\nLexington High School graduate Kierin Dennis buried the knife he used to kill Dutch Fork High senior Da\u2019Von Capers in a neighbor\u2019s yard. \u00a0That was some of the testimony on Friday in Dennis\u2019 ongoing murder trial Friday at the Lexington County courthouse. \u00a0The courthouse was one of few Midlands government offices open as Hurricane Matthew bore down on South Carolina, forcing mass evacuations and closings across the state.<\/p>\n
As the trial moved into its fifth day, Lexington police department investigator Marc Miramontes took the stand. \u00a0He said that about a week after the Feb. 17, 2014, fatal stabbing of Capers, 17, at a Lexington eatery after a high school basketball between rivals Dutch Fork High School and Lexington High, he learned that the weapon was buried behind Capers\u2019 house. \u00a0Miramontes told the jury – the ground where the knife had been buried \u201clooked disturbed, and it looked like somebody had stepped on it,\u201d .<\/p>\n
Later, SLED agent Maryann Boehm testified that of the two knives found in the box that Miramontes had dug up, one of them had DNA on its blade that matched the DNA taken from Capers\u2019 body the night that he died. \u00a0The odds the DNA on the knife blade belonged to anyone other than Capers were \u201cone in 1.6 quintillion,\u201d said Boehm, a DNA and blood expert.<\/p>\n
Dennis, now 21 but 18 at the time of the killing, is charged with murder and possession of a deadly weapon in the commission of a violent crime. Murder carries a penalty of 30 years to life in prison, but there is a possibility the jury could be allowed to consider manslaughter, which carries a lesser prison sentence.<\/p>\n
Earlier Friday, defense attorney Todd Rutherford tried but failed to get Judge Eugene Griffith to keep evidence of the details of police digging up the knife from the jury.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s enough that the jury knows \u2013 according to testimony earlier in the week \u2013 that Dennis hid the knife and eventually told police where to find it, Rutherford argued. The judge disagreed, letting testimony about the digging up of the knife go before the jury.<\/p>\n
With Hurricane Matthew approaching, and the likelihood that Lexington County sheriff\u2019s deputies would be needed for emergency duty, and jurors having told Judge Griffith they wanted to watch Friday night\u2019s televised Clemson football game, Griffith adjourned court until 9 a.m. Monday.<\/p>\n
Judge Griffith, known for his plain speech, scolded both attorneys for wasting time by going into minute detail that would not make a difference to the trial\u2019s outcome. \u00a0Griffith told prosecutor Shawn Graham and Rutherford with the jury out of the room:\u00a0\u201cYou all are both really beating this jury down.\u201d \u00a0Griffith, gave\u00a0his warning, then added, \u201cI\u2019m going to let you do it. But you are killing the jury.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham, who was questioning a prosecution witness about Dennis\u2019s cell phone records at the time, apparently got the message. Within minutes, he sat down.<\/p>\n
On Friday, prosecutors rested their case. \u00a0On Monday, Dennis may\u00a0take the witness stand.<\/p>\n
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