Steven Downs: Alaska: His long-awaited trial, centred around DNA and ballistics is underway, with opening arguments, WMTW (Reporter Phil Hirschkorn) reports..."Downs said he is innocent, but prosecutors during Wednesday’s opening arguments put the blame squarely on him, saying DNA found inside Sergie matches Downs. Prosecutors also said that in 2019, investigators found the same type of 22-caliber gun used to kill Sergie in Downs’ Auburn, Maine, home. "He had the gun, he had the knife, he was there, and he remembered everything about this case but why his DNA was inside Sophie Sergie on the night she was murdered,” Alaska Assistant Attorney General John Darnall said.".........Downs’ defense attorney Jim Howaniec told the jury they would find reasonable doubt. "The state's case is extremely thin,” Jim Howaniec said. Jim Howaniec said Downs bought the gun found in his Auburn home in 2016. "The ballistics of that gun don't match,” Jim Howaniec said. He also said that other DNA, fingerprints and male pubic hair in the bathtub where Sergie was found don’t match Downs. Howaniec said a witness saw a man 6 inches shorter than Downs with darker skin and hair leave the bathroom Sergie was killed in at the time of the murder."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: As this trial is expected to go for about six weeks, my plan is to dip in from time to time, when issues of interest to this Blog emerge.

Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "After a three-year wait since Downs’ arrest and nearly three decades since the crime, prosecutors plan to take six weeks to make their case."

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STORY: "Trial of Maine man charged in Alaska cold case murder begins," by Reporter Phil Hirschkorn, published by WMTW on January 12, 2022.

GIST: "The trial of a Maine man charged in a cold case murder in Alaska is underway.

Steven Downs, 47, is accused of raping, stabbing and shooting Sophie Sergie in 1993 in a bathroom of Downs’ freshman dorm at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Downs said he is innocent, but prosecutors during Wednesday’s opening arguments put the blame squarely on him, saying DNA found inside Sergie matches Downs.

Prosecutors also said that in 2019, investigators found the same type of 22-caliber gun used to kill Sergie in Downs’ Auburn, Maine, home.

"He had the gun, he had the knife, he was there, and he remembered everything about this case but why his DNA was inside Sophie Sergie on the night she was murdered,” Alaska Assistant Attorney General John Darnall said.

Downs’ defense attorney Jim Howaniec told the jury they would find reasonable doubt.

"The state's case is extremely thin,” Jim Howaniec said.

Jim Howaniec said Downs bought the gun found in his Auburn home in 2016.

"The ballistics of that gun don't match,” Jim Howaniec said.

He also said that other DNA, fingerprints and male pubic hair in the bathtub where Sergie was found don’t match Downs.

Howaniec said a witness saw a man 6 inches shorter than Downs with darker skin and hair leave the bathroom Sergie was killed in at the time of the murder.

After a three-year wait since Downs’ arrest and nearly three decades since the crime, prosecutors plan to take six weeks to make their case.

The entire story can be read at: 

https://www.wmtw.com/article/trial-of-maine-man-charged-in-alaska-cold-case-murder-begins/38750193

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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

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SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

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FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;