The banality of forensics

Much evidence presented at trial is surprisingly mundane.

Prosecutor Pete Magrino paraded crumpled paper bag after cardboard box after paper bag past forensic experts this morning, asking them to identify evidence and testify to its purity. At this point, jurors could only see flashes of the items in question.

But when they did, the glimpses were hardly enticing -- trash bag boxes, speaker wire, pieces of a glass tabletop -- found in such routine places as "in the closet," or "on top of the refrigerator."

Still, in the context of this crime, the everyday household items take on an Eerie quality. That's the speaker wire that bound the little girl's hands. That's the box that held trash bags she was wrapped in.

Given their uncommon significance, these particular items have been preserved and packaged, dusted and sealed. Expert Stephen Stark evaluated each piece of evidence, noting which had been swabbed or tested for fingerprints.

Then fingerprint expert Wes Zackery took the stand.

"Mr. Zackery, what does that say right there? Magrino asked, referring to a cardboard box.

"Domino's Pizza," Zackery responded.

There was nothing spectacular about the trappings of this crime.

-- Elena Lesley