Expert says DNA is not from defendant

DNA found under the fingernails of murder victim William J. Jennings of Shawnee did not come from the man charged with killing him, a DNA analyst testified Wednesday.

Gina Pineda, an assistant director with a private DNA lab in New Orleans, testified for the defense in the trial of David Lee Stagg, 58, of Warrensburg. Stagg is charged with first-degree murder in the April 2004 death of Jennings, 51, Stagg’s romantic partner.

Prosecutors contend Stagg strangled Jennings in Jennings’ home after the two argued. Stagg, a professor at the University of Central Missouri, acknowledges that the two argued the night of April 24.

But he says he left the residence by about midnight. Jennings’ body was found the next day.

The trial is in its second week.

The defense is expected to wrap up its case today after testimony from a second DNA expert who will support Pineda’s position.

Pineda’s contention that the DNA did not come from Stagg is at odds with the findings of Ross Capps of the Johnson County Crime Lab.

Capps, who analyzed the DNA evidence for prosecutors, testified last week that he found a mixture of DNA from at least two individuals under the fingernails. Most of it came from Jennings, he said. But the remaining amount was too small for him to come to any conclusions, he said.

Pineda, of ReliaGene Technologies Inc., said that the sample was too small to identify any particular individual.

However, she said, it was big enough to rule individuals out.

"Is there any doubt in your mind that it excludes David Stagg?" defense attorney Tom Bath asked Pineda.

"No," she replied.

An apparent blood stain on a desk in the kitchen also contained genetic material from Jennings and at least one other individual, Capps and Pineda agree. Capps says the genetic material from the other individual again is too small to draw any conclusions; Pineda says those results also rule out Stagg.

Last week, Capps testified that the Johnson County lab takes a conservative approach in interpreting DNA mixtures. That practice helps ensure that it does not wrongly include or exclude any individual, he said.

On Wednesday, assistant district attorney Scott Toth asked Pineda if she was aware of Capps’ concerns regarding the poor quality of the small DNA sample. Pineda said the material did meet the Johnson County lab’s threshold.