PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. — A fiery and combative former Douglas County CSI director emerged from a courtroom Wednesday to proclaim he did not plant evidence against anybody.
“I’m innocent,” Dave Kofoed yelled. “I’m never going to give this up. I am innocent.”
He accused several witnesses who had just testified of giving false testimony against him, including a longtime road patrol deputy for Douglas County.
Wednesday marked another tough day for Kofoed, who was convicted in March on a felony charge of evidence tampering related to a 2006 murder investigation in rural Cass County.
After two hours of testimony, Cass County District Judge Randall Rehmeier ruled against a request for the judge to recuse himself from the case.
Rehmeier also rejected Kofoed’s bid for a mistrial and request for a new trial, saying he found no legal basis for overturning the conviction. Kofoed faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced May 10.
“I don’t believe the defendant has presented anything to suggest or indicate (the new information) would have substantially impacted the verdict in this case,” the judge said.
Defense attorney Steve Lefler’s argument for a mistrial hinged on the contention that the judge hadn’t disclosed he had a cousin who was a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy.
Deputy Charlie Rehmeier testified at the hearing.
“We have the same last name,” the white-haired, mustached deputy testified. “We are cousins. I believe second cousins.”
He testified that he probably last spoke with the judge decades ago.
“Last time I saw him was at a funeral in Weeping Water,” Charlie Rehmeier testified. “My dad introduced me to him. That was at least 25 years ago.”
Consequently, he testified, they had no conversations about the 2006 Murdock murder case and no discussions about whether Kofoed might have planted blood evidence against two cousins in the probe.
Lefler also questioned longtime CSI employee Darnell Kush, who eventually went to the FBI with concerns about Kofoed’s conduct in the crime lab.
The defense attorney said he did not have access before the trial to a five-page investigative report by the Nebraska State Patrol, based on complaints Kush made against Kofoed in late 2007, before she talked to the FBI.
Lefler told the court that knowing about the report would have significantly altered his trial strategy. The report, he said, showed that Kush had clear motivation to try to take down her boss.
Lefler also suggested that Kush might have been the one who planted the blood evidence in the 2006 case.
Kush, who has worked for the sheriff’s office for more than 20 years, testified that she told the State Patrol that Kofoed has a “sociopathic personality.”
“Kush portrays Kofoed as a chronic liar that can not be trusted,” the report states. “Kush claimed she is not the only employee in the office that feels Kofoed is trouble for CSI’s future and reputation.”
Kush testified, “I filed several complaints with the chief (Chief Deputy Marty Bilek), but nothing had been done.”
She came across cases at the crime lab in which she suspected Kofoed had planted fingerprints at crime scenes to make it appear he found evidence that others missed.
She also testified that she suspected Kofoed might have written phony letters of commendation for his personnel file.
She said she went to a therapist for emotional problems and stress created by her work environment.
“He is arrogant and always lying, I do believe that, yes,” she testified.
Kush acknowledged under Lefler’s questioning that the FBI paid her $3,000 last December for being a confidential informant in the case against Kofoed. She testified that she never asked or expected to be compensated.
“I figured they gave me that money for my attorney” bills, she said.
She testified that after Kofoed was indicted and while he was on administrative leave, he lodged a complaint against Kush with the sheriff’s office. She knew about it, she testified, because she saw it on a co-worker’s computer screen.
“After that, I went out and got an attorney,” Kush testified. “I was a little tired of him.”
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