04/23/10 (MI):
FBI Expert Testimony Called Into Question
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An FBI agent has testified that the person who killed a New Baltimore couple more than three years ago surprised them with the attack because he knew them. Agent Robert Morton, an expert in crime scene assessment, testified via video hookup from Virginia that the motive for the violent slayings of Ronald G. and Christine Jabalee, both 58, at their home in 2006 was "personal cause."
"The homicide basically occurred as a result of some conflict, either contemporaneous right then or a long-standing conflict … ending with the offender required to kill both," Morton said at an evidentiary hearing.
Ronald F. Jabalee, 41, of Clinton Township, the son of the two victims, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the October 2006 slayings.
Mr. Jabalee was attacked in front of the couple's open garage and later his body dragged into the garage, Morton said.
"They (Ronald G. Jabalee and his assailant) were having a face to face discussion," he said. "Ronald Jabalee suffers defensive wounds."
An "unconcerned" Mrs. Jabalee, who had been sitting on a couch in the living room, must have known the assailant because she walked into the garage carrying a cookie, Morton said.
"She wasn't excited or nervous," he said.
She was attacked inside the garage.
Both victims were beaten with a blunt object and stabbed with a knife, and their bodies left in the garage. Morton said he can't tell which was used first.
Morton's testimony in front of Judge Richard Caretti in Macomb County Circuit Court in downtown Mount Clemens was held as part of Jabalee's attempt to exclude the agent's opinion from his upcoming trial.
Morton concluded the culprit knew the victims well because he or she knew the unique location button that opens the garage door - on the ceiling above the stairwell leading to the door to the house.
Jabalee's defense attorney, Gail Pamukov, countered that the assailant could have used the garage-door opener found in one of the vehicles parked at the home.
Pamukov also argued against allowing Morton's input into the case because his opinion is "unreliable," she said. She noted he wasn't provided all of the evidence. Morton wasn't told that some of the blood DNA found at the scene belonged to an unknown third party, she said.
She also contended the FBI's perceived stature among jurors would be too prejudicial.
"Some jurors will say, 'That's the FBI, they know what they're doing. They know what they're talking about,'" she said. "It's an unreliable opinion that becomes terribly prejudicial. The danger is our client could get convicted on innuendo, not evidence."
Assistant Macomb prosecutor Steven Kaplan countered that Morton's testimony is supposed to be prejudicial, and the defense attorneys will be able to cross-examine him in front of jurors.
"It all goes to the weight" of the evidence, he said. "They might not find him credible."
He said defense lawyers could counter Morton with their own expert witness.
Pamukov also argued Morton's opinion that the victims knew their killer does little to narrow the case. The culprit suggested by Morton "could be one of hundreds of people interviewed in this case," Pamukov said. "Any number could have a conflict with Ron and Christine Jabalee."
But Kaplan noted that Morton is not "profiling" because he doesn't target a certain individual. "He's not saying the son did it," he said.
A trial date has not been set in the case as the parties await the outcome of tests of more than 20 DNA samples from six areas at the slaying scene. The judge approved more tests beyond the original tests after it was learned blood came from an unknown person.
With thanks, MC Daily, © 2010
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