PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Downs did not testify, but jurors heard him speak extensively in his own defense when prosecutors played an audio recording of his interrogation by the Alaska detectives. “It was nobody I had known or ever interacted with,” Downs said of Sergie on the recording. “It must be some kind of misunderstanding.” Gruenstein said, “Except that it was his semen, and it wasn’t a mistake. That man killed Sophie Sergie. He raped Sophie Sergie. He didn’t have some secret tryst that nobody’s ever heard about.”
--------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Defence lawyer) Howaniec challenged the veracity of the DNA evidence and its chain of custody over the years. He said the state had been “desperate” to obtain a conviction and pointed to alternate suspects. Howaniec said, “This is a clear-cut case of reasonable doubt. This is a very, very thin case with almost no, almost literally, no evidence that Steven Downs committed this crime, and you’ve heard really nothing more than they think happened.""
--------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Jury begins deliberations in decades-old rape and murder case resolved by DNA evidence," by Reporter Phil Hirschkorn, published by KMTW on February 7, 2022.
SUB-HEADING: "The fate of Steven Downs, a 47-year-old nurse from Auburn Maine is now in the hands of the 12-person jury in Alaska."
GIST: The fate of Steven Downs, a 47-year-old nurse from Auburn, Maine, is now in hands of a 12-person jury in Alaska.
Downs went on trial on Jan. 12 for a rape and murder that happened in 1993, when he was an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
The victim, Sophie Sergie, 20, a native Alaskan who had been visiting friends at UAF, was found dead and half-undressed in a woman’s bathroom of Down’s co-ed dorm, Bartlett Hall, on April 26, 1993.
In closing arguments on Monday, Alaska Chief Assistant Attorney General Jenna Gruenstein said DNA evidence is the key because Downs' DNA profile matched the male DNA found on the victim after a rape kit was used.
“He was the only one whose DNA was found anywhere near the scene,” Gruenstein told the jury. “The DNA matched to him. It was his.”
However, it took Alaska State Police 26 years to make that connection.
The break occurred in 2018, when genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, of Virginia-based Parabon Nanolabs, connected crime scene DNA to the profile of Downs’ aunt who lived in Vermont.
That lead took Alaska detectives to Downs, who voluntarily submitted his own DNA sample before his arrest in February 2019.
Following the sexual assault, Sergie was killed by a 22-caliber gunshot to her head that Gruenstein described as “execution-style.”
During the trial, a pair of prosecution witnesses, Down’s old girlfriend and a roommate testified Downs had owned a 22-caliber revolver at the time.
In 2019, detectives found a similar gun — a .22 caliber manufactured by Harrington & Richardson — in Downs’ Auburn home.
Gruenstein said, “We are not saying this is the gun that was used or that this is the murder weapon, but it is the same caliber as the murder weapon, and it is consistent with the gun that was used to kill Sophie Sergie.”
Defense attorney Jim Howaniec contended Downs purchased that gun from an individual in Turner, Maine, 12 miles from Downs’ home, in 2015, and criticized the Alaska detectives for failing to verify that.
“The State is making square pegs fit into round holes, because they have a theory about what happened, and they’re throwing as much mud as possible and hoping that it sticks,” Howaniec told the jury. “They have no weapon, they have no motive, they have no witnesses, they have no state of mind other than a happy young 18-year-old boy hanging out with his friends.”
Gruenstein argued Downs’ motive for murdering Sergie was to cover up the sexual assault.
She said, “He killed her to cover it up so that he could get away with it, just like he’s done for 29 years until today.
”
The prosecutor said Downs’ ex-girlfriend had undermined his alibi by testifying that he had not been in her dorm room the whole night of the murder, as he has asserted.
Downs did not testify, but jurors heard him speak extensively in his own defense when prosecutors played an audio recording of his interrogation by the Alaska detectives.
“It was nobody I had known or ever interacted with,” Downs said of Sergie on the recording. “It must be some kind of misunderstanding.”
Gruenstein said, “Except that it was his semen, and it wasn’t a mistake. That man killed Sophie Sergie. He raped Sophie Sergie. He didn’t have some secret tryst that nobody’s ever heard about.”
Gruenstein depicted Sergie as a strait-laced, hard-working young woman who was “going places.”
After going to a movie with friends, her last meal was pizza and soda with them.
Howaniec challenged the veracity of the DNA evidence and its chain of custody over the years.
He said the state had been “desperate” to obtain a conviction and pointed to alternate suspects.
Howaniec said, “This is a clear-cut case of reasonable doubt. This is a very, very thin case with almost no, almost literally, no evidence that Steven Downs committed this crime, and you’ve heard really nothing more than they think happened.""
The entire case can be read at:
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;
