THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608170274
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 82 lines
After 2 1/2 days of testimony, Ricky DeWayne Rogers' fate rests largely on three pieces of evidence: DNA, hairs found at the crime scene and a videotape.
Rogers' DNA is similar to DNA in semen removed from the victim, an expert told the Circuit Court jury Friday. Rogers is on trial for the 1987 robbery, rape and murder of a woman in her Ghent home.
DNA expert Bradford C. Jenkins explained how he took DNA from the semen and compared it to DNA taken from the victim, her fiance and Rogers.
Jenkins compared six sections of the DNA strands. Rogers' DNA matched the DNA in the semen sample on all six counts, he said. DNA in the semen did not match either that taken from the victim or her fiance. The test results mean that Rogers cannot be eliminated as a suspect.
``That's what DNA examiners are trying to do is see who they can eliminate,'' Jenkins told jurors. ``It's not a one-to-one match.''
Rogers was first charged in the murder of Grace Elizabeth Payne in November 1987, just weeks after Payne was found murdered in her third-floor apartment in the 800 block of Westover Ave.
Payne's arms and legs had been bound with tape and electrical cord. A sock had been stuffed in her mouth and tape was wrapped around her head, covering her nose and mouth. Her face was burned with lye. She was raped, then strangled and stabbed. One knife was found in her chest, another in her abdomen.
There were no signs of forced entry. Two guns and three bags of silver coins worth about $2,000 were missing. They have never been recovered.
The case was the first in Norfolk's history in which DNA testing was used. But at that time, DNA technology was in its infancy and the test results were inconclusive.
Other forensic evidence at that time could not link Rogers to the crime. One key witness died. Another changed his story at the eleventh hour. As a result, prosecutors decided not to pursue the case, leaving open the possibility of a trial at a later date.
Although the new technology does not provide as definitive a match as the older DNA technology, it gave prosecutors the additional evidence they needed to try the case. The new technology requires a much smaller amount of blood, semen or saliva, Jenkins said.
Among African Americans, the odds of finding the DNA type found in the semen sample and in Rogers is 1 in 26,000. The odds are 1 in 19,000 among whites and 1 in 5,000 among Hispanics. Rogers is AfricanAmerican.
On cross examination, defense attorney B. Thomas Reed tried to turn the odds in Rogers' favor, stressing the fact that the DNA in the semen sample could match a number of other people.
``Just looking at your numbers, isn't it five times more likely that the person who deposited the sperm is Hispanic?'' Reed asked.
``That type is more common in the Hispanic population than the black population,'' Jenkins responded.
On Friday, an expert also testified that two hairs found in Payne's home, one on a towel and one on a pillow, are similar to hair on Rogers' arms and legs. Arm and leg hairs provide a less-definitive match than head and pubic hairs.
The expert, David Pomposini, told the jury that one African-American hair found on a bedsheet did not match Rogers' head or body hair. Many hairs found in the apartment belonged to either Payne or her fiance. Others, all classified as Caucasian hair, were unidentified.
Reed drew the jury's attention to the one African-American hair that did not come from Rogers and to the Caucasian hairs that remain unidentified. Hair from a Hispanic would be classified as Caucasian hair, Pomposini said during cross-examination.
Other forensic evidence fails to place Rogers at the scene of the murder. Neither Rogers' fingerprints nor his blood type, which differs from the victim's and her fiance's, were found in Payne's apartment, Pomposini said.
Prosecutors also showed the jury a videotape that they claim incriminates Rogers. The grainy black-and-white video shows an African-American man trying to withdraw $300 from a Crestar automatic teller machine.
In testimony Thursday, Payne's fiance identified the man in the video as Rogers. For three years, Rogers worked as a part-time carpet cleaner in a business run by the fiance, John Michael O'Connor. He testified that he recognized Rogers because during their work cleaning carpets he often saw Rogers with his head down.
Before showing the video to jurors, prosecutors entered into evidence a jacket that belonged to Rogers. The man in the video appeared to be wearing the same jacket. The FBI could not make an identification from the videotape.
Closing arguments and perhaps a verdict are expected Monday.
KEYWORDS: DNA MURDER TRIAL RAPE
by CNB