Published: July 25, 2008 01:54 am      

Crime lab experts testify in inmate murder trial

Testimony could wrap up today as ME takes the stand

PALESTINE — Jurors in the capital murder trial of a 34-year-old Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmate accused of killing his cellmate two years ago were expected to possibly begin deliberating the defendant’s fate today.

Sam Kilgore, 34, is being tried this week at the Anderson County Courthouse for the murder of Jerry Sinclair who was discovered dead in the pair’s cell at the TDCJ’s Michael Unit in Tennessee Colony on the morning of Aug. 28, 2006.

The prosecution has maintained that Kilgore strangled Sinclair in their cell by using a pair of shoestrings tied together and a piece of torn cloth.

Just two days before the man’s death, Kilgore had complained of Sinclair’s odor, according to this week’s testimony.

Sinclair wore a diaper due to incontinence and had a child-like mentality, testimony also had indicated.

The state is not seeking the death penalty against Kilgore who already was serving a 38-year sentence for a murder conviction out of Galveston County.

If convicted of capital murder, Kilgore would automatically be sentenced to life without parole.

The trial was set to resume at 9 a.m. today, with Dr. Stephen Pustilnik of the Galveston County medical examiner’s office taking the stand.

Pustilnik performed the autopsy on Sinclair’s body.

Following Pustilnik’s testimony, Allyson Mitchell, prosecutor with the state’s Special Prosecution Unit, is expected to rest the state’s case.

Depending on whether defense attorney Barbara Law calls any witnesses, the jury could begin its deliberations sometime today.

On Thursday afternoon, George Alaniz and Kristi Link, both with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s crime laboratory in Garland, took the stand.

Alaniz, a serologist, testified that samples taken from various items in the pair’s cell — including the defendant’s pillow case, clothing and sheet and a white cloth cord — tested “presumptive positive” for blood.

Alaniz, however, could not determine whose blood was on the items.

Link, a DNA expert, told the jury that DNA on a white cloth cord was “predominantly” Sinclair’s, but also included some of Kilgore’s DNA. There was also DNA from “an unknown source,” she further testified.

DNA taken from the shoestrings “primarily” belonged to Sinclair, according to Link, but she stated she could not rule out Kilgore as a possible contributor.

369th State District Judge Bascom W. Bentley III is presiding over this week’s trial.

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Paul Stone may be contacted via e-mail at pstone@palestineherald.com