Jury told DNA links Russell, victim

By KELLY ADAMS, Columbian staff writer

DNA tests on material found under Chelsea Harrison's fingernails will link the slain 14-year-old girl to Roy Wayne Russell, a prosecutor said Thursday as Russell's murder trial got under way.

James Senescu, deputy Clark County prosecuting attorney, told jurors in his opening statement they will hear from three experts on DNA evidence collected from Harrison's body, which was found naked in Russell's basement shower in the early morning of Nov. 2.

"It's all going to point to one individual," Senescu said. "The last person to see her alive."

There was no evidence Harrison was raped or was given a date-rape drug.

Attorney Jeffrey Barrar opened his defense of the 45-year-old vacuum cleaner salesman by touching on the common ground everyone shares.

"This is every parent's nightmare," he said. But, Barrar said, that's not the point of the trial.

"This is not about that; this is about whether the state can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Roy Russell did it," he said.

Barrar said Russell may not have been the last person to see Harrison alive.

Russell left Harrison at his house with the understanding that someone was coming to give her a ride home to the Countryside Woods neighborhood where she was staying with her grandmother.

A group of people, including several youths who had attended a drinking party at Russell's on Nov. 1, were standing outside when Russell started to leave, Barrar said. Harrison said she needed to go back into the house to get her backpack and use the bathroom. Russell asked her to lock the door on her way out, and he left.

Barrar said Russell came home later to find the door unlocked and a couple of young friends in his duplex, then went into the basement and discovered Harrison's body.

Russell lives a relatively lonely life and appreciated the company of the teens and young adults who partied at his house, Barrar said.

"He's not a killer," he said.

Injuries detailed

In testimony for the prosecution, Dr. Dennis Wickham, the Clark County medical examiner, said his autopsy revealed injuries to Harrison's face and head that suggest she probably was suffocated.

It also appeared she was hit on the right side of her face. That sort of injury is usually caused by someone who is left-handed, Wickham said. Russell is left-handed, Senescu pointed out during his opening.

There were no injuries that suggested Harrison was raped, Wickham said.

Edward Formoso, of the Washington State Toxicology Lab in Seattle, reported on the results of tests done for alcohol and drugs on Harrison's blood. The tests not only showed Harrison had a blood alcohol level of 0.21 percent, but also showed signs she had used marijuana within three to five hours of death.

Wickham said Harrison was 5 feet 3 inches tall and 124 pounds. When asked by Senescu, he said a blood alcohol level of 0.21 percent would make someone her size physically impaired.

A test was done to see if GHB, commonly known as a "date-rape drug" was in her system. Formoso said GHB occurs naturally in the body and levels rise after death. A level of 50 milligrams per liter or lower is consistent with those naturally occurring levels. Harrison's level was 12.5 milligrams.

Upon questioning, Formoso agreed that a person with as much alcohol in her system as Harrison had, particularly with the addition of marijuana, would be "significantly impaired."

Following the medical testimony, Harrison's grandmother, Sylvia Johnson, took the stand. She said she made several phone calls the night Harrison died and negotiated with her granddaughter on when she would come home. Harrison and her younger brother, Christopher, had been staying with Johnson while their mother, Stephanie Johnson, was in California.

"I was a little harsh with her," Johnson said. They ended by agreeing that Harrison would be home no later than 9 p.m.

"She sounded fine," Johnson said of her last conversation with her granddaughter.

In court on Thursday, Johnson helped identify Harrison's clothes and other belongings found in Russell's house.

Her lip trembling, Johnson looked at one item after another: clothes, books and makeup believed to be Harrison's.

One by one, Detective Scott Smith held up a pair of black Converse tennis shoes, a green T-shirt with a yellow surfboard on it, a black hooded sweatshirt.

"Yes, that's Chelsea's," she said most times, sometimes looking at a label.

The testimony concluded with two of the police officers who responded to the scene as well as Detective Jane Scott, who processed the evidence.

The trial continues today with the conclusion of Scott's testimony and a planned visit to the duplex where Russell lived and where Harrison's body was found.