DNA places Lee at Meyers murder scene

A Milwaukee man accused of shooting and killing Joshua Meyers in January was been linked to the Meyer's West Twelfth Avenue apartment through a DNA sample obtained from a baseball hat found in the apartment.

Kimberly Mayer, a DNA analyst with the State Crime Lab in Madison, testified Wednesday that a DNA sample she recovered from a black baseball hat found in Joshua Meyers' apartment matched a sample provided by Keith Lee, who is accused of shooting Meyers in January.

Lee, 24, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of armed robbery as a party to a crime in connection to Meyers' January shooting death.

According to testimony and court records, Lee and Victor T. Thomas, of Milwaukee, went to Meyers' apartment on Jan. 10 with plans to rob him of marijuana. Fighting ensued in the home before Lee took out a gun and shot Meyers in the abdomen. Meyers died at a local hospital later that evening.

Thomas is charged with armed robbery and felony murder. He remains in the Winnebago County Jail in lieu of bail on the felony charges and is being fined $250 per day for being in contempt of court because he refuses to answer questions about Lee or the murder.

The DNA test eliminated Thomas as a person who wore the hat, Mayer testified.

"Victor Thomas was eliminated as a possible contributor to the hat," Mayer said during day three of Lee's jury trial. "Keith Lee was determined to be the major contributor to the source I developed from the hat."

Earlier this week, Kristopher Johnston, Meyers' half-brother, testified that the man who shot his brother was wearing a black baseball hat. Johnson, who was at the apartment when the shooting took place, also testified that neither he nor his brother owned any black baseball hats.

Also Wednesday, Detective Dean Artus of the Oshkosh Police Department testified about cell phone records he had subpoenaed for the investigation.

Records from Sprint Corporation showed Meyers received four phone calls from a "number of note" on Jan. 10, the day he was shot. Artus said the calls originated from a phone number with a Milwaukee area code. Records indicate that Meyers received the final call, which lasted about eight minutes, from that number at 4:31 p.m., about a half hour before he was shot.

In a continuing attempt to introduce doubt that Lee was present at the shooting, defense attorney Timothy Geary asked Artus why he did not request cell phone records for Owens, David Jackson or Justin Cain. He also asked why Artus did not ask for information about which cell phone tower calls were directed through.

Artus testified that detectives did not think that information was pertinent because they had received information from Johnston about a phone call that was received at a very specific time when the suspects had been given directions.

The trial continues today.