DNA link noted in Beek trial evidence

FLOYD COUNTY COURT

DNA link noted in Beek trial evidence

Prosecution rests in CC woman’s sex abuse trial

It took the prosecution more than an hour to overcome a defense objection, but in the end the witness from the state crime lab testified that Brittany Rae Beek’s DNA was present in a wound on a runaway teen’s abdomen.

That teen, a 16-year-old from Cedar Falls, and another girl, age 15, say they were sexually abused while hiding out at Beek’s Charles City home in early May.

Beek is charged with two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, class C felonies. If convicted, she would face up to 10 years in prison for each count.

On the second day of Beek’s trial Tuesday in Floyd County District Court before a jury of eight women and five men, including alternates, County Attorney Rachel Ginbey presented medical and law enforcement personnel as well as Beek’s roommate and the ex-boyfriend of the Cedar Falls girl as witnesses.

On Monday, Ginbey presented testimony from the two girls and their mothers.

Brenda Crosby of the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation was the final witness of the day and she testified that Beek’s DNA was present in a sample from a wound on the Cedar Falls girl’s abdomen. The girl said the injury, described as a red lesion by medical personnel who examined her after the alleged incident, was from Beek sucking on her.

A blood stain found on a sex toy collected by Charles City Police serving a search warrant on Beek’s home also tested positive for the girl’s DNA, Crosby testified. The girl said Beek used it on her against her will.

As Ginbey attempted to enter Crosby’s test results into evidence and ask the state crime lab official to testify to them, Public Defender Nellie O’Mara objected on the grounds that a proper foundation for the evidence had not been presented. According to her records, the evidence that Crosby purported to use in lab testing was still in the Charles City Police Department and proof that it was delivered to the crime lab was not established.

Ginbey had Lt. Casey Mallory, who delivered the evidence to the crime lab called into court to testify about how the evidence was handled and how he delivered it to the crime lab. The process that led to District Court Judge Colleen Wieland overruling O’Mara’s motion took more than an hour.

Wieland said the “chain of custody” for the evidence — how it was gathered and transferred and who handled it — was sufficient enough to indicate the evidence had not been tampered with.

Ginbey rested her case after Crosby’s testimony. After the jury was sent home for the day, O’Mara asked the judge to throw out the case claiming that Ginbey did not prove her case beyond a reasonable doubt. O’Mara challenged the girls’ testimony saying the Cedar Falls girl changed her story often and the other girl kept answering that she didn’t remember. O’Mara said at least one claim by the Cedar Falls girl about Beek sitting on top of her and removing her leggings was “ridiculous.”

Weiland ruled that Ginbey had presented an adequate case to present the question to the jury.

The trial picks up again today at 9 a.m. in the Floyd County Courthouse. O’Mara will have the opportunity to call witnesses for the defense.

By Chris Baldus cbaldus@charlescitypress.com