A. When I collect fingernail swabs, I put them in. And then after they dry, I put them into a. I seal those boxes, I put them into an envelope

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1 swabs by any chance? A. When I collect fingernail swabs, I put them in the dryer. And then after they dry, I put them into a box. I seal those boxes, I put them into an envelope that I seal and initial. And then that goes into the kit. And once I seal the kit and that kit is released to the crime lab -- to the police. all I do. After that, that's 0 Q. So, you conduct no analysis of any kind on the swab from the fingernails; is that correct? A. That's correct. Q. You do not know if anybody else would have done that; is that correct? A. No one that I know of. Q. Okay. And, certainly, no one at your direction would have done? You didn't say: Do an analysis of these swabs? A. That's correct. No further questions at this 0 time. Very briefly, Judge. REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY Q. Mr. Greenlee was talking to you about evidence of sexual assault outside of what she had told you. We

2 do have things that you found that corroborate what she had told you, correct? A. That's correct. Q. Such as? A. The abrasions on her neck is consistent with the strangulation that she told me about. Q. Okay. And there were abrasions on both sides of the neck, correct? A. There was abrasions on the right side of the 0 neck. And on the left side of the neck, there was point tenderness. Q. That would be consistent with a thumb, would it not? A. It's possible. Q. Just like the abrasions would be consistent with fingers, correct? A. Correct. Pass the witness. RECROSS-EXAMINATION 0 BY Q. Could it be possible, Ms. Oldham, that those scratches and/or abrasions could have gotten there some other way? A. It's possible. Q. So, your testimony is not saying this is

3 absolutely how it got there? A. That's correct. No further questions. Nothing further from this witness. I'm concerned. She may be excused as far as You are excused. Thank you, ma'am. 0 Call your next witness. THE BAILIFF: Sergeant Cliff Blomberg. This witness needs to be sworn, Judge. 0 (Witness sworn) C.S. BLOMBERG, having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY Q. Please introduce yourself to the jury and spell your name for our court reporter. A. I'm C.S. Blomberg. I'm a retired sergeant from the Houston Police Department. B-l-o-m-b-e-r-g. Last name is Q. And currently do you work for the Houston Police Department?

4 A. No, I do not. Q. Okay. Why not? A. I decided to retire in October of 0. Q. Okay. How long had you been with HPD? A. Thirty years. Q. Now, during your 0 years, let's break that down. Where were you? You started off in patrol, I presume? A. Right. Well, you start off in the academy and 0 you're a cadet and then graduate from there. I spent the first years as a patrol officer working the streets. Just about all of that was nightshift. After that, I promoted in July of 0 to sergeant and spent a year in the jail as a supervisor in the jail at Westside. And after that year, I became a -- went back to patrol and was a patrol sergeant for another six years. And in August of, I became an investigative sergeant in the Family Violence Unit and spent about six years there. And another six years I finished up in the 0 Sex Crimes Unit. Q. And let me ask you if you can give the jury kind of a thumbnail sketch as to the type of training you had for investigating things like sex crimes? A. We attend in-service training throughout every year. And after -- even in patrol, we're exposed to

5 some of that. And there was continuing in-service training, as I was an investigator also. Plus, there were other officers and sergeants when you first came in that gave you some training also. Q. And in the interest of full disclosure, you and I have worked together before? A. Yes. Q. Let's go through the basics of a sexual assault investigation. In any sexual assault investigation, 0 usually you have a patrolman that shows up first, right? A. That's right. May we approach? You may. (At the Bench, on the record) I'm going to object to this line of questioning. involved in this case. person. I don't think this officer was I thought he was the buccal swab He did an investigation on 0 it, but the main thing is the buccal swab. I think any other testimony with regard to talking about sexual assault, I think it's irrelevant from this witness. Judge, this is my witness. He can still give irrelevant

6 0 testimony and I can object to that. I don't think that precludes that, the objection anything. I think that how a sexual 0 assault investigation works in a sexual assault case is relevant. I think he's right. Overruled. (Open court, defendant and jury present) Q. (By Mr. McClees) Usually the first person to respond is a patrol officer; is that correct? A. That's correct. Q. He makes a report? A. Correct. This is leading. I'd ask that he ask a question. I'll rephrase. Overruled. 0 Q. (By Mr. McClees) When a report is generated, what happens next? A. It's -- usually by the next day it shows up in the sex crimes office after it's been printed out overnight. Q. Okay. And from there, what happens? A. All the cases that are made from the previous day are gathered up, they're taken to our -- what we call the admin sergeant and he looks through the reports

