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March 11, 1999DNA tests delay trialHoltzer murder case reset until May at earliest
Record-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Kevin Holtzer's trial on charges that he murdered a Northwestern Michigan College student more than a year ago will be delayed again, as prosecutors and defense lawyers continue to wade through legally untested DNA evidence. Holtzer likely will face trial on first-degree murder charges in May or June, 13th Circuit Judge Thomas Power ruled, or at the earliest date a trial court in Newaygo County can find 10 days to schedule the trial. The trial was scheduled to begin March 29. He could spend life in prison without parole if convicted of the Feb. 16, 1998, slaying of 18-year-old Kalee Bruce.
Holtzer is now serving 10 to 15 years in prison for an unrelated assault conviction in December. Wednesday's decision to delay the trial again was triggered by a prosecutor's request to repeat DNA tests at a second laboratory. It is the third delay since Power agreed to move the trial from Grand Traverse County to avoid a biased jury because of the media publicity of the unrelated assault charge. Alan Schneider, chief assistant prosecutor for Grand Traverse County, successfully argued Wednesday that testing evidence at a second lab was critical in proving to a jury that results from a first lab were accurate. The lab was performing mitochondrial DNA typing, which yields genetic profiles from dead cells found in hair and bone. The more commonly known nuclear DNA typing is performed on living cell tissue from blood or skin. "This is an extraordinary case," said Schneider. "Because of the advances of technology, (this hair evidence) may not have been useful three or four years ago. It is useful now." The first lab, North Carolina-based LabCorp, already connected a hair found at the murder scene to Holtzer, and a hair found in Holtzer's apartment to Bruce, but cross-examination in earlier testimony raised questions about contamination at that lab. Power has said that he is troubled by contamination at LabCorp, and ruled Wednesday in favor of a second round of tests. Schneider maintains that contamination problems at LabCorp have been exaggerated and he believes LabCorp's findings are accurate. Power still needs to decide whether mitochondrial evidence can be admitted at trial at all. Because the technology is relatively new to forensic science - it only has appeared in trial courts in the last year or so - the evidence has never been tested on appeal and lawyers are scrambling to determine how to establish or refute its significance. Power ruled against an objection from Larry Willey, one of Holtzer's lawyers, that delaying the trial again deprived Holtzer of his right to a speedy trial. Holtzer's December assault conviction and prison sentence mean Holtzer is not being held in jail unnecessarily while awaiting trial, Power said. Willey also failed to convince Power that a delay of several more months would prejudice Holtzer because defense witnesses would no longer be able to recall events and testify at trial. |
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