BURLINGTON, Ky. — David Dooley, his truck and his janitor's closet at Thermo Fisher Scientific were more or less clean by the time authorities arrived to investigate the death of Michelle Mockbee. There was no blood.
During the second day of Dooley's retrial in Mockbee's 2012 death, jurors saw some of the evidence and heard how it was collected, all in painstaking detail.
Dooley was a janitor at Thermo Fisher. The defense cross-examined Detective Brian Cochran Thursday about what was and wasn't found inside Dooley's janitor closet.
"We tested numerous things and did not find any evidence of blood," Cochran said.
Defense attorney Jeff Lawson asked if there was any evidence of bleach being used, other than in a sink. Cochran said there wasn't.
Jurors also got a look Thursday at the screwdriver prosecutors said Dooley was using to try to pry open Mockbee's office door, Mockbee's bloody clothes, photos of Mockbee's body, bloody time cards and an Applebee's bag Mockbee presumably had at the time of the attack. Dooley's DNA was not found on any of it.
Things got heating during cross-examination as the jury started seeing pictures of Dooley in various stages of undress. Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Prather asked Cochran why investigators took pictures of Dooley like that.
"Standard for us regarding search warrants," Cochran said. "Injuries can happen in uncomfortable places. We do it to suspects in cases, but also officers involved in officer-involved shootings. It is standard protocol."
Investigators showed photos of markings — blood stains — outside Mockbee's office. She was the HR official for the facility and was at work early the morning of her death doing payroll.
The commonwealth's argument has been that Dooley was triple dipping time cards and killed Mockbee because she caught him.
Dooley was convicted in 2014 of killing Mockbee. A judge later deemed he was entitled to a retrial after video came out showing a man near the building hours before Mockbee was killed and defense attorneys said they had never received the video.
Dooley’s defense seemed to be taking a different approach during opening arguments Wednesday. In Dooley’s previous trial, attorneys argued a lack of physical evidence. Now, his attorneys are saying Mockbee could have died at the hands of someone else.
The retrial is scheduled to continue Friday.
