exonerate two men convicted of killing Donna Meagher in 1994 in Montana City. The Montana Innocence Project and lawyers for Freddie Joe Lawrence and Paul Kenneth Jenkins had requested the hearing after a process involving new DNA testing on items from the scene of the 1994 murder showed another man might have been responsible for the crime. The legal standard for overturning a conviction involves reasonable probability that the outcome of a trial could have been different if a new piece of evidence had been introduced. In this case, two unknown male profiles on pieces of rope left at the crime scene were linked to David Wayne Nelson, a handyman convicted of the deliberate homicide of two people in Powell County, one of whom he killed with a hammer in 2015. The defense utilized Dr. Greg Hampikian, Ph.D. from Boise State University, an expert in the field of DNA testing and a witness who has been involved in cases from all over the country. Hampikian’s testimony hinged on the lack of DNA connecting Jenkins and Lawrence to the crime. “There are no DNA links to Jenkins or Lawrence,” Hampikian said. “There is a match on a key piece of evidence to another male,” that a hit on a Montana DNA database and further testing showed to be David Wayne Nelson’s DNA. That key piece of evidence was a rope, half-covered in Meagher’s blood, that was found on the roadway near her body. Swabs taken for DNA discovered Nelson’s DNA, which caused the hit on the Montana DNA database in early January. Using an analytical tool called probabilistic genotyping, Hampikian said there is a 1-in-700 billion chance that the DNA testing excluding Lawrence from the site was wrong. In Jenkins' case, he said, the chance is 1 in hundreds of thousands. Anything more than a thousand, according to Hampikian, is very strong evidence that the DNA does not match. Nelson’s DNA is almost a direct match, according to Hampikian’s testimony. He said the chance it is not Nelson’s DNA on the rope is 1-in-10 septillion, a number that Hampikian said is unfathomable to the human mind. “It’s about as strong of a match as I have ever seen,” Hampikian said. David Wayne Nelson was among those called into the courtroom to testify. After Judge Seeley read him his rights, he requested to speak to his court appointed lawyer. After a 15 minute recess, he exercised his right to remain silent and was taken out of the courtroom. Directly after Nelson left the court without testifying, his nephew Fred Nelson, 39, testified that David Nelson had told him he killed Donna Meagher. “He bragged about a murder in Helena where he killed a woman and two guys were convicted of it,” Nelson said. “He told me he did it.” Nelson has denied involvement in the murder of Donna Meagher, telling law enforcement “there must be some mistake with the DNA” after the hit on the Montana DNA database was found. Nelson went on to describe what David Wayne Nelson had told him about allegedly abducting Donna Meagher, taking her to Colorado Gulch and telling her he would let her go, going to the back of his vehicle to get what he told her was a sweater, grabbing a hammer and then beating Meagher to death with it. In 2000, Fred and David Wayne Nelson were convicted of a 1998 home invasion in Ravalli County. Fred said he had told law enforcement about his conversation with David Wayne Nelson on multiple occasions, once between 1998 and 2000, once in 2005 and finally in 2016 in Dillon during a child custody dispute. The 2016 interview with detectives made its way to the current attempt to free Lawrence and Jenkins. Agent Jeff Vittatoe, a Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation agent assigned to the Lawrence and Jenkins case after the DNA hit on the Montana database, testified after Fred Nelson. Vittatoe went through his investigation up until the present day, hunting down witnesses and finding records to corroborate or challenge statements being made by Lawrence and Jenkins about their innocence. Defense lawyer Larry Jent attempted to establish a modus operandi for David Wayne Nelson during his examination of Vittatoe. He suggested that Nelson’s actions in other cases -- such as tying people up in Ravalli County in 1998 and using a hammer as a murder weapon -- would make it possible he had been involved in Donna Meagher’s murder in 1994. Vittatoe’s investigation is still underway, and he told Jent that “I don’t think I would suggest charges today” against David Wayne Nelson in the murder of Donna Meagher. Agent Jeff Sullivan, another DCI agent, said that in his investigation he had found no connection between Nelson and Lawrence or Jenkins, or two other people implicated in the murder of Donna Meagher. David Wayne Nelson’s wife Eileen Nelson testified next. Eileen and David Wayne Nelson have been married for 24 years and told the state that when she heard David’s DNA had been found on the rope, “it was a shock, yes.” Eileen told the court Nelson’s DNA got on the rope when they had a garage sale in Butte in 1993 and David had put the rope in a box of free materials. Eileen said that Jenkins had come to the garage sale and there was an altercation about whether or not Jenkins could take the materials. She identified him in court, saying that “the one in the green tie,” Jenkins, had taken the box and argued with David, and that she “remembered the eyes.” The defense raised questions about whether Eileen had been coached by David about the garage sale story. In recorded conversations between Eileen and David, David had spoken about how the story was ”indisputable … no one can refute it because it’s so long ago,” according to a transcript of the conversation Jent read out loud in court. Jent also read a portion of the transcript in which Eileen told David that he had to tell the whole truth. Eileen also told the defense that “I don’t remember everything I said. I won’t know for sure until I see him,” about being able to identify Jenkins. Eileen said she had suffered brain damage and that “I get things mixed up … it can take a couple of days to get my thoughts together.” Eileen said David disliked Fred because “Fred had him put in prison for seven years on lies” related to their conviction in Ravalli County on a home invasion. Jeffrey Knapp testified in court after Eileen Nelson. Knapp said he spent eight months in the same cell as Freddie Lawrence and heard Lawrence tell him about killing Donna Meagher. The defense questioned whether Knapp was in a cell with Lawrence, as MHP said no one in their shared cell block was bunking with another inmate during that time. Knapp knew Donna Meagher’s family and had reached out to them about what he said was Lawrence’s confession in 2016 and was subpoenaed to appear in court Friday. No further hearings will be conducted about the immediate release of Jenkins and Lawrence."
The entire story can be found at:
http://helenair.com/after-full-day-hearing-judge-will-decide-whether-to-exonerate/article_78e74c3d-a371-5276-b181-c3440023845d.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c
