DNA emerges as focus of Rooney court proceedings

DNA evidence, the central component of the Burlington police case against the man they accuse of killing University of Vermont senior Michelle Gardner-Quinn, quickly is becoming the key battleground in court proceedings involving murder suspect Brian L. Rooney.

Less than a week after Rooney's arraignment on a murder charge, prosecution and defense attorneys have filed papers arguing about how and when to preserve forensic samples for independent analysis and to share the information.

Rooney, 36, of Richmond pleaded not guilty last week in Vermont District Court in Burlington to one count of aggravated murder and was ordered jailed without bail.

Police and prosecutors say Rooney abducted Gardner-Quinn, a 21-year-old environmental-studies major from Arlington, Va., shortly after 2:30 a.m. Oct. 7 in downtown Burlington, sexually assaulted and strangled her, and then dumped her body at the Huntington Gorge in Richmond. Gardner-Quinn's remains were discovered in a rocky crevice Oct. 13, the day Rooney was arrested on two unrelated sex charges but nearly two weeks before prosecutors brought the murder allegation.

Rooney's DNA matches genetic material in semen recovered from Gardner-Quinn's body, according to court papers.

"Defendant is entitled to independently test evidence analyzed by the state," wrote Rooney's court-appointed attorney, David Sleigh of St. Johnsbury, in a motion he filed last week. "Care should be taken from the outset to ensure that adequate opportunity for independent testing is preserved."

In a pair of motions related to DNA, Sleigh has asked a judge:

-- To order the Vermont Forensic Laboratory to divide all scientific evidence into "three or more parts" before testing begins to guarantee analysis won't consume all of a sample, and to require the lab to seek special permission to run a test if the sample is too small to be divided.

-- To order prosecutors to share 10 specific pieces of information related to DNA testing, such as a complete copy of the lab's case file, documents related to how forensic samples were collected and stored, copies of the lab's licenses and accreditation, and resumes and proficiency-test results for lab personnel involved in the case.

Prosecutor Justin Jiron, a deputy Chittenden County state's attorney, filed papers Tuesday objecting to Sleigh's request that samples be divided into thirds. The lab, following established national protocols, splits samples in half, Jiron wrote.

"The defense motion does not indicate a reason for departing from the protocol," Jiron wrote. "A requirement that all evidence be divided into three or more parts is unduly burdensome."

The next hearing for Rooney, who faces life in prison if convicted, is scheduled for Nov. 17.