7 and divides them up amongst the two squads we had at the in our unit. Q. You were not the admin sergeant? A. No, I was not. Q. You were a sergeant of one of the two squads? A. One of the squads. Q. Okay. And from there, the report goes from the admin sergeant to you and what do you do? A. I get the reports and I divide them up amongst 0 my officers. I had at the time five or six officers. I'd normally keep one for myself. If I wasn't too busy 0 supervising their cases, I would work one of the cases also. Q. So, you get the initial information from the report and then you decide how much further investigation is necessary depending on a case-by-case basis? A. That's correct. Q. Okay. Now, in this situation, you got the report, correct? A. Yes, I did. Q. Did you assign it out or did this one stay with you? A. This one I decided to keep for myself. Q. Any particular reason or is it --

8 0 A. No. It just helps distribute the workload. Q. And in doing that, did you see there was potentially the need for a buccal swab? A. Yes, I did. Q. And we'll go over that in just a minute. Don't go into anything he said, but did you have an opportunity to meet, albeit briefly, with Brittaney Rivers? A. Yes, I did. Q. Okay. That had to be re-scheduled a couple of times? A. It did. Q. Was that because of kids or -- A. Mostly -- This is leading, Your Honor. I'll ask it open-ended. I'm sorry. Please. 0 Q. (By Mr. McClees) So, I believe you said you needed -- well, let me ask you this. A buccal swab -- A. Right. Q. -- what is a buccal swab? A. It's basically you take a Q-tip. I would use two normally. (indicating). And it's a long Q-tip about that long And you swab the inside of somebody's

9 0 mouth. Q. Let me ask you this. For purposes of the record, you said about that long. A. Right. Q. You held your fingers out. Would that be about -- A. About inches or so. Q. So, you take it. Does it come in certain packaging? A. It comes in like a sterile white package. There's two in a package. It's paper. 0 Q. And you're shown how to do this? A. Yes. Q. Have you done a buccal swab or two in your day? A. Yes, I have. Q. Do you have an idea of how many? A. No, I don't. A few hundred. Q. You open it up and it's this long Q-tip. What do you do with this long Q-tip? A. We put on gloves, for one thing, sterile gloves. And then we'll ask the person we need the buccal swab from to open their mouth and we insert the buccal swab -- I do it one at a time -- and rub the inside of their cheeks in the upper pallet and below their tongue to collect skin cells, basically, is what

10 we're doing. Q. You collect the skin cells. What's the purpose of collecting those? A. Later on for DNA comparison and analysis. Q. That would be to compare the known sample from the person you took to the sample of whatever you're trying to get DNA from? A. That's correct. Q. So, now in this case you spoke to Brittaney 0 Rivers. And after speaking with her, did you come to the conclusion that you needed to get buccal swabs from one person or multiple? A. Two people. Q. Okay. Was one of those people a -- This is leading, Your Honor. Q. (By Mr. McClees) Who were the people? A. I determined, after speaking to her, that I needed to get a buccal swab from a consensual -- what she described as a consensual sex partner. 0 Objection. What's your objection, sir? First of all, this is nonresponsive. It's hearsay. Sustained. Q. (By Mr. McClees) All right. How many buccal

11 swabs did you get? A. I obtained two sets of buccal swabs. Q. Okay. Who were they from? A. One was from Kevin Queeny and Mr. Penright, Carlton Penright. Q. What made you think you needed a buccal swab from Kevin Queeny? A. He was a consensual sex partner of Ms. Rivers. Objection. That's hearsay. 0 May we approach? Judge, this is not hearsay. You may. (At the Bench, on the record) Hearsay goes to the truth of the matter asserted, regardless if the statement was true or not true. This puts him on notice as to why he needed to get the buccal swab. question why did he do it. Otherwise, people would 0 The problem is this: He said he was told this was consensual sex, which immediately suggests that one person was consensual, but the other person it was not. I think he can testify that he had information that he should get it, but he can't get into whether it's consensual. That is hearsay and that is not an -- there's no exception for that.

