Prosecutors say a woman?s blood was found on the undercarriage of Charles Eugene Burns? car because he killed her by running her over.
But Harford County Public Defender Lloyd Merriam offered jurors another theory.
The field off Oakington Road in Havre de Grace where Lillian Abramowicz Phelps? body was found June 14 was frequented by people looking for “privacy” to drink, use drugs or have sex, Merriam said.
“The only way the state can connect Mr. Burns is with a spot of blood,” he said in opening statements in Burns? trial Thursday, seeming to imply that the DNA evidence was circumstantial. “There were any number of people other than Ms. Phelps who had been there.”
The 43-year-old Cecil woman was the second of four women whose bodies were found in remote areas of the county between early June and mid-September. Investigators suspect their deaths are related.
Burns, 35, has only been charged in Phelps? case so far, though blood from another woman ? Jennifer Lynn Blankenship, 25, of Aberdeen ? was also found on Burns? Dodge Neon. In pretrial hearings, the defense successfully argued to keep that evidence out of the trial. Burns is also charged with assaulting six other women in separate incidents. Those trials have not been scheduled yet.
Griffith Davis, the owner of the land where Phelps? body was found, testified that he often found litter showing the mile-long lane was the site of illegal dumping and other activities.
“Trash covers a multitude of sins,” he said,describing everything from beer bottles to construction waste that would get dumped along the isolated dirt path.
Merriam also tried to cast doubt on the prosecution?s case by eliciting, under cross-examination Thursday, a Maryland State Police crime scene technician?s admission that there were no broken branches or tire marks in the tall shrubbery that partially obscured the body in crime scene photos.
