Judge denies motion to stifle DNA evidence

LAWRENCEVILLE - Police acted lawfully when they seized a trash bag containing DNA evidence from outside the home of a Henrico County woman now accused of killing her newborn twins, a judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Nathan Curtis Lee of Brunswick County Circuit Court denied a defense request that he throw out the DNA evidence, which was crucial because it suggests that Darnesha Berry was the mother of the twins found dead in 1998 at Saint Paul's College in Lawrenceville.

At the time, Berry was a student at the school and lived in the dorm, authorities said. Her mother testified at an earlier hearing that she did not know in 1998 that her daughter was pregnant.

Now, Berry faces two counts of first-degree murder in the death of the boy and girl.

The DNA sample was

taken from personal hygiene products inside the trash bag, which was seized by Lawrence- ville police in February outside Berry's town house in the 8600 block of Millstream Drive, where she lived with her husband and three children.

Defense attorney Arnold Henderson argued Thursday that by taking the trash bag, the police had violated the defendant's Fourth Amendment right to privacy.

Henderson said the DNA sample was used by police to obtain a search warrant to take a saliva sample from Berry for DNA purposes, which helped lead to her arrest. Henderson said the judge should suppress all the evidence as "fruit of the poisonous tree."

But the judge agreed with Brunswick Commonwealth's Attorney Lezlie S. Green that the trash bag was seized outside Berry's privacy fence and therefore outside the "curtilage" of her home.

"It was trash that was abandoned, and I would deny the motion to suppress," Lee said.

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Judge denies motion to stifle DNA evidence