As the case against Rex A. Heuermann grinds toward a trial, his lawyers have vehemently sought to exclude damning DNA evidence central to his prosecution in the Gilgo Beach serial killings.
But on Tuesday, the judge presiding over the case in Suffolk County, N.Y., admitted the genetic findings that prosecutors say connect Mr. Heuermann to seven murdered women found along an oceanfront parkway on Long Island more than a decade ago. The judge, Timothy P. Mazzei, also declined the defense’s request to sever the case into separate trials for some of the killings.
The rulings cut off two major offramps for Mr. Heuermann as the case, which has transfixed the public and set off a wave of true-crime shows and podcasts, moves forward. A trial is expected next year.
Michael J. Brown, a lawyer for Mr. Heuermann, had argued that the case should be broken into as many as five separate trials, saying that trying Mr. Heuermann for all seven killings at once would create an unfair “cumulative effect.” A single trial, he added, would overwhelm jurors and prevent them from weighing each charge separately.
After the hearing in Riverhead, N.Y., Ray Tierney, the Suffolk County district attorney, said Justice Mazzei’s decision to ignore the request was the correct call in the interest of “judicial economy” and in light of a document that prosecutors say they found last year in Mr. Heuermann’s basement that details methods of pursuing, killing and disposing of victims. Mr. Tierney described the grisly manual as a unifying element.
The judge has yet to set a date for the trial, and Bob Macedonio, a lawyer for Mr. Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, called the wait agonizing. Ms. Ellerup and Mr. Heuermann’s daughter, Victoria Heuermann, attended the hearing Tuesday to see the defendant, who appeared in court with a fresh haircut and a dark suit.
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The post Judge in Gilgo Beach Case Spurns Request to Throw Out DNA Evidence appeared first on New York Times.
