TOPEKA — A Shawnee County prosecutor on Friday advised jurors to overlook about science as he laid out the circumstantial proof connecting Dana Chandler to the 20-year-old killings of her ex-husband and his fiancee.
The entire bodily proof within the case, together with DNA collected from the crime scene, excludes Chandler, the protection countered.
Chandler is being retried in a case that captivated nationwide consideration greater than a decade in the past when police and a politically bold district legal professional teamed with “48 Hours” to determine her because the seemingly killer in an unsolved crime of ardour, then coordinated with information media to movie and {photograph} her arrest. Jacqie Spradling, the lead prosecutor within the case, received a conviction in 2012 by mendacity to the jury about nonexistent proof.
The Kansas Supreme Courtroom overturned the conviction on the idea of Spradling’s misconduct, then disbarred her after a chronic disciplinary course of.
Opening arguments started Friday following years of movement hearings about proof, and days of questioning of potential jurors. Chandler is charged with two counts of first-degree homicide.
A documentary crew from HBO is filming the trial. Employees from “48 Hours” and “Dateline NBC” are additionally in attendance, together with native reporters and Lamonte McIntyre, an harmless man who spent 23 years in jail after being convicted in Wyandotte County. McIntyre is a co-founder of Miracle of Innocence, an Overland Park nonprofit, which is supporting Chandler’s protection within the case.
Prosecutor Charles Kitt advised jurors there was no indication of pressured entry or theft on the southwest Topeka duplex the place Mike Sisco and Karen Harkness had been shot to dying in 2002. Relations advised police that Chandler was upset a few bitter divorce and baby custody dispute, and telephone data confirmed Chandler known as Sisco 700 occasions within the seven months earlier than his dying. She confirmed up randomly, and uninvited, at Sisco’s home and household gatherings. Harkness despatched emails describing Chandler as “nutty.”
On the time, Chandler lived in Denver. She advised police she was driving across the mountains of Colorado when her ex-husband was killed. However she didn’t inform police in regards to the two gasoline cans she bought, which might have given her sufficient gasoline to drive to Topeka and again with out stopping to purchase extra alongside the way in which.
“Science just isn’t going to unravel this case,” Kitt mentioned. “This case just isn’t based mostly on DNA. This case just isn’t based mostly on hair. This case just isn’t based mostly on fingerprints. This case relies on jealousy, rage and obsession.”
Chandler appeared in court docket sporting darkish blue costume pants, a lightweight blue button-up shirt and a cardigan. She shook her head and took notes throughout open arguments.
Her protection legal professional, Tom Bathtub, advised jurors she was 700 miles away from Topeka when Sisco and Harkness had been killed. After 20 years of reviewing proof, prosecutors are nonetheless unable to seek out something that signifies Chandler was in the home, in Topeka, and even within the state of Kansas, on the day of their deaths.
Police, he mentioned, had tunnel imaginative and prescient for Chandler and refused to think about different suspects.
“Every part they checked out, the whole lot they examined, excluded Dana,” Bathtub mentioned. “Not simply the DNA. Not simply the hair and fiber. Fingerprints, the whole lot.”
Bathtub referenced an arm hair singed on a shell casing discovered on the scene. The DNA didn’t match Chandler or the victims.
“It’s the killer’s DNA,” Bathtub mentioned.
Within the 4 years main up the retrial, Chandler and her rotating solid of attorneys have tried to emphasise the failure by police to take a look at different suspects. A choose approved a DNA take a look at for Harkness’ son-in-law, however the protection hasn’t disclosed the outcomes of that take a look at.
Bathtub advised jurors about one other attainable suspect, Terry Tignor, and the failure of police to pursue a lead involving an try every week after the killings to money a examine that had been stolen from Sisco. If police adopted up with the attainable suspect — who was mates with Sisco’s daughter’s boyfriend — the data had been misplaced, Bathtub mentioned.
In a preliminary listening to earlier than the retrial, a prostitute claimed Tignor had confessed to the killings earlier than he was shot and killed by a lady in 2020. Prosecutors thought-about the capturing to be in self protection.
Former Shawnee County District Legal professional Chad Taylor took workplace in January 2009 after defeating an incumbent who refused to file prices in opposition to Chandler. He fashioned a chilly case unit, led by Spradling, to bolster his profile as he ready to run for U.S. Senate. The Democrat was pressured by his personal social gathering to withdraw from the race in 2014.
Taylor now faces an ethics grievance for helping and overseeing Spradling throughout the first trial.
Spradling repeatedly referred to a nonexistent safety from abuse order she claimed Sisco had obtained in opposition to Chandler. She fabricated the topic of a five-minute telephone name between Chandler and Sisco shortly earlier than the murders. She falsely claimed Chandler had researched articles about how one can get away with homicide.
In closing remarks earlier than the jury, Spradling violated a choose’s order by pointing to Chandler’s sister within the courtroom. Spradling mentioned Chandler had robbed Sisco’s youngsters of their father, regardless of understanding it’s improper for a prosecutor to touch upon the impact against the law has on a sufferer’s household.
Earlier this yr, the Kansas Supreme Courtroom disbarred Spradling for “a critical sample of grossly unethical misconduct.” The choice was based mostly on her actions within the Chandler trial, in addition to an unrelated case involving intercourse crimes in Jackson County.
Through the jury choice this week, it grew to become clear that lots of the potential jurors had been aware of the sooner trial. District Decide Cheryl Rios rejected motions by Bathtub to maneuver the trial or dismiss the jury pool, however she agreed to learn a press release telling jurors that Chandler’s earlier conviction was a results of Spradling’s misconduct.
The trial is predicted to final three weeks.
