Lawyer Claims Expert Tried to 'flam' Jury

Tue, Apr 30th 2013, 01:50 PM

photo

KOFHE Goodman’s attorney yesterday suggested to a crime scene investigator that she was trying to “flam” the jury with her claims about the handling of items collected from the scene where a body, believed to be of a male, was found in bushes behind an apartment.

Kofhe Goodman

Constable Denrea Johnson, under cross-examination by attorney Geoffrey Farquharson, told a jury that the collected items found behind a Yorkshire Street apartment were wet and needed to be dried before being submitting for forensic analysis. The officer said on September 28, 2011, she went to put the proper protocols in place before air drying the items in the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s forensic lab and submitting them days later.

However, Mr Farquharson suggested this was a “complete, utter, total and dangerous lie” and that she was trying to “flam” the jury. Constable Johnson disagreed with his suggestion as Goodman sat in the prisoner’s dock listening to her testimony. Goodman, 37, of Yorkshire Drive, faces a murder charge which he denies. It is claimed that between September 23 and 28 of 2011, he intentionally and unlawfully caused the death of Marco Archer, who disappeared from Brougham Street and was found dead days later.

Constable Johnson said she had to submit a cover letter with the items she collected, a bag which contained what appeared to be a black Bob Marley t-shirt, khaki pants, blue and yellow slippers and a pair of blue and yellow boxers, in order for them to be admitted for testing. Mr Farquharson asked if she had access to the lab and she answered that she was “buzzed” in by an officer stationed there. The attorney then asked her if the officer “give you a receipt saying he collected a grey Bob Marley t-shirt”.

“We can’t classify one item. All items were on the receipt,” the officer said. “Up to the time he gave you the receipt, he never opened the bag?” the attorney asked. “No. He never opened any of the bags,” Johnson said. Mr Farquharson asked her why the items collected were submitted a week later. “The evidence I collected was very damp,” the constable said.

Click here to read more at The Tribune

 Sponsored Ads