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Teens Accused In Deadly Homeless Beating In Court

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Nov 16, 2006 2:43 pm US/Eastern

Teens Accused In Deadly Homeless Beating In Court

DNA testing was the issue at the hearing

Next status hearing: Jan. 5

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ― Three teenagers who are accused in the January murder of a Fort Lauderdale homeless man and the beating of two others appeared in a Broward courtroom Thursday morning for a hearing on DNA evidence from the case.
They are William ''Billy'' Ammons, 19; Thomas Daugherty, 17; and Brian Hooks, 19.

At the hearing, their attorneys argued over four DNA samples taken from blood found in Ammons' Chevy Blazer on the night of Jan. 12.

That's when the teens are accused of going on a spree of attacks that killed Norris Gaynor, 49, and sent two others to the hospital, including one attack that was caught on camera.

The three are charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder and have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors told defense attorneys earlier this year that they intended to test four samples of blood found in the Blazer and on a pair of sunglasses in the car. The resulting DNA sample would be compared to the teens' and victims' DNA. The tests would consume the entire samples, each of which comprises a single cotton swab.

Defense attorneys for the three teens asked Broward Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato to have an expert of their own present at the test to ensure proper procedures are followed.

But George Duncan, a Broward Sheriff's Office DNA Unit supervisor, said hosting a guest expert would violate lab protocol, putting his lab's accreditation at risk and possibly contaminating the already minuscule samples.

Prosecutor Brian Cavanagh said that allowing an expert into the lab could affect many cases around the courthouse, because defense attorneys with cases involving DNA evidence could argue that the integrity of the lab was compromised by the outside expert, invalidating the samples in their cases.

Judge Imperato sided with Duncan and prosecutors in her ruling.

''I don't think that it's practical to have other experts in the lab,'' she said.

Mike Dutko, an attorney for Daugherty, asked Imperato to hold off on the tests as the defense explores options for appeal. She agreed, and DNA testing is on hold until the teens return to court for a status hearing on Jan. 5.

((© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this repo)

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