KIMBELL TRIAL Other testimony

Pictures of Thomas Dryfuse's hands taken shortly after police were called to the murder scene were blown up and shown to jurors. Defense witness Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist, said scratches and bruises on Dryfuse's hands were hours old -- not days old as police claim. Omalu contends that dark spots under Dryfuse's fingernails are blood and not grease as police have said. Omalu also said Thomas Kimbell, a mild hemophiliac, could not have been the killer because he had no bruises on his body the next day when he was examined by a doctor. Omalu also discounted prosecutors' claims that Kimbell killed the family because he was in a cocaine-induced psychosis. Prosecution witnesses have said that the killings were a drug deal gone bad. Omalu said someone in a drug-induced frenzy wouldn't be able to conceal the murder weapon and bloody clothes. The murder weapon has never been found. Omalu did admit Kimbell was violent toward his family and has been diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder, something that makes him prone to physical violence. Medical records from St. Francis Hospital show that he checked himself in the day after the slayings because he hit his mother and was afraid of losing control.Dennis Black testified that on June 15, 1994, he was leaving Hillsville Road, about one mile from the murder scene, when he saw a blond man walking down along U.S. Route 422. He said the man was not Kimbell. Black did not say if the man was walking toward the Dryfuse trailer or away from it.John Fruehstorfer, brother-in-law of Bonnie Lou Dryfuse, said he received a telephone call June 15, 1994, from someone asking him to call the Dryfuse home because other relatives were having trouble getting through. He initially said the call came about 2:40 p.m., but he said under cross-examination it could have come later. Fruehstorfer said he thought the caller sounded like Dave Herko, father of victim Stephanie Herko, but he was unsure and the person didn't identify himself. A family friend called later that afternoon to tell him about the killings, he said.Private investigator Kenneth Clifton illustrated for jurors the length of time it would take someone to walk around Bonnie Lou Dryfuse's 1975 Chevrolet Impala. A previous witness said he was driving along U.S. Route 422 and saw Thomas Kimbell peeking into the driver's side window and then walk to the passenger window. Clifton illustrated it would take 11 seconds to go from one side to the other and said a car traveling at 55 mph would move about 8.6 feet per second. Defense attorneys contend the witness didn't have enough time to see anyone at the car when passing that day.