The prosecution introduced the bulk of its forensic evidence in addition to key witness testimony on Friday in the second-degree murder trial of former University student Andrew Alston. Alston is accused of second-degree murder in the Nov. 8, 2003 stabbing death of Charlottesville resident Walker Sisk.
Fourth-year College student Elizabeth Cavness testified that Alston and three of his friends briefly stopped by her apartment on 14th Street between 10:30 and 11 p.m. on the night of Nov. 7, 2003, before going out to bars on the Corner. Cavness said she was first introduced to Alston two months earlier by an apartment-mate who worked with him at an internship during the summer.
According to Cavness, Alston and two of his friends returned to her apartment between 1:30 and 2 a.m. the same night, turning the lights off as they entered.
"I heard the word 'fight' and kept asking what was going on," she said.
After about 15 minutes, Cavness suggested that the three men, who she described as being very drunk, continue their conversation in her bedroom.
Cavness said she also noticed one of Alston's hands wrapped up in his shirt but did not see any blood. When questioned, Alston responded that his hand was "fine." He was later treated at the University Hospital for a cut on his right hand.
Cavness said the group remained in her room for about an hour before Alston's brother, Ken, left the apartment to allegedly have a cigarette.
While Ken was gone, Cavness said a policeman knocked at her door and asked her if there had been an altercation in her apartment. Cavness replied that no such altercation had occurred.
Ken returned while the officer was still present, at which point the officer asked Cavness if she knew Ken and if she wanted him to be arrested.
Cavness said she may have met Ken earlier but did not see any reason for the officer to arrest him.
Cavness then testified that a half an hour later, two police officers arrived, saying they had followed a trail of blood to her apartment. During this time, Ken arrived back at the apartment, knocked over a police evidence marker, and was arrested for being drunk in public. A breathalyzer test administered hours later placed him well above the legal limit.
The officers asked Cavness if Andrew was inside the apartment and requested to come inside. Though they did not have a warrant, Cavness eventually consented, and the officers found Alston asleep on her bed.
The officers later testified that they entered the bedroom with their guns drawn. They said Andrew was uncooperative and refused to show his injured right hand, at which point the officers grabbed him from the bed and handcuffed him, placing him under arrest.
In a sidebar with the judge following Cavness' testimony -- during which the jury was not present -- Asst. Commonwealth Attorney Jon Zug said Cavness had given "surprise testimony" that was partially inconsistent with statements given to the police months earlier.
"There are significant differences between what she said today and what she said in interviews," Zug said.
In her statements to police, Cavness denied that a friend of hers, Simon, had been present for part of the evening, Zug said, including when Alston and his friends returned to the apartment.
Zug also claimed that there were discrepancies pertaining to the time and duration of Ken's departure for a cigarette break within Cavness's testimony and with her earlier statements to the police.
Zug emphasized that the timeline of Ken's actions is important in determining if he had enough time after leaving to dispose of an alleged weapon.
In his ruling, Charlottesville Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire said Cavness's testimony would not be stricken from the record but that he would allow the prosecution to recall her later if necessary.
The prosecution then called a handful of officers from the Charlottesville Police Department who gave similar accounts of the events leading up to and following Alston's arrest.
Officers said they followed a trail of blood from where the death occurred at the intersection of Wertland Street and 14th Street to Cavness's apartment. Alston was arrested and taken to the emergency room while in the custody of Charlottesville Police Officer Mark Frazier.
As Zug presented photographs of the lengthy blood trail to the jury, he had Frazier describe the process of following nearly every drop of the blood trail. When Hogshire suggested that such detail was unnecessary, Zug insisted on its importance and the defense declined to object.
Another point of contention arose when Frazier began to testify about conversations he overheard between Alston and his doctor in regard to how he had sustained the cut on his hand -- information Alston had refused to give the police.
Defense attorney John Zwerling then objected, claiming the officer violated Alston's Miranda rights by presenting some information obtained from the medical exam.
Hogshire said Zwerling's objection "could be an important issue" and ruled the testimony inadmissible, but said the issue could be revisited if the prosecution could cite a precedent set by case law.
The prosecution submitted several pieces of evidence throughout the officers' testimony, including car keys with dried blood on them taken from Ken, as well as bags of blood-stained clothing from Andrew and Sisk.
Charlottesville Police Officer Steven Knitt and Detective Mark Fields described their efforts to secure the crime scene and process any evidence from the scene. Through Zug's line of questioning, the officers described a crime scene with parameters that would have made it possible for Ken to dispose of a weapon without encountering police.
Blood found on Andrew's keys and on the ignition and gearshift of his 1996 Jeep Cherokee parked across 14th street was analyzed by Lisa Schiermeier, a forensic scientist at the central laboratory of the Department of Criminal Justice Services in Richmond.
Prior to Schiermeier's testimony, a motion by Zwerling to disallow evidence regarding the Jeep was rejected by Hogshire.
"They [the defense] want to say that there is no proof that Ken was at that car. Well here it is judge, here is the proof," Zug said.
The blood found on the keys, in the car, and on a shirt found beneath a nearby car was determined not to be Sisk's and was consistent with Alston's, Schiermeier said. However, her analysis did not allow for dating of the blood stains, which Zwerling suggested could have resulted from a prior injury.
In a pretrial hearing, the fact that the Jeep had been driven back to Pennsylvania and then returned to Charlottesville after the events was ruled inadmissible.
Schiermeier also testified that the blood at the crime scene was not Alston's and was consistent with Sisk's, and the blood on Alston's clothing and his Jeep was not Sisk's and was consistent with Alston's.
"I did not detect any of Andrew's blood on Mr. Sisk nor did I find any of Mr. Sisk's on Andrew," Schiermeier testified.
Because only representative samples from the clothing were tested, however, Schiermeier left open the possibility that some blood mixing had occurred.
With one prosecution witness remaining, Hogshire dismissed the jury for the weekend and took up a procedural dispute between Zug and Zwerling in his chambers.
The defense is expected to begin presenting its case when the trial resumes today.
--Staff Writer Alex Sellinger and Senior Writer Jason Amirhadji contributed to this report.
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