Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
A Nebraska crime-scene investigator accused of evidence tampering that led to murder charges against two innocent men will be arraigned next month after a judge ruled there’s enough evidence for his case to go to trial.
David Kofoed, the chief crime-scene investigator for Douglas County, is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 2.
The case stems from Kofoed’s work more than three years ago on the slayings of Wayne and Sharmon Stock of rural Murdock, Neb., a Cass County town about 24 miles southwest of Omaha.
A county judge had earlier bound Kofoed over for trial, but Kofoed’s attorney, Steve Lefler, challenged that decision. Cass County District Judge Randall Rehmeier on Friday ruled the case could go forward.
Lefler said Monday that he wasn’t surprised by Rehmeier’s decision. Lefler said the bar is set very low to bring a case to trial.
“This is nothing,” Lefler said. “This is not even a bump in the road.”
Special prosecutor Clarence Mock didn’t immediately respond to a phone message left at his office Monday.
During a preliminary hearing in July, Mock argued that Kofoed either intentionally planted evidence using an unsealed evidence bag containing Wayne Stock’s blood-soaked shirt or Kofoed wanted to make it look as if he had promptly submitted the evidence. Either way, he created fake documents, did it knowingly and intended the evidence be used in the case, Mock said.
A federal jury acquitted Kofoed in a related case last month.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
