St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 4

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1994 A QUESTIONABLE CONVICTION 1t3 Analysis In Murder Case Shows Perils Of DNA Test SI.LUUI3 rusi-uisir'Aiui ilgJJIJ ILIUM I II UIHWIIHlllMJIHIMIIIHIII II I How DNA Fingerprinting Works DNA Is deoxyribonucleic acid, the genetic blueprint found jn human cells. DNA Is shaped like a twisted ladder. Each rung has two building blocks called chemical bases. In genetic testing the DNA is separated from the nucleus of the cell and unraveled into smaller, recognizable parts. A strand of Special DNA is i enzymes, II -I in 4 (.

i. ii 'Vw t'( 5 I i i Jr lHk' i taken acting as mlcrobiotlc scissors, cut the DNA into fragments. This from a specimen of semen or blood obtained from the crime scene and suspect. is like cutting the vertical legs of the ladder. The DNA fragments fragments.

I are are put 7 -V transferred to a into an gel. nylon membrane and the rungs of the ladder are Because DNA split apart, or "unzipped. The scientist adds a "probe," a fragment of DNA that seeks out Its complimentary fragment and sticks to It like a puzzle piece to Its perfect Is negatively charged, the fragments move toward the positive pole, with the larger fragments traveling slowest. This arranges the fragments according to length. Heaton family photo Stuart Heaton holds his son, Jacob, during a jail visit two years ago with his wife, Karen, (left) and his mother, Dovie Heaton-Bergin.

Heaton now is in Menard Correctional Center. she didn't know," said the friend, Crystal Nail. Nail was not called to testify at Heaton's trial. jHeaton By Cheryl Dahle and David Protess Special to the Post-Dispatch The genetic test that contributed to Stuart Heaton's murder conviction is a case study of the uncertainties of "genetic fingerprinting." A report in 1992 by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences found alarming inconsistencies in some DNA tests used in criminal trials. The council recommended the regulation of DNA testing to ensure that labs are capable, accountable and consistent in their procedures.

The council criticized some of the lab procedures that were used by Dr. Robert Allen in testing Heaton's DNA. Allen taught himself how to perform DNA tests while serving as science director of the Red Cross in St. Louis. For example, the council: Recommended that scientists conduct DNA tests without knowing the identity of the sample donors to avoid unconscious bias.

Allen knew the donors and the details of the murder before testing. Recommended that scientists further avoid bias by following the FBI procedure of measuring genetic patterns independently. But Allen laid the patterns he was trying to match next to each other. "If you were trying to tell two shades of pink from one another, it's easier setting them side-by-side," he explained. Warned of the pitfalls of statistical assumptions about how often a particular DNA pattern occurs.

The numbers can vary across racial and ethnic lines. Statistical assumptions were particularly troublesome for Allen. First, the database that Allen used for comparison was 1,300 persons who had come into the Red Cross in St. Louis for genetic testing in paternity cases. These persons had different ethnic backgrounds, making the statistical comparisons less reliable, critics said.

Second, so little semen was recovered from the victim that only four of 10 genetic patterns were usable. This forced Allen to provide much smaller numbers than those usually associated with DNA matches. The chance that the DNA in the semen would randomly match another person was one in 52,600 if the murderer were white and one in 5,990 if the murderer were black. Many prosecutors won't take a case to court unless the odds of matching someone else are more than one in a million. Allen conceded that even his stated odds in Heaton's case could be off by a factor of 10 to 100 either way.

This means that the statistics could be one in 526 if the perpetrator were white, and one in 59 if the perpetra- Physical Evidence From page one The probes are tagged with radioactive particles that, when (fcD exposed to X-ray film, leave a visible pattern resembling a supermarket bar code. The position and length of the bands on the X-ray determine a match. MATCH 'Z! NO MATCH the body was Heaton's. Dr. Gary Litman, a biochemistry professor who fied for the defense called it the "worst quality DNA work I've seen done." Dr.

