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CHILTON Wis. - There were several important developments Friday in the murder trial against Steven Avery.
Jurors heard poignant testimony from Teresa Halbach's younger sister, Katie Halbach. Katie is 15 years old. She is 11 years younger than Teresa.
Katie Halbach testified that Teresa lived next door to her family in
Hilbert, Wis. Katie said she would hang out with her older sister to watch movies, watch TV, and play cards on the weekends. She also said that she would go with her younger sister, Kelly, to Teresa's house to hang out.
Katie Halbach held up a blue "Air National Guard" lanyard in court. The key to Halbach's SUV was found in Avery's bedroom on a key fob that clipped into the lanyard. Katie Halbach testified that she got the lanyard at a convention two years ago. She told jurors she gave the lanyard to Teresa and said Teresa used that lanyard for her SUV key.
Like many sisters, Katie and Teresa Halbach talked about clothes. Teresa's clothing came up in court because a charred blue-jean rivet was found in Avery's burn pit. The charred rivet had the brand name "Daisy Fuentes" on it. Katie Halbach confirmed that Teresa owned a pair of "Daisy Fuentes" jeans. Katie Halbach recalled teasing Teresa about wearing the "Daisy Fuentes" brand-name because Katie said they were "old person" jeans.
Contaminated DNA Test
A Wisconsin Crime Lab expert testified about many of the DNA tests that were conducted on evidence seized from the Avery junkyard. Among her findings, she reported that one of the tests was contaminated.
The contaminated test was done on a lead bullet fragment. During the test, Sherry Culhane said she was talking to trainees about how the test worked. As she was talking to the trainee DNA analysts, Culhane suspects some of her saliva made it on to her workbench. That saliva turned up in a control section of the test - meaning Culhane's DNA contaminated the test but was not found on the bullet fragment.
Avery's attorneys raised serious concerns about the use of results from a contaminated DNA test. Culhane indicated that it did not give her enough reason to throw out the test results. Avery's attorneys promised to question Culhane about how often contaminated test results are allowed to be used.
Juror Dismissed
A juror was dismissed Friday morning to attend a funeral outside of Wisconsin. The juror asked to attend the funeral and the judge agreed to grant the request. There were four alternates in the jury pool. Those alternates are meant to accommodate issues like this one. Now, only three alternates remain.
This dismissed juror is a different juror than the woman who was questioned Thursday after remembering she knew one of the key witnesses against Avery. The juror questioned Thursday was allowed to remain on the jury.
TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Mick Trevey will continue LIVE coverage in Chilton next week.
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BEFORE THE TRIAL:
