CINCINNATI — Jeffrey Wogenstahl, the man convicted of murdering 10-year-old Amber Garrett in 1991, now waits to see if a judge will grant his request for a retrial.
In 1991, police found Garrett's body in an overgrown area off the side of the road near the Ohio–Indiana border. Garrett had several stab wounds and blunt-force trauma to the head. Wogenstahl was convicted by a Hamilton County jury in 1993 for Garrett's murder and has been on death row ever since.
Wogenstahl's attorneys argue evidence beneficial to Wogenstahl's defense was suppressed in the original trial. They say his right to due process was violated.
Friday afternoon marked the fifth and final day of a hearing regarding evidence in the case.
DNA analysis expert Marc Taylor was the final person called to testify. During his testimony, Taylor was asked by the defense about blood testing done by police during the original trial. He saidthe report for the samples tested and used as evidence didn't mention how the processing was done.
Because of that, Taylor called the evidence "questionable" and said he couldn't rule out the possibility of contamination.
Prosecuting attorney Phil Cummings pushed back at Taylor's testimony, arguing that Taylor was speculating.
After the final witness wrapped, Wogenstahl's attorneys and the prosecution provided brief closing arguments to the judge.
Wogenstahl's attorneys insisted that evidence beneficial to the defense was never shared with his original lawyers. They say this includes forensics, police reports and interviews.
"He's been waiting a long time to present all of this evidence to court," Sarah Gelsomino, Wogenstahl's attorney, said after the hearing.
Cummings pushed back with the defense's closing arguments, saying the laws regarding the discovery process were different during the original trial. He added that new evidence presented by the defense wouldn't have changed the original conviction.
Cummings said the evidence proves the original conviction should be upheld.
"But the thing you always have to come back to in this case, which is all the judges and juries and magistrates and courts have done for the past 30 some years, is just the overwhelming nature of the evidence in this case," Cummings said.
The prosecution and defense will simultaneously submit their final written closing arguments to the judge in four weeks. After that, the judge will make his decision within 60 days.
