Expert testifies unborn child could have survived

PITTSBURGH - On the second day of testimony in the capital murder trial of Joseph P. Minerd, the jury heard from several expert witnesses offered by the prosecution.

Minerd, 46, of Bullskin Township stands accused of using a pipe bomb to cause an explosion and fire at a townhouse in Connellsville on New Year's Day 1999, killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Deana Mitts, and her 3-year-old daughter, Kayla.

In Wednesday's session, U.S. Assistant Attorney Shaun Sweeney continued to present the government's case against Minerd by calling Dr. Mary Ann Sens as his first witness of the day. Sens, a pathologist at Ruby Memorial Hospital (West Virginia University), performed autopsies on all three of the victims of the fire.

According to Sens, WVU has a contract with the Fayette County coroner to conduct autopsies and handles approximately 30 to 40 cases from the county every year. In January of 1999, she did autopsies on Mitts, her 3-year-old daughter, and the unborn baby girl.

Sweeney introduced several autopsy photographs and X-rays taken in the course of the examination of Mitts as evidence. Sens testified that Mitts was severely burned on her back and on one side. She had fourth-degree burns, which is the most severe and is characterized by the skin being charred black.

She also said that Mitts' body was very stiff, which is not all that unusual for someone who has died from a fire-related death.

"After death, the body normally stiffens because of chemical changes in the body. In a fire death, the chemical changes occur more quickly because the heat stiffens the muscles. It's very common in a fire death," said Sens.

However, something about this case disturbed her. In a usual fire death, the blood and body tissue stays very red color due to the presence of carbon dioxide, but with Mitts, these areas were not as red as she would expect with a slow fire.

Sens also examined the entire airway from the mouth to the lungs and found no presence of soot, which is normally present when someone dies in a fire. She concluded that the reasons were due to a large explosive or intense fire that burned quickly. The steam from that kind of fire often seals off the airways protecting them from soot and carbon dioxide.

"That whole airway is really important to look at for clues in a fire death," said Sens.

Defense attorney Richard Kammen argued that another explanation for these findings is that the explosion killed Mitts instantly. Sens said she believed the only way that would be true is if the impact was in a critical location like the brain.

In an X-ray, she also found another unusual thing. Sens discovered a round metallic object in Mitts' upper abdomen, which the prosecution maintains is a portion of the end cap of the pipe bomb that was used to cause the explosion.

Sens testified that she removed the disc and turned it over to the police. In another X-ray, Sens discovered a second metal object in Mitts' right hand.

Sens said the fingers around the object were all broken and she did not remove the object.

During her internal examination of Mitts, Sens determined the position of her fetus, checked to see if the baby was viable with normally developed organs and removed the baby from the uterus.

She determined that the baby had already turned in preparation for birth with the feet at the top and the head down towards the mother's pelvis. She also found that the baby was developed and weighed approximately 5 pounds. In fact, she stated that if the baby had been born on that day, she would have survived.

Sens was surprised to find that the baby didn't die just because her mother had as she originally suspected. The baby's cause of death was actually a fractured skull suffered in the womb. Sens concluded that when the metal object found in Mitts' abdomen struck, it forced the baby against the mother's pelvis fracturing her skull.

Although her official cause of death for the mother was the fire, she said the amount of force and tearing of skin in the area of the metal object leads her to believe that it could have killed her with or without the fire.

In cross-examination, Sens admitted that she can't tell whether the split in the skin was caused by the object or by the fire. She said it is true that sometimes thermal injuries can cause such an occurrence.

Sens testified that the 3-year-old's body was more severely burned than her mother's body because she is smaller and doesn't have as much muscle as an adult. Sens testified that the cause of her death was also fire.

In addition, the prosecution offered a retired Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent as an expert in the field of fire and explosions.

William Petraitis, part of an ATF team called to the scene in April of 1999 to investigate, testified that he believed, prior to going, that the fire was caused by a natural gas explosion. However, once he arrived on the scene, he said he knew that wasn't true.

According to Petraitis, there was an unusual amount of fire damage for a natural gas explosion. However, he did believe it was caused by a fuel air explosion. A fuel air explosion, of which natural gas is one type, is when fuel and air is mixed and forms a cloud. If that cloud is ignited, it causes a uniform blast front that blows walls, doors and windows out. Upon arrival, he found evidence of that type of blast.

In addition, he discovered areas of isolated low burning, which is very unusual because fires usually move up and out. An unusual burning situation like that and patterns found within the structure led Petraitis to conclude that some sort of liquid accelerant had been poured in various areas of the apartment.

As part of the investigation, an accelerant detection canine was brought in and samples of residue were taken from the scene. Although several different samples were taken, only one sample came back from the lab as positive for an accelerant. Petraitis said accelerant can be burned away, the application of water can wash away residue and accelerant can simply evaporate.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Jay McCamic argued that the scene could have been contaminated because of the time between the fire and ATF's investigation and the amount of people who came in and out of the scene during that time. He also pointed out that the burn patterns could have been caused by falling fire debris, melting plastic and other factors.

Petraitis responded that for just that reason, he looks not just at burn patterns but other indicators.

Sweeney's final witness for the day was Lou Weiers, an ATF agent who was part of the evidence recovery team at the apartment in April, the search of Minerd's house on April 16, 1999, and Minerd's property in September 1999.

Weiers testified that shortly after arriving at the townhouse, three pieces of the pipe from the pipe bomb were discovered. For Weiers, there was no doubt as to what he had found.

"I knew that it was a piece of a fragment from a pipe bomb," said Weiers. "It was split not in a straight line. It had to have burst by some other process."

In addition to introducing photographs taken during the investigation, Sweeney also introduced the actual pieces of pipe and other fragments found at that time.

After attaining a search warrant, Weiers, other ATF agents and members of the Connellsville Police Department searched Minerd's home and recovered several pieces of evidence, including photographs of a drill press in the basement, a drill press in the upstairs, a cedar chest filled with bottles of gun powder and a receipt from a hardware store from November of 1998.

Kammen questioned Weiers as to why certain things were recovered at the house and others were not - specifically receipts. He introduced photographs of various receipts lying around the house that ATF agents did not confiscate.

Although Weiers didn't have an answer for him, he did admit that the home was obviously still under construction and noticed a number of construction items, tools, building supplies and automotive parts lying around the house.

He returned to Minerd's residence in September to participate a search of the property in hopes of finding other pipe fragments, but nothing was recovered. Canines were also brought in to search the area. Although the dogs were alerted to explosive residues in the area, no residue was found that would have caused the alert.