The judge considered a defense motion to dismiss the case against Vincent Brothers based on irreparable damage done to evidence. Technicans used a reagent called ninhydryn to lift latent fingerprints from a restaurant credit card receipt in Columbus, Ohio. The reagent turned the receipt dark blue to black, rendering it illegible. The receipt is from a Chinese food restaurant, where Brothers allegedly paid on July 3. The defense says the damage denies Brothers’ right to a fair trial. The judge says he will take the issue under consideration, saying he needs to decide how key the receipt is, and whether other evidence can take it’s place. There also the possibility (however remote) the prosecution could stipulate the fact Brothers signed the receipt.
The judge also rejected a bid by the defense to present gas store surveillance tapes to the jury. The tapes were taken from a handful gas stores along the route the prosecution says Brothers took from Columbus to Bakersfield to commit the murders. Both sides concede Brothers does not seem to appear on any of the tapes, but the prosecution says that doesn’t prove anything because there are thousands of possible places to stop for gas. The defense said they hired an investigator to drive cross-country. The investigator reports that none of the gas stations east of Las Vegas allow you to pay at the pump. The judge ruled that’s irrelevant because the prosecution simply contends Brothers paid with cash, not necessarily at the pump.
Finally, prosecutor Lisa Green said she wants to present evidence that Vincent Brothers vomited several times after the murders. Detectives say Brothers appeared to dry heave at the police station in Elizabeth City, North Carolina (where Brothers was meeting his mother). The prosecutor theorizes that Brothers vommitted in the backyard on the concrete slab after the murders. A neighbor, Jasper Robinson, said he saw Brothers hosing down that slab around dusk. The prosecutor says that’s a reasonable explanation why Brothers was using the hose. The defense says there is no evidence Brothers threw up. There was no debris found around the patio area, and defense attorneys said the neighbor would have heard Brothers throw up. The judge said he will take the issue under consideration.
