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DNA FOUND ON THE MURDER VICTIM’S BODY WAS LINKED TO THE DEFENDANT WHO WAS ARRESTED TWO YEARS AFTER THE MURDER; THERE WAS NO OTHER EVIDENCE CONNECTING DEFENDANT TO THE VICTIM OR TO THE AREA WHERE THE VICTIM WAS FOUND; THE SECOND DEPARTMENT, OVER AN EXTENSIVE DISSENT, FOUND THE EVIDENCE LEGALLY INSUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE CONVICTION (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing defendant’s murder conviction, over an extensive dissent, determined the evidence was legally insufficient. Defendant was arrested two years after the victim’s death based upon DNA found on the victim. No evidence placing defendant near the scene of the crime was presented:

On the morning of October 3, 2013, the 23-year-old victim, who had a history of drug use, was found dead in a wooded area known as Froehlich Farms, in Suffolk County. The victim’s injuries, as well as the condition in which her body was found, indicated that she had been sexually assaulted and killed by strangulation within 12 hours to a day before her body was found. More than two years after her death, the defendant was charged with murder in the second degree after his DNA profile was matched to a single source partial profile generated from various swab samples taken as part of a sexual assault kit performed on the victim.

At the trial, the People presented no evidence placing the defendant at or near the scene of the crime, or linking him in any way to the victim, during the critical time frame in which the murder was believed to have occurred. Nor did the People offer any evidence showing that the sexual contact between the defendant and the victim occurred at or near the time of the murder. At most, the DNA evidence established, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant had sexual contact with the victim at some unspecified time and place. People v Romualdo, 2020 NY Slip Op 06559, Second Dept 11-12-20

 

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