GIST: "A Gaston County man serving a life sentence for the killing of a UNC Charlotte student more than a decade ago returns to court Tuesday in the latest effort to win a new trial. An attorney representing Mark Carver hopes to convince a judge that evidence not presented at his 2011 trial warrants a new look in a case that has garnered national attention over questions of whether a jury convicted the wrong person in the 2008 death of 20-year-old Ira Yarmolenko. The defense in Carver’s appeal suffered a setback when a more accurate type of DNA testing of material scraped from Yarmolenko’s fingernails that could’ve “isolate(d) the male contributor” of the samples failed to yield any results, according to the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence. Chris Mumma, executive director of the group, requested the sampling in February. “Unfortunately, between the amount of evidence that was used up in 2008 testing and degradation, the lab was unable to obtain any DNA results,” the organization posted on Facebook. “Steps like this are necessary steps for us to be able to take in our efforts to bring innocent people home as quickly as possible. Although it will take longer, we look forward to proving Mark’s innocence at his hearing the first two weeks of April.” Mumma also requested a forensic analysis of two cellphones found in Yarmolenko’s car the day of her death. Records of voicemails and phone calls to and from at least one of the phones were obtained by Mount Holly Police, but complete phone data was not, according to court documents. Neither phone was forensically analyzed. Carver, 50, has spent more than eight years in prison while maintaining his innocence. District Attorney Locke Bell continues to say Carver received a fair trial and the jury rendered the right decision. The hearing that begins Tuesday will center on whether Carver received adequate representation by his defense attorneys, Brent Ratchford and David Phillips, who is now a Superior Court judge. “This is whether his attorneys gave him a good trial or not,” Bell said. “It’s not guilt or innocence. So if she were to win, it does not mean he didn’t do it, it would simply mean they didn’t do their jobs. My position is they did their jobs.” The Center on Actual Innocence subpoenaed Phillips and Ratchford, two Mount Holly police officers and Bill Stetzer, an original prosecutor in the case now working as an assistant in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte. Also listed was Gaston County Police Crime Scene Investigator Jim Workman, who Mumma alleged touched Yarmolenko’s car with his bare hands in the same spot Carver’s DNA was found. The state listed as a potential witness Carver’s former psychologist, Dr. Vikram Shukla, according to court documents. Mumma has asked the court to restrict the doctor’s questioning to Carver’s limitations related to carpal tunnel and radial tunnel syndromes, low IQ and difficulty understanding complex processes and carrying out a daily living routine. She wants any medical records submitted by Shukla to be entered under seal. “Mr. Carver’s mental health history was not part of the state’s case or theory at trial and is irrelevant... to the claims before the court at the evidentiary hearing,” the motion said. The state has requested that all witnesses in the case be sequestered. Yarmolenko was found by two jet skiers halfway submerged in water along the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly on May 5, 2008. The young woman had a draw string from a hoodie, a bungee cord and a ribbon wrapped around her neck. Carver and his cousin, Neal Cassada, were fishing at the time of the discovery, and questioned by police that day. They were charged seven months later with first-degree murder in Yarmolenko’s death. Cassada died from a heart attack on the eve of his trial, but like Carver, he maintained his innocence throughout the case."