Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994 TAG: 9402240206
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
The panel of nine women and five men will begin hearing testimony today in the trial of Mark Christopher Poe. Two panel members are alternates.
Prosecutors are expected to seek the expert testimony of a dentist to help convict Poe in the murder and dismemberment of Judy Greer.
The dentist, Dr. John Williams of Norfolk, is an expert in the relatively new field of forensic odontology. His testimony would involve whether marks found above Greer's buttocks were made by Poe's teeth.
However, it's uncertain whether U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar will allow the testimony. Doumar said at a hearing last week that he's unfamiliar with forensic odontology.
"It may become an important piece of evidence, and it may not," the judge said. "And it may or may not be admissible. I just don't know."
Defense attorney William Swan said he's not aware of any physical evidence, other than the alleged bite marks, linking Poe to Greer.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Harvey Bryant said the government has other evidence, although he conceded the marks are the strongest link between the victim and Poe.
Greer, a 20-year-old Navy wife, was reported missing in late April when her father went to her apartment at the Camp Allen housing complex and found evidence of a bloody struggle.
Within days, Greer's body was found in a lake in Suffolk, and her head was found in a Virginia Beach swamp. Poe, 22, a neighbor, was arrested shortly after the murder.
At the time of the murder, Poe was out on bond on a charge of raping a baby sitter. In November, a Circuit Court jury convicted him of statutory rape. He was sentenced to two years.
by CNB