DNA testimony continues in Winchester trial

SAN ANGELO, Texas DNA testimony continued with prosecutors explaining key pieces of evidence, but it did not link the murder weapon to James Winchester.

Winchester, 46, is accused of killing Burton in March 2008 at her house in the 3300 block of Cornell Avenue. Her daughter Erika Heffner found her March 22, 2008, after not being able to reach her for several days.

Burton appeared to be beaten to death with a sledgehammer. Heffner found her mother on the couch with a blanket tucked in over her.

Negin Kuhlmann and Brandi Mohler, who worked as forensic scientists at the Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab in Austin, were the only state witnesses called to testify Thursday morning.

The two tested pieces of evidence in the case, including a gray sweatshirt found with the hammer, Winchesters jersey and a washcloth he reportedly used to wash with early Tuesday morning at a friends apartment on San Antonio Street.

No DNA matches from either Winchester or Dwayne Chadwick, an original suspect in the case, were found on the items, Mohler said. She concluded the blood from the hammer handle was a match for Burtons DNA. She determined that Burton was a source of the major component of DNA from swabs taken in the apartment bathroom sink.

Earlier this year 119th District Judge Woodward sided with defense on a motion to suppress DNA findings in the case.

A probable cause affidavit filed in March 2012 claimed that, according to a Sorenson forensics case report Winchester was the major source of DNA extracted from the hammer handle.

Denise Anderson, forensic supervisor for private lab Sorenson Forensics, was qualified as an expert, but the court said she deviated from accepted scientific protocols, according to the judges order.

It stated the evidence did not prove that: A major DNA profile could be identified from the sample in question, the defendants known DNA matches the profile from the sample, or that reliable tests, or conclusions, can be drawn from a sample of DNA that is only 0.01 nanograms of material.

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DNA testimony continues in Winchester trial