Criminalists Cross-Examined in Murder Trial of LAFD Captain

Witnesses in the 2006 murder trial of former LAFD Captain David Del Toro continued to be cross-examined for the third straight day today as the jury heard about DNA, blood and other evidence collected from the scene of the crime.

As many as five criminalists from the LAPD and the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office answered questions from both the prosecution and the defense as Superior Court Judge Lance Ito—who presided over the O.J. Simpson case—listened carefully and intervened every now and then to better explain certain questions by the defense that he said were either too vague or irrelevant to the case.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Grace presented graphic photographs from the crime scene directly across the street from 5212 Loleta Ave., a residence in Eagle Rock a couple of blocks north of Colorado Boulevard. It was there, on the morning of Aug. 16, 2006 that police found the mangled and half-naked body of Jennifer Flores. A short-sleeve blouse covered her face. A bra she had on was torn and her right arm was laced through the sleeve of the blouse and the bra strap.

Flores, 42, was an acquaintance of Del Toro, a fire captain in Lincoln Heights at the time. He is charged with first-degree murder and has been in jail since a Grand Jury trial in the case was held in November 2006.

Brian Waters, a criminalist at the L.A. County Coroner’s office, told the jury today he noticed so-called “ligature marks”—caused by tying or binding with a rope—directly above each of Flores’ legs. Waters collected pieces of fiber on Flores’s body as well as nearby.

Mandel Medina, an LAPD criminalist who was part of the crime scene investigative team, told the jury that he conducted a positive “pheno” test on blood found in the bed liner of a Toyota Tundra truck parked in the driveway of Toro’s house at 5127 Vincent Ave., about a quarter mile from the crime scene.

Another LAPD criminalist, Grace Rohner, told the jury that she found what she later determined was blood stains on the pillar of Del Toro’s house and that she found evidence of blood and DNA that matched Flores’ blood and DNA on a trail of tire tracks leading from the scene of the crime all the way north up Loleta Avenue and west on Hill Drive to Del Toro’s house.

The trial was held in the Criminal Courts Building on 210 W. Temple St., and of all the criminalists cross-examined today, the only one who collected evidence both outside and inside Del Toro’s house was Marie Chance. She recovered a blood-stained white T-shirt in a plastic bag as well as sweatpants and a towel that had blood on them. She also collected a string of items in the kitchen sink of the residence, including latex gloves, two leather gloves and pieces of rope.

Defense attorney Joseph Gutierrez asked Chance whether the T-shirt, sweatpants and towel she found in the house were wet or dry. Chance answered that the blood stains on the towel were damp but that the stains on the T-shirt and sweat pants were “basically dry” and “weren’t sopping wet.” Asked if she had pheno-tested any of the clothing items, Chance said that “I in particular did not test any of the clothing.” Gutierrez then persisted in asking Chance if she pheno-tested a number of other items in the house, including a bookcase and any portion of the dining room, prompting the criminalist, who often appeared confused by the line of questioning, to say that she had not. At one point, Chance admitted that she did not “particularly remember” certain items in the bathroom of the house.

As many of the 16 jurors, including four alternate jurors, looked skeptically at Gutierrez, the defense attorney asked Chance: “Can you tell us what a blood spatter is?” When the criminalist offered what appeared to be a rather self-evident textbook definition, Gutierrez asked her for her interpretation of the blood spatters found in Del Toro’s house, including whether there could be more than one source for the blood. As Chance fumbled for an answer, Judge Ito interjected, saying, “Mr. Gutierrez, I’m going to object to your line of questioning. The witness is offering no opinion—she’s not interpreting how the blood got there. She only collected blood.”

During the trial’s opening statements on Feb. 2, Gutierrez emphasized that in the two weeks preceding Flores’s murder, Del Toro worked numerous 24-hour shifts, logging a total of 216 hours from Aug. 1 though Aug. 16, 2006. “You will hear from experts how overwork affects brain chemistry,” Gutierrez told the jury, laying the groundwork for what is likely to be his key argument in defending Del Toro: That the fire captain was grossly overworked and fatigued—and that he could not possibly have murdered Flores because he was not in his senses, which were further dulled by the consumption of large amounts of alcohol.

On Feb. 3 as well as Feb. 4, Gutierrez questioned Flores’ brother, Richard, about whether he would describe his sister as a homeless person in light of her numerous belongings found stuffed in paper bags in her car parked outside Del Toro’s house. Richard Flores said he did not think Jennifer was homeless. As her only sibling, he was very close to her, he added, although he agreed that she was occasionally estranged from their father. Asked if he thought Jennifer was depressed in the days before she was killed, he replied that she could have been.

Proceedings will continue throughout the week until Friday and Judge Ito has set a Feb. 18 deadline for a verdict in this long-delayed case that stunned Eagle Rock. The defense is expected to present its case, according to prosecutor Grace, and it’s likely sometime next week that Del Toro will take the highly unusual step of testifying in court.