Rex Heuermann’s defense attorney is pushing for his client’s case to be fragmented into five separate trials. The judge has agreed to conduct hearings to further ponder these requests. With an impending trial, a volume of damning evidence, and growing intrigue, the attorney for Heuermann, accused of the grim murders of seven women in the vicinity of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, unveiled a glimmer of his legal tactics during a court session in Riverhead, N.Y., on Wednesday.
Michael J. Brown, the defense attorney, has implored the presiding judge to disregard the DNA evidence, which is key to the prosecution’s case. Further, his call for dividing the case into five independent trials adds an interesting layer to his legal approach. On Wednesday, Timothy P. Mazzei, the presiding judge, assured that two hearings would be scheduled to deliberate on the requests made by the attorney.
Among the evidence lending weight to the prosecution’s case are Heuermann’s phone records and Internet activities. However, the most substantial part of the case is anchored on advanced nuclear DNA findings. The prosecution states that these DNA strands, found in the hair of most of the victims at Gilgo Beach, unmistakably tie Heuermann to the crimes. Indeed, Heuermann was present at the court hearing on Wednesday, dressed in a somber dark suit.
Defending his client vigorously, Brown expressed his intent to completely refute the DNA evidence. In an after-hearing press conference, he scorned the findings as somewhat ‘magic’ rather than science. He contended that these findings rested on methods yet to be certified as reliably acceptable as evidence in criminal cases within New York State.
Ray Tierney, the district attorney of Suffolk County, and the prosecutor in this case, however, views the evidence differently. He asserted his belief in the evidence’s soundness and stated his confidence that it will be accepted as admissible by the court.