Momoffourboys
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From above:
The day before a young mother was found raped and stabbed to death in Medford woods, family members searching for her at the Smith Point Park marina found what they believed could have been her leggings, a police officer testified Monday in a pretrial hearing in Riverhead.
And five to 10 feet away from where family members of Sarah Goode, 21, of Medford, found the leggings on June 11, 2014, Officer Jessica Story recalled on the witness stand, she saw men’s underwear and socks and a piece of a sweatshirt.
Snip
After homicide detectives decided the men’s clothing had no evidentiary value, Story, then a county Parks Police officer, said she collected them anyway and later turned them into the county police department.
Without ever having them photographed or forensically tested, the police department destroyed those items in October 2014. Prosecutors were unaware of any of that until Friday, which prompted an irate state Supreme Court Justice John Collins to order the hearing that began Monday.
Snip
The non-disclosure and destruction of this potential evidence is the latest of several law enforcement blunders that have plagued the first-degree murder case against Dante Taylor, 20, of Mastic. He is accused of raping Goode and stabbing her 42 times, ultimately leaving a piece of a snapped-off blade embedded in her skull.
Snip
Other law enforcement missteps have included:
-- Arresting and interrogating Taylor on June 10 without advising him of his rights, which led Collins to rule that statements, fingerprints and DNA collected as a result of that arrest would be indamissible at trial. Taylor was arrested again later and fingerprints and DNA from that arrest can be used.
-- Failing to turn over to the defense Crime Stoppers tips pointing to other suspects, in violation of what is known as the Brady rule, the judge concluded. That rule generally requires prosecutors to turn over evidence favorable to the defense as soon as law enforcement has it.
-- Destroying a threatening voice mail message from one of those suspects on Goode’s cell phone, also a Brady rule violation, Collins decided.
The day before a young mother was found raped and stabbed to death in Medford woods, family members searching for her at the Smith Point Park marina found what they believed could have been her leggings, a police officer testified Monday in a pretrial hearing in Riverhead.
And five to 10 feet away from where family members of Sarah Goode, 21, of Medford, found the leggings on June 11, 2014, Officer Jessica Story recalled on the witness stand, she saw men’s underwear and socks and a piece of a sweatshirt.
Snip
After homicide detectives decided the men’s clothing had no evidentiary value, Story, then a county Parks Police officer, said she collected them anyway and later turned them into the county police department.
Without ever having them photographed or forensically tested, the police department destroyed those items in October 2014. Prosecutors were unaware of any of that until Friday, which prompted an irate state Supreme Court Justice John Collins to order the hearing that began Monday.
Snip
The non-disclosure and destruction of this potential evidence is the latest of several law enforcement blunders that have plagued the first-degree murder case against Dante Taylor, 20, of Mastic. He is accused of raping Goode and stabbing her 42 times, ultimately leaving a piece of a snapped-off blade embedded in her skull.
Snip
Other law enforcement missteps have included:
-- Arresting and interrogating Taylor on June 10 without advising him of his rights, which led Collins to rule that statements, fingerprints and DNA collected as a result of that arrest would be indamissible at trial. Taylor was arrested again later and fingerprints and DNA from that arrest can be used.
-- Failing to turn over to the defense Crime Stoppers tips pointing to other suspects, in violation of what is known as the Brady rule, the judge concluded. That rule generally requires prosecutors to turn over evidence favorable to the defense as soon as law enforcement has it.
-- Destroying a threatening voice mail message from one of those suspects on Goode’s cell phone, also a Brady rule violation, Collins decided.
