New DNA evidence introduced in Houston woman's capital murder trialKatie McCall
Updated at 04:41 PM today
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- New revelations are coming from testimony in the murder of a 12-year-old boy. Three forensic scientists took the stand on Wednesday, testifying about the evidence in the Mona Nelson trial. She's charged with capital murder. Prosecutors are pointing out newly introduced DNA evidence.
A Looney Tunes sweatshirt has been the focus of a lot of testimony in the trial of Nelson so far. Jonathan Foster's mother and a neighbor say it belonged to the murdered 12-year-old. Police testified they found it was in mona Nelson's garbage can, and on Wednesday, an FBI scientist said he found Nelson's blood and DNA on several areas of it.
Forensic examiner Shane Hoffman testified that a shoulder area tested "positive for blood...that matched Mona Nelson." Further testing turned up Nelson's "DNA on the collar and wrist areas" of the sweatshirt.
For one of the DNA tests, the witness even said the chance of it being anyone else's DNA was what's considered a statistical impossibility.
Prosecutor Connie Spence: "That is more than the entire population of the earth, right?"
Hoffman: "Yes."
In spite of the size of the child's sweatshirt, and the size of the defendant, defense attorney Alan Tanner suggested Nelson may have put it on:
Tanner: "Could it be from her possibly wearing that sweatshirt?"
Hoffman: "In some manner, the DNA got transferred to those regions."
Legal analyst Joel Androphy said it will be tough for the defense to explain the evidence.
"Powerful evidence for the state. All of this is very powerful evidence for the state. It's enough to legally convict, from a judge's perspective, this is enough to legally convict," he said.
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