The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 5

The Pes Moines Register GC Thursday, October 5, 2000 Page5A Evidence problems cause mistrial in murder case Ruth, cried briefly after Stovall declared the mistrial. Neither made public statements. Several relatives of both Piper and Lange attended the hearing. All declined to comment until the trial is over. Law enforcement officers also declined to comment.

Reporter Lee Rood can be reached at (515) 284-8549 or roodlnews.dmreg.com but worrisome" for the state. Breaks in law enforcement custody of evidence could cause the judge to prohibit the material from being allowed at trial. If the evidence is allowed, defects in its handling could give the jury reasonable doubt, McCord said. Questioning the collection and handling of specimens at a crime scene an issue in the OJ. been given clothing bearing fluid or other stains.

Said Parrish: "Only three pieces of evidence connect Piper to Lange. And interestingly enough, judge, all of these pieces of evidence are problematic." David McCord, a law professor at Drake University, said the evidence problems alleged by Parrish, thus far are "not insurmountable, Simpson trial is one of the first ways a defense team can undermine the credibility of seemingly damning DNA evidence. "It sounds like there's a major problem here," McCord said. Wednesday's mistrial likely will delay Piper's other first-degree murder trial. He also is charged in the 1997 death of Zurijeta Sa-kanovic, a 21-year-old maid at the Budgetel in Clive.

Prosecutors say they also have DNA evidence in that case, but Stovall has said it will not be allowed as evidence in the Lange trial. Piper, who worked at the West Des Moines Holiday Inn before Lange's stay there, has said he was at a family barbecue at the time of the murder. On Wednesday, he and his wife, PIPER, from Page 1A cast doubt on other key pieces of evidence for several days leading up to the trial. Parrish questioned during a pretrial hearing this week whether West Des Moines police and state investigators returned clothing found at the murder scene to the Lange family in 1994. Prosecutors argued that while some items were returned to the family, two key pieces of evidence socks that held a pubic hair and a semen stain never left law-enforcement custody.

Gary Lange, Patricia's brother, testified Wednesday that West Des Moines' police gave him some of his sister's belongings in 1994. Upon returning to Wisconsin, he said, he realized that the receipt police gave him listed more items than he actually received. West Des Moines police officers testified this week that they had no accurate log of items returned to the family. The officers at times contradicted one another on the stand. However, they insisted that Gary Lange never would have Redeker's offers you an exclusive collection of classic sofa designs.

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