Robert Allen, who conducted the test while serving as science director of the Red Cross lab in St. Louis, Much of the physical evidence collected at the crime scene was inconclusive. Forensic tests turned up no blood on Heaton's clothes, in his home, or his truck. Unknown fibers and fingerprints left in the trailer home did not match Heaton's nor did scrapings from beneath Krystal's fingernails. Police were unable to determine if Krystal had been raped.

A vaginal swab turned up nothing, although a small amount of semen was found on her body. Evidence technicians concluded that the murderer had pulled up her panties and tucked in her shirt to hide -defended his work, although he acknowledged in a recent interview that he would have reached a more conservative" conclusion if the test were the sole basis for conviction. A Heaton defense lawyer called this a "stunning" admission. "The prosecution didn't come close to proving him guilty," said Robert Byman of the law firm of Jenner Block in Chicago. "They got a conviction by using scientific hocus-pocus that should never have been admitted." Prosecutor Don Sheafor, now in private practice, remains certain that he got the right man.

"The jury found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Sheafor said. "And so that kid is where he belongs." Vj- 'win. 8, possible evidence of sexual assault. The technicians told prosecutor Sheafor that the murderer would have cuts on his hands. In a brutal stabbing, blood may make the murderer's hand slide onto the blade causing distinctive cuts, each covered by a flap of skin.

When police brought Heaton in for questioning they took pictures of his hands. Enlargements showed small cuts on two fingers. Dr. Beverly Tsai, who performed the autopsy, testified that the murder weapon could have caused the cuts. Heaton's lawyers noted that Tsai never examined Heaton in person.

James Calvert, the officer who brought Heaton to the station, reported no visible fingernail marks or injuries. "I saw nothing that indicated that he'd been in a struggle," Calvert said in a recent interview. The one piece of physical evidence Post-Dispatch graphic point. If the DNA test were the single piece of evidence upon which Heaton's conviction rested, "I might go back and consider the statistical approach and adopt more conservative assumptions," he said. Still, Allen, who now works at the Children's Medical Center in Tulsa, says the match was valid.

Not one of the 1,300 persons in his database matched with the semen sample, he said. "Remember, we didn't exclude this guy. These markers are powerful at excluding someone. I think even one in 10,000 is a pretty compelling number." SOURCE: Knlght-Rldder Tribune tor were black. Potentially, 40 people in Fayette County could match these genetic descriptions.

One of the co-authors of the National Research Council report Dr. Thomas Marr, a researcher at Cold Spring Harbor, a laboratory in New York state said in an interview that Allen's methods sounded "messy" and "pretty irregular." Marr is particularly critical of trials like Heaton's where DNA is the prosecution's silver bullet. "People should weigh this as another piece of evidence. I think people just get railroaded by this technology." Allen generally agrees on this The Murder The morning of July 23 dawned with a muggy warmth that threatened to become scorching heat. When Krystal's older brother, Curtis, left for work about 7:30 a.m., he told Krystal to mow the lawn before the sun became unbearable.

Krystal sleepily agreed. That was the last Krystal Naab Fatally stabbed in '91 time Curtis saw his sister alive. Curtis and Krystal shared a bedroom with their sister Melody in a trailer three miles southeast of town. They had lived in the trailer with their mother since 1990. Krystal had just completed her sophomore year in high school.

She was an average student known for her independence, love of children and her help for the elderly. She had a steady boyfriend whom she planned to marry. When Curtis returned to the trailer at 4 p.m. he found Krystal lying near the entrance to the living room. She was wearing a black Harley-Davidson T-shirt and panties and was covered in blood.

The phone was ripped off the wall. A pair of bloodied, mauve-handled sewing scissors lay on the kitchen counter. Panicked, Curtis dashed to the bathroom to wet three that turned out to be the most important was the semen. Police hired Allen of the Red Cross lab in St. Louis to compare the DNA from the semen to the DNA in Heaton's blood.

Except for identical twins, each person has a different DNA pattern. More than half of the crime scene DNA was inconclusive, Allen conceded in court, although he thought the remaining information was enough to establish a match. The chances of another person matching were 1 in 52,600, he said. Litman, the biochemistry professor who criticized Allen's work at the trial, argued that even the remaining DNA was not conclusive enough to produce a result. "If that information had been processed by a state or FBI lab, I don't think it would fall into acceptable ranges," In total, 12 people told police they had seen a white pickup at the trailer or close by.

