RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) 鈥 The question of whether certain DNA evidence can be used in the upcoming trial of a Manhattan architect charged in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo Beach killings is the focus of court hearings that began Friday on Long Island.
Lawyers for Rex Heuermann want DNA tests conducted by Astrea Forensics on hairs recovered from most of the seven victims in the case to be excluded from the trial, saying the California-based lab's method has never been accepted in a New York court of law.
But an academic expert testifying in the pre-trial hearing in Riverhead court said the type of testing used, known as nuclear DNA, or 鈥渨hole genome sequencing,鈥 is widely accepted in the scientific community.
Dr. Kelley Harris, a University of Washington professor of genome sciences, described Astrea Forensics' method as an 鈥渆legant and powerful鈥 way to determine whether hair fragments pulled from a crime scene match those taken from suspects.
Heuermann鈥檚 attorney, Michael Brown, sought to temper Harris鈥 testimony, noting during his cross-examination that she had no background in the forensic science used in criminal cases.
He also pressed Harris on her close ties to the co-founder of Astrea Forensics, Dr. Richard Green, who she has coauthored research papers with and considers a colleague.
鈥淪he鈥檚 the witness for hire, and she was suggested by Dr. Green to be a proponent of this magic, as we call it,鈥 Brown said after the daylong hearing.
He also took aim at Astrea Forensics' use of the publicly accessible , which sequenced the DNA of some 2,500 people worldwide, as the reference pool for comparing hair samples in the case.
鈥淗opefully the point got across that it has no business being utilized in a criminal court,鈥 Brown said outside court. 鈥淭he 1,000 Genomes Project has been around for quite a while and it鈥檚 never been used in a forensic setting, and the reason they don鈥檛 use it as a population reference is because it鈥檚 simply not enough people to compare it to.鈥
The proceedings continue next Wednesday when other experts are expected to testify before Judge Timothy Mazzei renders a decision.
Heuermann, who was dressed in a dark suit, didn't speak during Friday's hearing. Asa Ellerup, who with Heuermann on Thursday, was also in court, along with the couple鈥檚 daughter and the family鈥檚 lawyer.
No trial date has been set for the case, which spans decades of killings on Long Island.
Heuermann鈥檚 legal team also wants to break the case into multiple trials over concerns about the 鈥渃umulative effect鈥 of the evidence presented by prosecutors. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney鈥檚 office has opposed that request. Mazzei is expected to rule on it soon.
Prosecutors argued in legal briefs ahead of the hearing that whole genome sequencing has been accepted in peer-reviewed scientific journals and by federal regulators, paleontologists, virologists and medical communities.
They say the findings by Astrea Forensics were also independently corroborated by another lab鈥檚 mitochondrial DNA testing -- a methodology long accepted by New York courts.
Since late 2010, police on Long Island of at least 10 people 鈥 mostly female sex workers 鈥 whose remains were discovered along an isolated highway not far from Gilgo Beach.
Heuermann, who lives in nearby Massapequa Park, was arrested in 2023 and charged in the between 2009 and 2010: Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman.
While in custody, he was subsequently charged in the deaths of four other women: in 2000, in 2003, in 2007 and Sandra Costilla in 1993.
Heuermann has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all counts.
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