| David Kofoed, Forensic Expert Acquitted Of Framing False Murder Case | |
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| Topic Started: Sep 14 2009, 04:02 PM (232 Views) | |
| Sydney Carton | Sep 14 2009, 04:02 PM Post #1 |
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It is very rare to see a State's forensic expert actually in the dock for his alleged crimes no matter how compelling the evidence.David Kofoed of Nebraska on the other hand recently had the dubious distinction of being simultaneously inidicted by both State and Federal prosecutors on what are essentially the same charges. Kofoed was just acquitted -after one hour's deliberation-in the federal case.Outraged jurors (and much of the local media )are screaming that the Feds spent three hundred thousand dollars prosecuting (plus a sixty thousand dollar bill from the county investigators and nearly equal expenses accruing to the defendant)on a no win situation. Under ordinary circumstances I would feel the same way.These double prosections by both State and Feds are a sure way of insuring that a defendant ,however innocent,will never know another days peace for many further years of his or her life. In this case the state prosecution will proceed on completely different evidence f than was used in the Federal case and which was excluded from the federal prosecution by mutual agreement of both sides.But the principle remains the same.Either Nebraska or the Feds should have relinquished jurisdiction and presented the case at its maximum force while allowing the defendant to present his evidence without incurring any additional expenses than he has already been penalized. Still,if he is acquitted a second time,Kofoed will still be facing civil suits from both the original defendants and investigations into charges that his evidence caused the false conviction of two other men in murder cases. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the Omaha World Herald: Published Saturday September 12, 2009 Kofoed goes back to court Monday By JOHN FERAK WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER Douglas County’s director of crime scene investigations walked out of a federal courthouse Thursday smiling and relieved at being found not guilty of four criminal charges. Come Monday, David Kofoed will be back in court battling another criminal charge filed in connection with his investigation of a double slaying. He is scheduled for arraignment in Cass County District Court, where he is charged with tampering with physical evidence, an allegation that wasn’t addressed during the federal trial. snip Special prosecutor Clarence Mock said he will frame his case much differently than how the U.S. Attorney’s Office tried the federal case. Mock said he will weave together circumstantial evidence to show that Kofoed planted or manufactured the blood evidence he collected from a car that later was determined to have no connection to the slayings. Before Kofoed’s trial in federal court, U.S. Attorney Joe Stecher agreed to a defense stipulation that the prosecution not argue that Kofoed planted or manufactured evidence. Based on the single drop of blood that Kofoed said he found, the Cass County Attorney kept two cousins, Matthew Livers and Nicholas Sampson, locked up for months on murder charges, even after DNA evidence linked the killings to a pair of Wisconsin teenagers. Trying Kofoed could cost Cass County in excess of $100,000 and take up to a month, partly because the testimony of expert witnesses could be necessary, Mock said. The cost could have an impact on whether Mock decides to take the case to trial, he said. He plans to meet with representatives of the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Cass County Attorney’s Office in coming weeks to make sure they still are committed to the case. Federal prosecutors focused exclusively on a series of reports and evidence logs that Kofoed admitted misdating. “There is no doubt that Mr. Kofoed falsified his reports; the question is why,” Mock said Friday. “I believe it’s highly likely that it was an intentional plant. Or the second thought is he made a series of horrible sophomoric mistakes, so he has to protect his own ego and make sure that his public reputation in law enforcement would be protected.” Mock took copious notes during Kofoed’s federal jury trial and said he wants to disprove Kofoed’s testimony that the blood he collected from the car was the result of accidental contamination. In July, Mock produced testimony from an FBI special agent during a hearing in Cass County that Kofoed had opened a sealed bag containing Wayne Stock’s bloody shirt. Kofoed wrote his initials on the package but didn’t indicate when or why he opened it. Kofoed also didn’t