LARISSA SCHUSTER, DAY 5

ANANTDEEP KANG/SCHUSTER'S FORMER EMPLOYEE
Day five of the Larissa Schuster trial got underway at 10:06 a.m. Prosecutor Dennis Peterson asked the witness about her employment. She worked for CCRL on Jennifer Ave. in the city of Fresno. She was a quality insurance officer. She was a part-time employee who worked two to three days a week for several hours a day. She was familiar with the various people who worked at the lab. She was familiar with Leslie Dobbs. Kang knew Larissa Schuster. She pointed out the defendant in court. Her hours were flexible at the CCRL lab. She only went there during regular business hours. She never needed to use the keypad on the alarm system. Peterson displayed exhibit 67, the log of the alarm. On July 12, 3;26 a.m. the alarm was set. She said she never used the code. The blue barrel was shown to the witness,

10:11 a.m. He asked her if she saw a blue barrel like the one in the courtroom in 2003. She said she saw one in the archive room. Only a few people at the business had access to the archive room. She doesn't remember exactly when she saw the barrel, but it was in the summer of 2003. Her relationship with Schuster,

10:12 a.m. it was a good relationship. They talked about their personal lives. Peterson asked her if Larissa Schuster ever talked about harming her husband.

10:13 a.m. Peterson asked her if Schuster ever hoped him ill? The defendant said, "no." The prosecutor further asked if she ever wanted him dead. The witness said, "not in so many words." She said there was news on the television about a woman running over her husband. She said Schuster said if she could do that and get away with it, she would. Kang said the statement didn't surprise her because the Schusters were going through a bitter divorce and she was angry.
Defense attorney Roger Nuttall began his cross examination of the witness. He first confirmed that he had never spoken to Kang before. She said she liked her job at CCRL. She started working there in 2001. She had been there a couple of years before the summer of 2003. He asked the witness about this being a bitter divorce.

10:16 a.m. Kang said Leslie Dobbs and other people were in the area when Larissa Schuster made the comment about doing the same thing if she could get away with it. Kang talked to a police officer about the statement. The officer called her and interviewed her.

10:17 a.m. Nuttall asked her if she told the officer Larissa Schuster was just venting and didn't mean anything by it. The defense attorney then asked about the various equipment in the lab. She said stuff was all over the place. She said there was a lot of equipment that are unique to a chemical laboratory.
The witness was excused at 10:22 a.m.

DR. JOHN TRADDIE/DNA EXPERT
The next witness to take the stand was Dr. John Taddie, formerly of Long Beach Genetics. He was sworn at 10:23 a.m. He is a consultant to the DNA testing division of Lab Corp. He worked at Long Beach Genetics through 2006. The witness described the accreditation the lab holds. He said it adhered to specific guidelines. He was a lab manager. He dealt with all operations at the lab. He received education from Penn State and Cornell. He discussed his organization involvement and various appointments and honors. He's evaluated around 45,000 cases. He's supervised around 125,000. He's testified in 46 cases. He receives compensation for his time when he testifies. DNA is the genetic material found in the cells of our bodies. It makes up chromosomes and genes. About 99.5% of humans DNA is identical. The other half percent is used for human identification and paternity. An example of that, would be a blood test. There are four billion people on the earth. You could exclude people based on blood type. DNA is measured in the lab, it varies by how long the genes are. The witness brought a spool of white string. He used it to show the difference in DNA. Within the cell, there are 23 pairs of chromosomes that can be further subdivided into sections. Those sections can be referred to as genes. The genes may demonstrate hair and eye color. Those traits are not their concern. They want to test for other things. For every chromosome there are two versions. Taddie pulled out a second spool of string, blue in color. He demonstrated with the string how to discern the genes a scientist would want to consider. They generally test around 13 genes. The logic in doing a parentage evaluation, Taddie demonstrated with a blue string and white string. A child inherits exactly half of its DNA from the mother and exactly half of its DNA from the father. They measure the chance of the alleged parent matching. Then they compute a genetic likelihood that that person is the parent of a particular child. There are no tests that absolutely prove someone is a parent. You can't measure every person on the earth. In regards to the Clovis Police Dept., it asked Taddie to determine if the remains were Tim Schuster

10:45 a.m. Without any further instruction. The lab received the Department of Justice's genetic profile results. There are two ways to test a body. If you have the remains and a reference sample that is indisputably from that victim, a technician can compare them. If they are identical, the odds are extremely high that they are one in the same person. In this case, there was no reference sample. They used relationship testing of close relatives. Timothy Schuster's mother and daughter were used. The DOJ collected reference samples.

10:47 a.m. The lab computed likelihood that the two people were related to the person whose remains the lab had. Dr. Arthur Wong computed the information. Dr. Taddie evaluated the report. Taddie looked at a document the prosecution provided. It's the report of the calculations of the male victim remains. In the report in exhibit 80, the finds were, the DOJ found that Shirley Schuster is the mother of Timothy Schuster. She could not be excluded. Then a genetic likelihood was computed. There was a very high likelihood that Shirley Schuster was the mother. The report was displayed for the jurors. Taddie pointed out what the figures mean. They used femur marrow from the male victim. A swab was taken from Shirley Schuster. Shriley Schuster sat in the gallery with her son's close friends Mary and Robert Solis. Robert Solis testified on the second day of the trial. Taddie described the report showing there's a 99.9% likelihood Shirley Schuster is the mother of the person to whom the remains belonged. A similar test was performed regarding Kristin Schuster's reference sample. Similar results were also obtained.

At 11:12 a.m. Roger Nuttall began his cross examination. Taddie believes Sgt. Cook was the person who wrote to him regarding the remains of Timothy Schuster. The request was made in early March, results were sent to Fresno around the middle of March. Taddie has no personal knowledge as to whey the request was made at that time. Nuttall pointed out there is an extremely high likelihood Shirley Schuster is the mother. DNA is commonly used in any number of areas to determine identity. Nuttall pointed out various examples of how DNA testing is utilized, such as an envelope licked shut, could be compared to a swab. His lab doesn't do criminal forensic testing, such as items collected at a crime scene. There are a lot of labs available to law enforcement capable of testing.

The day of testimony ended at 11:12 a.m.

Testimony continues Monday at 9:30 a.m. Witnesses who will likely be called to the stand include

The prosecution anticipates completing its case by the end of next week. Nuttall will begin the defense's case around Nov. 6.