Clinger is accused of the Nov. 21, 2006, shooting deaths of Davon Markeys Jones, 22, and Dianikqua Arshell Johnson, 21, both of Brooklyn, N.Y. Their bodies were discovered a day later on Moore Road in Pine Creek Township, Jefferson County.
State police Trooper David Sprankle, who was in the crime unit at the Clarion station when the murders occurred, said he and another trooper interviewed Jeff Shenkle at his DuBois home Nov. 22, 2006. Jones and Johnson had stayed with Shenkle shortly before their deaths. He also interviewed Jeremy May, who took the police to a trash bag he and a friend had discarded along Route 322 near Clearfield at the request of Gary "Joe" Fry. The bag contained items later traced to the victims or to Clinger.
Sprankle said Shenkle arrived home about the same time the troopers arrived at the house. He said Shenkle invited them in and walked the officers through the rooms, showing them where Jones and Johnson stayed. He could not testify what other troopers may have been doing while he was in the house.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Blair Hindman, Sprankle said he did not conduct a search of the house or Shenkle's vehicle.
Jefferson County District Attorney Jeff Burkett asked Sprankle if the police had reason to obtain a search warrant to search Shenkle's house. Sprankle said there was no probable cause for a warrant. "He (Shenkle) consented to the search," he said.
State police Cpl. Randy Mocello, a latent fingerprint expert and expert in impressions in the Bureau of Forensic Services, testified on what he had found when he examined a number of items presented to him. He said he could not find any comparable fingerprints on the eight .22 caliber shell casings found in Clinger's DuBois apartment. A .22 pistol was used to kill Jones and Johnson.
Mocello did not find any fingerprints on a Dr. Marten's shoe box containing a used pair of Rocksport shoes. The shoes were found in the garbage bag retrieved by the state police.
Mocello was able to match casts of tire tracks taken at the murder scene by the police with two tires on a Chevrolet HHR that Clinger is alleged to have used in the commission of the crime. The tires from the HHR were taken off the vehicle and sent to the crime lab for comparison. Mocello said he could say "within a reasonable degree of scientific certainty" that the Firestone "Firehawk" tires were on the front of the vehicle.
Under cross-examination, Mocello said photographs of the tire tracks were not submitted for comparison. He said there was no specific tire wear he could discern.
Mocello also examined photographs taken of footprints at the crime scene. He compared them with the shoes recovered from the garbage bag. The shoes had a distinctive circle and bar tread design. He said, within a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, the photographed footprints were made by the right shoe of the pair recovered by the state police.
Under questioning by Hindman, Mocello said that if he had been at the crime scene, casts would have been made of all shoe prints. His comparison was based only on photographs. He also stated he could not determine conclusively from the photos if the shoe was a size 101⁄2.
Christopher Johns, an expert in the study of blood, collected blood samples and prepared them for DNA testing. He compared the samples he collected from blood taken from the two victims and Clinger.
He tested samples from the left side of the right Rocksport shoe, the
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toe of the shoe, the trim along the driver's seat of the HHR, the tongue of the right shoe and the back of the shoe at the top.
He found human blood on the left side of the shoe, the toe of the shoe and on the trim of the driver's seat. The back of the shoe and the tongue of the shoe were sampled for "touch" DNA for cellular material left when the object comes in contact with skin.
Under questioning by Hindman, he said he did not find blood on the driver's side floret of the HHR. Johns does not do DNA testing.
Jeffrey Zachetti of the PSP Forensics Lab in Greensburg tested for DNA. On the right Rocksport shoe, he found DNA matching that of Jones. On the toe of the left shoe, he found two or more "contributors" but the major contributor was Johnson. He said Clinger could not be ruled out as the other contributor.
He said samples taken from the tongue and back of the shoe contained DNA from three individuals. Zachetti said he could not rule Clinger as one of the donors. He said he would need to sample 160,000 Caucasians before he expected to find a similar sample.
Zachetti said it was unreasonable to think that Clinger did not wear the shoes and "wear them often."
State police Cpl. Lewis Davis and Jeffrey Lee testified on an interview conducted with Clinger at the state police station in Falls Creek Nov. 25, 2006. Burkett asked Davis if he had spoken with Clinger about a new pair of Dr. Marten's boots he was wearing.
"I asked him if he had purchased new boots," Davis said. "He said he bought the boots about a month ago." Prior testimony showed Clinger bought the boots at the DuBois Shoe Sensations store only a few days earlier.
Burkett asked if Clinger said anything unusual. Davis said when he was told he was being arrested Clinger said, "Then I'll be taken to Jefferson County." Davis said neither he or Lee had told Clinger where the crime had been committed.
On cross-examination, Hindman asked Davis if the interview was not conducted in Falls Creek, which is in Jefferson County. Davis said that was true.
Hindman asked if Davis had read Clinger his rights. Davis said Clinger had signed a statement of non-arrest and he initially offered to answer questions.
Around 2:50 a.m. Clinger asked for an attorney. The officers escorted him to the lobby but there was some interaction in the lobby.
"He was not under arrest at that time," Lee said.
Lee said Clinger signed the non-arrest statement and knew he was free to leave at any time. Lee said after new information was developed from the search of Clinger's apartment, he was arrested.
At that time, Clinger saw his girlfriend, Cori Pifer, in another room and asked if he could speak with her. He was told he could not and asked Lee to tell her he loved her. Lee said Clinger told him, "She doesn't know anything about this."
State police Cpl. Randy Yohe inspected the HHR and found all of the windows to have some tinting but the back windows to have tinting to the degree that only 20 percent of light could enter. Yohe said he helped execute the search warrant at Clinger's apartment at 20 E.Long Ave. in DuBois and helped photograph the scene. He later fingerprinted Clinger following his arrest. Yohe said Clinger asked if he could "hug his girlfriend one more time because he probably won't get a chance to do it again."
A short time later, Yohe said, Clinger said he was "kicking himself for coming in here before I had too."
Trooper Mark Powell, a computer crime investigator, started his testimony on calls made to and from Clinger's cell phone but was unable to conclude his testimony before the evening recess.
Testimony was to resume at 9 a.m. today.
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