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tArnished 159 21 tarnished By 2009, a top-secret, federal grand jury probe consisting of sixteen citizens was reviewing the 2006 Murdock double murder case. On March 19, the target of the federal grand jury’s investigation agreed to appear and testify. “Mr. Witness, will you please state your name and spell your last name?” First assistant U.S. attorney William Mickle asked. “David W. Kofoed. it’s spelled K-O-F-O-e-D.” Kofoed worked for Douglas county Sheriff Tim Dunning and had managed the county crime lab for the past tenyears,he explained. He also brought along a prepared statement. “essentially, the most important thing is, i am here voluntarily,” Kofoed testified. “I will answer any question that you guys ask of me—all of you. i have nothing to hide here at all.” He told grand jurors he truly respected america’s criminal justice system as the best in the world. He mentioned how he respected law enforcement. His late father was an Omaha police officer for twenty-eight years. “I really hope that we can find the truth here. That’s all i’m trying to do,” Kofoed added.1 Kofoed also sought to reassure grand jurors that his crime lab continued to have a top-notch reputation. “We’ve gotten calls from assistant U.S. attorneys for advice, even in the last month, and we’ve actually done some pretty good casework, specifically, for the Secret Service and ATF. So whatever the allegation is against me personally, i still have access to every bit of that lab,” Kofoed testified. “I make the calls on everything that goes on there, and I feel like no one has really lost any confidence in our ability to do our job, and to be, most importantly, to be neutral in what we do.” Kofoed’s testimony in the closed-door proceeding lasted about three hours. Federal Prosecutor Mickle and his boss, U.S. attorney Joe Stecher, took turns 159 160 bloody lies questioning the prominent and chatty witness. Kofoed took a huge gamble by showing up. His testimony could later be used against him in a criminal court of law in the event that he was indicted. On the witness stand, Kofoed confirmed for grand jurors that he had gone back and reprocessed Will Sampson’s Ford contour on the afternoon of april 27, 2006. The Sheriff’s impound facility was six blocks away from his crime lab in northwest Omaha. Kofoed testified the request to reexamine the car came from NSP investigator Bill lambert during a phone call. “Do you recall what he was asking for you to examine on that car?” asked Mickle. “Yes,” Kofoed replied. “He told me that Matt livers had confessed and that he had thrown, or his partner in the crime had thrown the weapon in the backseat of the car, and he wanted us to go back and check the backseat to see if we could find any kind of residue or indication that the weapon had been back there.” Kofoed testified his trusted forensic scientist, CL Retelsdorf, accompanied him to the impound lot. Both cSis arrived in separate vehicles. Kofoed signed out the car’s key. at the lot, Kofoed reached into one of his forensic testing kits, he testified. He allegedly grabbed multiple Q-tip swabs and filter papers to conduct various presumptive blood tests. The filter papers resemble little disks, or communion hosts distributed at catholic mass, Kofoed explained to grand jurors. He testified that he used some Q-tip swabs from his bloodtesting kit. The black kit also contained alcohol, the chemical phenophthalein, and hydrogen peroxide. First, Kofoed checked underneath the driver’s seat, then he tested the center console, and finally, to the best of his memory, an area in the car that a pant leg might brush up against. He told the grand jurors that he performed several different chemical tests with q-tip swabs inside the vehicle, eventually putting each of his discarded q-tip swabs into a paper sack, which he marked with the word “trash.” Kofoed testified the first couple of tests generated the same results. “Negative. There was no reaction,” he said. “and i presume you put that swab, then, in your paper sack, also?” asked Mickle. “Yes, yes.” The witness later testified he conducted several more chemical tests that afternoon with the q-tip swabs, trying to locate blood in the car. [3.138.125.2] Project MUSE (2024-04...

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