Jul 03, 2007 - 08:29:00 CDT
MINOT (AP) - A DNA expert testified Monday that tests linked DNA found on Mindy Morgenstern's shirt to Moe Gibbs.Dr. Rick Staub, director of Orchid Cellmark, an independent DNA testing laboratory in Dallas, testified in the murder trial of Gibbs, 34, a former Barnes County jailer accused of strangling and stabbing Morgenstern, a Valley City State University student, last fall.
Officials said Gibbs' DNA was found under Morgenstern's fingernails and on her shirt.
"The sample that did match was this one here - the cutting from the shirt, lift middle front, that profile matched Moe Gibbs," Staub said, pointing to a chart to illustrate the findings.
Staub said very small samples, such as those taken from under Morgenstern's left fingernail, are not always completely accurate during initial testing. But he said another type of tests provided a link to Gibbs.
"One profile stood out as dominant profile, and that profile matched Moe Gibbs," Staub told jurors.
Dr. George Mizell, the former state medical examiner, who performed the autopsy, said Morgenstern was stabbed with two knives after she was strangled with a belt wrapped around her neck.
Staub said DNA found on the knife jutting out of Morgenstern's neck did not match Gibbs, but did match at least two other men. Similar results on another kitchen knife, found leaning on Morgenstern's shoulder, did not match Gibbs, but at least one other man, Staub said. Tests showed small amounts of DNA on both, he said.
Defense attorneys say Morgenstern might have picked up Gibbs' DNA from the doorknob on the apartment building they both lived in last September.
Annette Anderson, a fingerprint analysis specialist with the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, also testified Monday, saying that seven fingerprints found in four different places in Morgenstern's apartment were not a match for Gibbs or Morgenstern.
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