"Ultimately, all of the released information, as it has opened up, raises significant questions," Patrick Kent, forensics chief for the state public defender's office, said of the unreported DNA in this case and others. "We're going to engage in zealous and vigorous research and, if necessary, litigation, in order to make sure the resolutions of these cases have been just."
Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford declined to comment on specific cases. But he wrote in an e-mail that the unreported DNA hits in the 10 cases were not followed up because "detectives concluded that the DNA came from non-probative evidence." Jessamy has deemed that conclusion premature.
Prosecutors dropped charges years ago in several of those cases. In two cases, no one has been charged, and in some other cases, the new evidence appears to be irrelevant.
Byron L. Warnken, an associate professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said appellate courts have placed the burden on prosecutors to know "what all of their officers have," even if it means reviewing detectives' notes and files, to ensure that nothing has been missed. Recent trial rule changes in Maryland have emphasized that responsibility.
"What the Supreme Court has said since 1963 is that any evidence that may be exculpatory, or helpful to the defendant, that is held by anybody on the team - the prosecutor or any police officer or any government employee working with those people - has got to be turned over" to the defense, Warnken said.
In Golden's case, the nail clippings were among the few pieces of physical evidence investigators had. The prosecution presented a bullet the medical examiner extracted from the victim's skull, but police never recovered the murder weapon.
Golden, a 19-year-old Bloods member, was convicted on the account of a young, drug-addicted prostitute who testified that she witnessed the murder. She was a friend of the man whose DNA was found on Stefanski's fingernails.
Three other people - two of whom were Stefanski's sisters - provided circumstantial evidence, testifying that Golden had implied in the days before Stefanski's death that he intended to kill her. One of those people testified that Stefanski was selling "Crips' drugs right under Randy's nose for spite."
But the eyewitness' testimony was so important that jurors listened to a recording of it a second time before reaching a verdict.