None identified the distinctive features of Heaton's 1989 Dodge Dakota the running boards, the Dakota lettering, the black bed, or the gun-rack carrying a carpenter's level. Some witnesses gave details that didn't fit Heaton's truck. Two witnesses described a different model of truck, a Dodge Ram. White pickups are common in Fayette County. State records list 12 white Dakotas in the county, one driven by a man with a history of violent crime who knew the Naabs and had allegedly threatened them.

Prosecutor Sheafor said that police adequately investigated this other suspect, but Heaton's lawyer disagrees. Two Portraits At the time of his arrest, Heaton was, by all accounts, happily married, and living with his wife, Karen, in Vanda-lia, 111., about 20 miles from Ramsey. Heaton and Karen had met at a fundamentalist church where they were both active. At the time of the murder, Karen cousin, said he saw Heaton buying a soda about 12 miles from Ramsey. 12:30 p.m.

Ralph Bruno, a clerk at Landreth Lumber, said Heaton stopped by to pick up supplies. 12:40 p.m. Jean Carter said she waved to Heaton as he was leaving Landreth's driving his white pickup. Carter made a note in her diary. 3:24 p.m.

Phone records indicate a call from Heaton's sister's house to Witte Hardware, where Heaton's wife worked. Lynn Bowers, a clerk, remembers taking the call from Heaton. The defense did not submit the phone records or Carter's diary as evidence. Prosecutor Sheafor said that Gary Washburn's sighting of Heaton at 10 a.m. would not help the defense because Heaton could have made it from the Shell station to the trailer by 10:30 a.m.

The 3:24 p.m. call from Heaton's sister's house was an attempt to build an alibi, Sheafor said. Heaton would have had time to commit the murder and get to his sister's by that time, he said. At the trial, Sheafor challenged the memory of Bruno and Carter. Bruno he testified.

The White Truck ChlcagoA I Springfield couldn produce a receipt to prove the hardware visit, and Carter's statement was impeached because of her friendship. Scott Washburn, called as a prosecution witness, said Heaton might have bought the soda at 9:30 a.m. rather than 10:30. he jury found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That kid is where he belongs.

79 washcloths that he rubbed across his sister's face, trying to rouse her. But Krystal was dead, stabbed 81 times. Police fanned out from the crime scene and found that several people had seen a white pickup parked outside the trailer between about 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Police theorized that Krystal had socialized with her killer before the murder.

A police officer asked Curtis if he knew anyone who drove a white pickup. After a pause, Curtis said, "Stuart Heaton." Curtis told police about an unusual incident the previous winter involving Heaton, who had been a friend in high school. Curtis said he had awakened to find Heaton in the bedroom that he shared with Krystal and Melody. Heaton and Melody, who was older than Krystal, were talking at his bedside. Curtis said he asked Heaton to leave and had not seen him since.

This established a link between was pregnant with their first child. The prosecution painted a different portrait. Sheafor maintained that Heaton was a vindictive, vile-tempered man who had killed Krystal after she had spurned his sexual advances. Then, the prosecutor said, Heaton engaged in a massive cleanup, removing stray hairs and fingerprints from the crime scene and disposing of his clothes, which witnesses said he changed during The prosecution tried to establish that Heaton's distinctive Dodge Dakota was the white pickup that a dozen witnesses saw at or near the trailer. Three witnesses were crucial.

Debbie Baldock, a relative of Krystal, testified that she recognized Heaton as the driver of a white pickup that nearly drove her off the road about 10:15 on the morning of the crime as it sped past her near the Naabs' residence. Larry Miller, the postman, testified that he saw a white pickup at the home when he delivered the mail and that some weeks later saw a pickup just like it parked at Heaton's mother's house. Cavit Cooley, a next-door neighbor to the Naabs, testified that he saw a white pickup with extra thick hub The Appeal DON SHEAFOR, prosecutor in case. Post-Dispatch Map The linchpin in the prosecution's case was the DNA test, and that is the main issue in Heaton's appeal. Heaton's lawyer maintains that the defendant was entitled to a so-called Frye hearing to determine if the genetic test should be admitted into evidence.

