The judge overseeing the case of accused Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann has set a date to rule on the admissibility of the prosecution’s DNA evidence in the case, which will bring a months-long hearing on the matter to an end.
State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei said Tuesday he would make a ruling on September 3 and gave defense attorneys until August 15 to file closing briefs, Newsday reported. Prosecutors will file their final brief a week later.
Heuermann, a Manhattan architect who has been behind bars since his arrest two years ago, is charged with multiple counts of first- and second-degree murder in the deaths of seven women between 1993 and 2010. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
The DNA issue involves a particular genome sequencing technique used by the California-based company that linked Heuermann to six of the murders. The defense contends that the relatively new technique does not meet the standards of “general acceptance” used in New York courts.
“We’ll have a decision on [Sept. 3] and that decision is going to dictate whether or not the court believes that it’s generally accepted within the relevant scientific community or not,” Heuermann defense attorney Michael J. Brown said outside court Tuesday. “If he decides it is and this evidence comes in at trial, we still have the opportunity to cross-examine these witnesses and attack all the same issues [at trial].”
“It’s novel,” Brown sadded. “It has not been used anywhere around the country [in courts] other than Idaho, which has a much different and lower standard. If the judge permits it in, he permits it in, but hopefully he agrees with our position.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has declined to comment on the specifics of the DNA issue, but prosecutors presented evidence that the use of Astrea Forensics’ techniques are spreading. Geneticists testifying in the hearing earlier this year praised the company’s methods.
“It’s embarrassing for our criminal justice system that a method like this wasn’t the state of the art years ago,” Harris, an associate professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington, testified in March.
Population geneticist Kelley Harris testified that Astrea Forensics’ software is an “elegant and powerful” tool and said the results it generates are widely accepted in science.
Brown said that he expects the case to move to trial regardless of Mazzei’s decision on the DNA matter.
The defense has also moved to separate the cases. Brown said he expects a decision on that motion after the DNA decision.
Heuermann, 61, is charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, and Megan Waterman.
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[Featured image: Rex Heuermann, center, appears for a hearing with is attorney Michael J. Brown, left, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)]
