By Loretta Park

FARMINGTON -- Two bloody fingerprints that were identified as belonging to one of the defendants charged with the 7-year-old murder of a Woods Cross Motel 6 night clerk will not be used as evidence.

The fingerprints have been identified instead as those of the victim, not defendant David Valken-Leduc, said Davis County Deputy Attorney Bill McGuire in a written statement released to the Standard-Examiner Friday.

Valken-Leduc has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting of Matthew John Whicker, 30, of Kaysville Oct. 29, 1996. Whicker was shot twice as he staffed the night desk at the motel in what police called a botched robbery.

McGuire, the lead prosecutor on the case, said that after forensic expert Scott Spjut"s death Jan. 2 a re-examination of the fingerprints was required "to obtain the opinion of an examiner to present testimony in a trial setting." Spjut testified in the preliminary hearing that the fingerprints belonged to Valken-Leduc.

The Utah State Crime Lab did the examination, and "the examiners have excluded (Valken-Leduc) as having produced the fingerprints. Rather, the fingerprints have been identified as being those of the victim, Matthew John Whicker," McGuire said.

Rich Townsend, director of the Bureau of Forensics Services, which is part of the state crime lab, said Friday his staff "found enough significant differences" in the patterns, ridge flows, ridge counts and ridge points of the fingerprints they did not feel there was an identification of the fingerprints.

He said that shortly after Spjut"s death county prosecutors asked the state to review the fingerprints. After his staff made independent examinations of the fingerprints and concluded that there was a mistake, they pulled other cases Spjut was involved in. Spjut worked for the state crime lab until 1997. Townsend said they did not find any other problems.

Double check
"Of course, when something like this happens, you have concerns, so you double check things. We checked, and we have no concerns on our part other than this," Townsend said.
Townsend said he does not know how Spjut, who was recognized throughout the state and the nation for his fingerprinting skills, made the mistake.

"Unfortunately he's dead, and he's not here to answer these questions. We wish he was. He was very passionate about his work," Townsend said.

Mark R. Moffat, president of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said Spjut was always upfront about evidence, but "if there is an instance where misidentification has happened, yes, that is grounds for a new trial." He said he believes other criminal defense attorneys across the state may be reviewing cases where a fingerprint made the difference in a case.

Expert dead
Spjut, 38, died after accidentally shooting himself in the chest while examining a high-powered rifle in the West Valley City's crime lab.

In August at a preliminary hearing for the defendants in the Motel 6 murder, he testified in great detail that the two fingerprints in a photograph were those of Valken-Leduc. Spjut, who was working for the state in 1996, was called to the scene by Woods Cross police to help investigate the murder. Spjut had testified in a number of high-profile cases throughout the state.

Attorney Aric Cramer was recently hired to defend Valken-Leduc. Bill Albright, a public defender who had been assigned to defend Valken-Leduc, withdrew from the case in January after the defendant's family hired Cramer.

"I have had serious doubts and misgivings about the fingerprint evidence from the beginning. I"m glad they (the prosecutors) looked at it again, and they caught it," Cramer said.
Moffat said, "Whomever it was at the crime lab that discovered the misidentification (of fingerprints) should be commended. And the prosecution should be commended also for bringing this information forward."

Cases to go forward
Prosecutors do plan to go forward with the case at this time.

"All evidence is being reviewed with the intent of taking the cases to trial. Any further change in status of the cases will be addressed during court proceedings," McGuire said in the news release.

Spjut had testified at the preliminary hearing that investigators met in October 2001 to go over evidence and that's when the photograph with the fingerprints was found.

He said when he saw the photograph of the fingerprints, it came "as a surprise to me. They were not in my notes." Spjut said the photograph was taken by investigators examining blood splatters.

Spjut was assigned to analyze the fingerprints in the photograph during that meeting. The fingerprints were photographed during the initial investigation on a door frame close to where Whicker's body lay.

Spjut had said he compared the fingerprints -- a right thumb and a right forefinger -- to those of 40 others on file who were at the scene and the only ones that matched were Valken-Leduc's.

Valken-Leduc was arrested in November 2001 and booked in the Davis County Jail. He was released on $100,000 bail. McGuire said at that time, the police had suspected Valken-Leduc all along but never had obtained enough evidence to lead to charges until then.

Now the only evidence linking Valken-Leduc and codefendant Elliott Rashad Harper to the scene is a statement made by Todd Jeremy Rettenberger in March 2002. Harper, who is being held in the Davis County Jail on $75,000 bail, and Valken-Leduc are being tried in separate trials. Rettenberger had pleaded guilty at the same time he made the statement to second-degree felony manslaughter for his role in the murder. He was released shortly after signing an affidavit that implicated the two men, as well as himself, in the murder.

Rettenberger served 5 1/2 years in the Davis County Jail while awaiting a trial. During that time period several others were arrested and charged with the murder, but released.

 

© 2003 The Standard Examiner