A Frye hearing determines whether a particular scientific test is widely accepted in the scientific community. The trial judge denied Heaton the hearing. Nationally, when Frye hearings have been held, DNA evidence has often been excluded. Since 1992, DNA evidence has been excluded in 10 out of the 11 cases which had a Frye hearing, Heaton's lawyers said. While the legal wrangling goes on, Heaton, who has been imprisoned two years, is in the Menard Correctional Center in Chester, 111.

His son Jacob, now a toddler, has no memory of his father outside the prison walls. "If I didn't happen to own a white pickup, I wouldn't be here," Heaton said. "Someone with that kind of truck is a killer, and I'm doing his time." David Protess teaches journalism at Northwestern University. Cheryl Dahle is a freelance writer. the day.

Sheafor produced 34 witnesses and 59 exhibits, including gruesome pictures of the body. The jury returned a guilty verdict in 90 minutes. Heaton did not testify, telling family members that he did not have confidence in his court-appointed attorney, William Farr. Farr did not return repeated calls and written messages asking for his comment. Heaton's out-of-court account of his activities on July 23 included picking up materials from a local lumber yard, searching for a co-worker and riding his horse Missy at the house of his sister, veterinarian Connie Heistand.

Several witnesses confirmed parts of his story. 10 a.m. Gary Washburn, an intern with the sheriff's department, said he waved to Heaton as they drove past each other near a Shell gas station in Vandalia. The Shell station is about 20 miles from the Naabs' residence. Heaton's lawyer said this makes it difficult for Heaton to have arrived at the trailer by the time the first witness reported seeing a white truck, between 10:15 a.m and 10:30.

10:30 a.m. Scott Washburn, Gary Washburn's Krystal and Heaton, police concluded, and was the only direct evidence that Heaton and Krystal had met. Curtis was vague about the incident. First he told the police that it happened "Last winter," then he said it happened "two or three years ago." He testified in the trial that he was unsure of the year. Melody told police Heaton had never been in the bedroom, and Helen Naab, the mother, testified that she had met Heaton on the front porch one night when Heaton was having car trouble and that Heaton had never entered the mobile home.

In addition, Krystal's best friend since kindergarten told police Krystal never knew Heaton. "She wouldn't have spent a few hours with someone caps a characteristic that fits Heaton's truck, former prosecutor Sheafor said. A reconstruction of eyewitness statements about the pickup, based on police reports and grand jury testimony, raises questions. Baldock, Krystal's relative, only briefly saw the driver of the truck as it almost ran her off the road. Also she did not mention her sighting to police until two months after the murder and six days after Heaton's picture was in the newspaper.

Heaton's court-appointed lawyer didn't question the delay. Miller, the postman, did not mention seeing the pickup when he was first interviewed on the day of the crime, according to the officer who talked to him. New Mexico Archdiocese Settles 16 More Sexual-Abuse Suits Involving Priest In exchange for a deferred sentence, he pleaded guilty in 1983 in Albuquerque to a charge of criminal sexual penetration of a minor. Neither Sheehan nor Bardacke would disclose the amounts or any other details of the settlements. Previous settlements also were confidential.

archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M. Archbishop Michael Sheehan said all 16 cases involved former priest Jason Sigler and were settled with money from insurance companies and parishioners. Sigler was accused of molesting altar boys at St. Therese Church in Albuquerque, St. Anthony Church in ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

(AP) Sixteen more civil suits alleging sexual abuse by a former Roman Catholic priest have been settled, bringing to 45 the number of claims that have been resolved. The settlements were agreed to last week and made final Monday, said Paul Bardacke, an attorney for the Fort Sumner, N.M., and Immaculate Conception Church in Las Vegas, N.M., in the 1970s and early '80s. He was treated for pedophilia at the Servants of the Paraclete facility at Jemez Springs, N.M., at least three times in the late 1960s and early 70s. Sigler, now in his mid-50s, left the priesthood in 1982. 4.