write a report about opening the package, which would have been standard procedure. Kofoed later told the FBI that he might have opened the package in the presence of Cass County Attorney Nathan Cox in July 2006. But Cox, in a separate interview, told the FBI that he did not recall seeing Kofoed open the package, the FBI agent testified. The FBI agent said her probe into the Murdock case found that no other packages of evidence in the Stocks’ slayings had been opened and resealed without specific reasons. “Again, there is no report from Dave Kofoed, and he doesn’t date the shirt,” Mock said. “There is no explanation why he’s even going in that bag.” Unlike federal prosecutors’ strategy, Mock plans to focus on the early days and events of the homicide investigation and actions by Kofoed and other law enforcement personnel. That was the time period before investigators uncovered evidence that the Stocks were killed during a random farmhouse burglary by two Wisconsin teenagers driving through Nebraska. The two — Gregory Fester and Jessica Reid — eventually pleaded guilty and are serving life sentences. Mock said the events of those early days will help show that Kofoed had motive and intent to falsify blood evidence for use against Livers and Sampson. Mock said key dates in 2006 are: April 17: The Stocks’ bodies are found in their bloody farmhouse. April 19: Kofoed oversees a six-hour inspection of a suspected getaway car at his agency’s impound lot. About 45 pieces of evidence are gathered for forensics testing. However, no blood, DNA or other evidence from that search links the car to the slayings. April 25: Toward the end of an 11-hour interrogation, Livers implicates himself and Sampson, saying they used the impounded car to make their getaway. Still, no evidence links the car to the case, puzzling investigators. “The crime scene had been saturated with blood,” Mock said. “All of them became very frustrated. It couldn’t seem possible when they did not find any DNA evidence in the car.” April 26: A tearful Livers recants his confession. Investigators tell him they don’t believe him. April 27: Kofoed asks a CSI technician to return to the impound lot to photograph the back seat of the car for signs of gunshot residue or evidence that a shotgun was thrown into the back seat after the slayings. Kofoed goes with his partner and says he’s conducting filter paper tests under the dashboard. Kofoed shows his colleague a piece of filter paper that contained a chemical reaction for blood. Back at the crime lab, Kofoed doesn’t log the bloody filter paper into evidence, which would have been routine. May 8: Kofoed writes reports indicating that he found the blood in the car that day. The report fails to mention anyone else being present during the search. May 9: Kofoed sends the blood and two other pieces of evidence to the University of Nebraska Medical Center DNA lab, where a test confirms that the blood contained Wayne Stock’s DNA. “Keep in mind, Kofoed is in control of all the blood evidence, which is why these kinds of cases are so fraught with peril to innocent people,” Mock said. Mock said Kofoed’s conduct in the Murdock case seems to mirror how he collected blood evidence used to convict Ivan Henk. Kofoed has denied any wrongdoing in that case. In May, a lawyer for convicted killer Henk petitioned the court alleging that Kofoed planted blood evidence to corroborate a statement that Henk had given investigators earlier the same day. Kofoed reported finding small amounts of Brendan Gonzalez’s blood inside a trash bin at a Bellevue apartment complex five months after Henk’s 4-year-old son disappeared. The boy’s body was never found. Henk is serving a life sentence for his murder. “The Ivan Henk case is highly suspicious,” Mock said. “I am still looking at that, obviously.”. Edited by Sydney Carton, Nov 2 2009, 04:54 PM.
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| Sydney Carton | Nov 2 2009, 04:54 PM Post #2 |
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action3news.com Judge Advances Kofoed Tampering Case in Murdock Murders Posted: Oct 19, 2009 12:43 PM EDT Plattsmouth, NE - A Cass County district court judge decides not to throw out an evidence tampering case involving Douglas County's CSI commander. In an order released this morning, Judge Rehmeier sided with a county court judge that "the evidence was sufficient to establish probable cause that the crime of tampering with physical evidence was committed." He noted that the burden of proof is different in a preliminary hearing--where the county court judge made that decision--and an eventual trial. David Kofoed will be arraigned in Cass County District Court November 2nd. snip |
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