SPRINGFIELD — No DNA or fingerprint evidence linked David Chalue to the murder of three Pittsfield men, according to testimony Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court.
Trooper Michael O’Neil told the jury in Chalue’s murder trial that he was unable to get any fingerprints or only partial, unusable prints, from most of the evidence tested in the case. This included a gun cleaning kit taken from the Hells Angels clubhouse in Lee and a Jack Daniels whiskey bottle found at the Daniel Cole property in Becket, where the remains of David Glasser, Edward Frampton and Robert Chadwell were discovered, he said.
The plastic bags in which the remains were found were covered in soil and other debris and were oily, said the witness, and he was unable to get any prints from them.
According to O’Neil, there are several factors that can prevent fingerprint evidence from being obtained, from the presence of water to the type of surface that was touched.
He said they were able to get usable prints from several water bottles found in the Jeep of Chalue’s co-defendant, Caius Veiovis, which were matched to Chalue, Veiovis and the third defendant, Adam Lee Hall.
Under cross-examination, it was revealed a fourth set of fingerprints matching those of Eric Fox, were found on a water bottle, also taken from the Jeep.
Fox isn’t facing charges, but was identified as being with Veiovis allegedly doing "counter surveillance" on the DA’s Office and shopping with Veiovis at the Home Depot when it’s alleged the men asked for directions to where the saws were kept.
Jessica Hart, a DNA analyst at the state police crime lab, also testified Wednesday, telling the jury there was no DNA evidence linking Chalue, 47, or the other two defendants, to the crimes.
She said in some cases there wasn’t enough DNA present to test items, including a black tank top and a piece of floor mat from the dark blue Elantra that was connected to the case.
The whiskey bottle also had too little DNA present to be tested while several firearms found during a search of the Hells Angels clubhouse didn’t have any DNA of the defendants, she said.
Hart said there were difficulties with some of the evidence tested because of their condition, especially those related to the victims’ remains. She said they even had trouble getting a blood sample from two of the victims because there wasn’t enough blood and had to resort to extracting DNA from their bones.
In going through the case, there were difficulties, including degradation of samples, she said, with the DNA strands starting to fall apart.
She told the jury that wearing gloves would help keep a person’s DNA off of items they handled.
The trial continues this afternoon.
