December 23, 2024
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Expert: Skowhegan teen was killed outside home

SKOWHEGAN – It is unlikely that 16-year-old Cody Green was murdered inside the Bowdoin home occupied by the construction worker accused in her slaying, a forensic scientist testified Monday.

Olland Reese, 20, is on trial in Somerset County Superior Court in connection with the 16-year-old Brunswick girl’s death last year.

Marilyn Miller, an expert in blood spatter who teaches at the University of New Haven, testified as the trial entered its second week and Reese’s defense got under way.

“I don’t believe that Cody Green was killed inside the home based on the evidence that I saw,” Miller testified, while admitting that did not consider blood found on a futon cover soaked with blood.

Miller’s testimony raises the possibility that Green could have been murdered outside the home by someone other than Reese, said defense lawyer Andrews Campbell.

Also on Monday, Justice Thomas Warren ruled that defense lawyers could introduce an alternate suspect to the jury at a later date.

Campbell and co-counsel William Maselli said Christopher Brawn was indicted for raping Green three months before she was killed, though the charge was later dismissed.

Maselli told the judge that Brawn, who hails from the Lewiston-Auburn area, had a motive to kill Green.

“We’ve got witnesses who saw him in the presence of the victim on the day before she disappeared,” he added.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said she would not object if the jury was told about the man’s indictment and the charge’s subsequent dismissal.

Prosecutors also agreed Monday to test fingerprints found on the duct tape used to bind Green’s hands after testimony showed they did not belong to Reese.

Miller was allowed to testify before prosecutors finished presenting their case because prior obligations would have prevented her from taking the stand later in the trial.

The state is expected to rest its case on Thursday.


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