12 There's nothing to do with -- it does go to the issue of the truth of the matter asserted. It does, yes. You are right -- Judge, the purpose of this is not for the truth of the matter -- Steven, may I finish? It's not for the truth of the matter asserted. It is because -- and this happens in every criminal case -- the officer is put on notice of something. Otherwise, 0 the jury is left to wonder why on earth does he pick this random person. And it doesn't matter -- I have to agree. But it's a conclusion that does go to the truth. It sets up the paradigm one was consensual, one was not. That's the problem with making that statement. received -- He can say based on information he Isn't that already out? What? 0 One was consensual and one wasn't? That came out through Ms. Rivers. That's not a true statement. Because when I tried to get into the nature of the

13 relationship, the State objected and you sustained the objection. That never came out. That's not true. It did come out that she had consensual sex with him. I asked her the question of around the time of January th and she said that she did. What she said was the relationship was two weeks old. I asked what was the nature of the relationship. She said normal. I then 0 asked -- the State objected, we came up here. You sustained their objection. So, that question was never raised. All she said was it was normal. That's not true, Judge. We have the record here. We do. And she said, when I was questioning her -- not when Mr. Greenlee was -- that she had sex with him around that time. 0 testimony being that way. I don't remember the Regardless, Judge, that puts -- it's not for the truth of the matter asserted. If it's not for the truth of the matter asserted -- Any reason we're going through this at all? So the jury can understand

14 why he took it from one person and why he took it from another. Why is it relevant? It's relevant because there's a mixture of DNA in there, Judge, and the jury has to understand what the purpose of that is. I'm going to overrule the objection. I'll allow it in. (Open court, defendant and jury present) 0 0 Q. (By Mr. McClees) You took how many buccal swabs? A. Two sets. Q. Okay. First, you said, from? A. Kenneth Queeny. Q. Okay. And that was because why? A. He was a consensual sex partner. Q. Okay. The second one you took was from whom? A. Carlton Penright. Q. All right. Do you see Carlton Penright in this courtroom? A. Yes, sir. Q. Can you identify him by something he's wearing? A. The man with -- it's like a gray or black plaid shirt. Judge, may the record reflect

15 he's identified the defendant? The record will so reflect. 0 0 Q. (By Mr. McClees) Did you get a buccal swab from Carlton Penright? A. Yes, I did. Q. And that was -- you actually -- the process of doing that, you came to court to do that? A. Yes. I got a court order. I believe it was here in the courtroom or the next room over. Q. You got that done through the basic same process that you mentioned earlier, did you not? A. Yes. There was a court order and I obtained it through the same process I would normally do that. Q. I'm asking it poorly. It's after lunch and I'm crashing. Did you put on the gloves? A. Yes. Q. Did you open up the sterile part from the buccal swab? A. Yes. May I approach the witness, Your Honor? You may. Q. (By Mr. McClees) I show you State's Exhibit No. and State's Exhibit No.. Do you see these, sir

16 0 (indicating)? A. Yes, I do. Q. Okay. Let's start in chronological order. What is State's Exhibit No. (indicating)? A. Those are buccal swabs from that's. No. are the suspect -- buccal swabs from Carlton Penright. Q. Okay. What is Exhibit No.? A. No. are the buccal swabs from Kenneth Queeny. 0 Your Honor, I tender State's Exhibit No. and to opposing counsel and offer into evidence. (State's Exhibit No. and Offered) No objections. Admitted without objection. 0 (State's Exhibit No. and Admitted) Q. (By Mr. McClees) Okay. After you obtained the buccal swabs in Exhibits and, what did you do with them? A. I put them in the boxes that you see now. And from there, I'd take them and tag them and place -- or have them placed in our property room. Q. All right. Do you submit them for further analysis? A. What is done -- yes, sir -- submitted through a

17 form on the computer as part of the report that goes to the crime lab. And from there, the crime lab will pick those up from the property room. Pass the witness. CROSS-EXAMINATION 0 0 BY Q. What is the procedure in order to get a buccal swab? A. It can be either voluntarily, asking the person for the buccal swabs, or there could be a court order involved. Q. In this case, that was done voluntarily; is that correct? A. On Mr. Penright? Q. Yes, sir. A. Yes, sir. Q. I was standing there when you did it, was I not? A. Yes, sir. Q. So, there was no resistance on anyone's part in order to get the buccal swab, was there? A. No, sir. Q. And other than a relatively brief conversation that you had with Ms. Rivers, did you have any other involvement with this case?

18 0 0 A. I talked to an Alvin Miller, I believe. Q. Other than that, did you have any other involvement in this case? A. Other than reading the reports and the report from the hospital. Q. Nothing else? A. That was it. Q. I assume you did not make the scene of this alleged incident; is that correct? A. I did not. Q. Did you ever speak with Officer Casas? A. No, I did not. Q. Have you ever spoken with Ms. Oldham? A. Oldham? Q. Yes, sir. A. I don't recall speaking to anybody by that name. Q. Did you speak with any medical people of any kind? A. Not on this case. Q. And I assume the only reason you say the swab from Mr. Queeny was consensual is that is what you were told; is that correct? A. The question again? Q. You testified that you have one swab that was