The evidence is in: County vault holds keys to many cases

Erica D. Johnson

Monday, July 21, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

Afew feet away from the plastic Rubbermaid tub Timmy "T.J." Weber used to hide his girlfriend's body lies the 12-gauge shotgun Zane Floyd used to open fire on shoppers at a local grocery store, killing four.

Down another aisle in a far corner sits a dusty padlocked case. Inside are the silver coins and bars casino mogul Ted Binion stored in an underground vault before he was found dead.

From the mounds of paperwork filed in complex construction defect cases to a half-dozen suitcases used to hide bodies in grisly murder cases, each piece of evidence introduced in Clark County District Court is kept safe in the court's evidence vault.

The vault is the nerve center of courthouse proceedings, containing evidence from nearly 5,000 criminal cases and about 3,000 civil cases that have made their way through the court in the past 40 years, court officials say.

In recent months, officials have had to strictly monitor the evidence while preparing to move the vault's contents to the new Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas, County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre said.

Parraguirre asked the Sun not to publicize the exact location of the vault for security reasons. Only four employees have keys to the room, which is kept secure by a metal gate and a padlock.

Parraguirre said moving thousands of pieces of evidence to a new location won't be easy.

"We haven't got down to the nitty-gritty of how we're going to move things," she said. "But things will be very secure and (the move) won't be publicized."

Officials in the Clark County District Attorney's office say the vault is the key to the preservation of justice in Clark County.

Evidence stored in the vault is the basis for most convictions in District Court, Assistant District Attorney Chuck Thompson said.

"In order for a case to be efficiently prosecuted, it is necessary to have the physical evidence involved present in court," he said. "If we don't have the evidence to connect a defendant with a crime, we could have entire cases dismissed."

Assistant Public Defender Ralph Baker said the contents of the vault are just as important to defense attorneys, who are constantly looking for evidence to vindicate their clients.

"Decisions are made based on this evidence," he said.

Jessica Coleman, an evidence custodian who has worked in the vault for more than a year, said she is cognizant of the importance of the evidence as she prepares to move evidence, which ranges from shopping carts to bicycles, to the new building.

The center's opening date, 17 months behind schedule, has bought vault workers more time to pack up the sensitive material without damaging or contaminating it, she said.

"I have to be very careful with my job," she said.

In preparing to move the evidence, most items will be repackaged and resealed with "do not tamper" tape. Many of the boxes that currently hold the evidence, some coffee boxes and others made from recycled paper, are so old that they could fall apart during the move.

It is also Coleman's job to keep organized the dozens of rows of evidence that pack the vault. She receives an exhibit list chronicling the evidence for each case.

A tour of the vault reveals hundreds of manila envelopes and cardboard recycled boxes marked with tape from law enforcement agencies such as Metro and the FBI lining metal shelves. Bigger items, such as suitcases and ladders, are stored wherever space allows.

"This was the front door that was used in a criminal case," Coleman said, pointing to a full-sized wooden door propped against the wall of the vault.

The contents of some boxes remain a mystery until clerks are forced to repack them, she said.

"With some boxes we don't know what's inside and we don't want to know," she said. "It's the kind of stuff that gives you nightmares."

Other boxes, such as the nearly 70 boxes that store court documents filed in the year-long Venetian civil trial, are less mysterious.

The exact location of evidence is chronicled with rows of pink index filing cards that list evidence from cases that date back to the 1970s.

Court officials four years ago began asking judges for permission to destroy some evidence from cases from before 1970 in preparation for the move, Coleman said.

"It was 30 years worth of backlog," she said.

But strict laws govern when evidence can be destroyed. The judge and attorneys on each case must approve the destruction of all evidence, Coleman said.

In cases in which defendants plead guilty, evidence must be kept for two years. In cases in which a jury convicts a defendant, the evidence must be kept for five years.

Evidence in death penalty cases cannot be destroyed until a defendant is executed or dies in prison. Other evidence is returned to law enforcement agencies upon their request.

Because every conviction is entitled to a direct appeal, Baker said, keeping evidence for as long as possible is vital.

In cases that are appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, evidence can't be destroyed until five years after the high court's ruling.

"You never know what's going to happen in post conviction," he said. "So you want to keep evidence as long as possible until your client is acquitted."

Thompson said it is not uncommon for evidence to be re-used in court decades after the initial trial.

"If we have to retry a case, we'll pull the same evidence filed in original trial and present that evidence to the jury," he said.

The evidence vault also holds DNA evidence such as vials of blood and urine, Coleman said. The vault is kept at a cool 70 degrees at all times to prevent evidence from disintegrating.

Coleman said scientific testing for DNA and fingerprints is done before evidence arrives in the vault. The results are logged in medical reports, which are presented as testimony in trials.

"By the time it gets here, it's pretty much been through the ringer," she said.

Thompson said it is not unusual for blood or other DNA evidence to be stored outside of scientific laboratories. Testing is done prior to trial and attorneys have the right to ask for independent tests to be run if they are unhappy with the initial results, he said.

"It is very uncommon for blood to be preserved in a way in which it can be tested years and years later," he said. "You can't keep this stuff refrigerated forever."

Before evidence reaches court, Thompson said, its handling is tracked with strict logs known as chain of custody records.

Chain of custody is particularly important in cases that involve drugs or cash, so that jurors know that the same drugs presented in court were the drugs alleged to have been confiscated from the defendant, he said.

"Each piece of evidence is tagged and marked with the signatures of law enforcement officials," he said. "In front of jurors (a police officer) can open the bag up and say 'These are the drugs I tested.' "

Once in the evidence vault, all evidence is checked in and out with vault custodians, Coleman said. Courtroom clerks can take evidence out of the vault only to take the evidence to the courtroom for court proceedings.

While attorneys can view evidence with an evidence custodian inside the vault, Coleman said, defendants who represent themselves must view evidence in a viewing room outside the vault.

"Nothing leaves without a court order," she said.

Thompson said he could not remember a case in which the loss or tampering of evidence contributed to a retrial, even though attorneys commonly raise the issue at trial.

"Defense attorneys try to fish around to see if they can come up with an evidence-tampering issue," he said. " But it doesn't seem to be particularly persuasive. Because the truth of the matter is it has not."

Coleman said destroying the evidence is often a painstaking process as the item must be disposed of in a way that ensures it will never be reused.

Paperwork is destroyed with an industrial-sized shredder and other items are broken into tiny pieces or hauled off to the incinerator, she said.

"When we destroy it we have to annihilate it," she said.

Despite the tedious nature of her job, Coleman said she enjoys it more than any job she has ever held.

"I'm immersed in this stuff," she said. "I take it home with me. I take it very seriously. If I screw up, someone could get out of prison."

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