DNA at center of dispute

Conflicting theories at shooting trial

Adams’ DNA was likely part of a sample found on the neck of an undercover officer he’s accused of choking before being shot in 2012, jurors learned Monday.

But it’s not possible to say whether the DNA came from skin left by an attempted choking, blood from a gunshot wound or even saliva from the reported screaming that occurred during the fatal encounter, Sheriff ’s Office forensic scientist Tara Sessa testified Monday.

There is only a 1 in 5 billion chance that the DNA found on Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Sgt. Michael Custer’s neck was left by someone other than Adams or a close relative, Sessa testified.

Somebody else’s DNA — in adSeth dition to Custer’s and not matching Adams’ — was found on the front of the officer’s jeans and his belt, Sessa said.

Adams’ family is in court seeking millions in an excessive force and wrongful death federal lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office and Custer over the shooting five years ago in a Loxahatchee Groves nursery where Adams lived and worked.

Where DNA was — and wasn’t — found is part of the dispute over the fatal late-night encounter that occurred after Adams, 24, found the undercover officer parked at the nursery in an unmarked Ford Explorer.

Custer has said he identified himself as an undercover officer and that Adams, who had been drinking, screamed at him and choked him. Custer said he broke away and soon after fired four shots because he feared Adams was reaching into the truck

for a weapon. No weapon was found.

The Adams’ family attorneys are arguing that evidence found that night — May 16 — refutes Custer’s account of what prompted the shooting.

They say lack of blood inside the truck door or inside the truck cab, as well as a blood trail, a smashed bullet and bullet casings found behind the truck show Adams couldn’t have been shot when he was beside the truck’s cab.

Custer says he tried to pull Adams from the truck before firing, but Adams’s DNA wasn’t found on the officer’s arm, Adams family attorney Wallace McCall told jurors. He has also emphasized that there were no scratches or bruises seen on Custer’s neck, despite the “inconclusive” DNA sample from the neck.

“The physical evidence contradicts Sgt. Custer’s version of why he killed Seth Adams,” McCall told jurors soon after the trial started on Feb. 13.

Attorney Summer Barranco, who represents Custer and the Sheriff ’s Office, has cited the DNA found on Custer’s neck as one of the reasons jurors should believe his account of the encounter.

“He was concerned that Seth Adams was going back to his truck to get a weapon,” Barranco told jurors.

Attorneys for Adams’ family have questioned how the Sheriff ’s Office handled the DNA testing, raising concerns about why some things such as Adams’ hands, his clothes and the interior of his truck were not tested.

They have questioned the objectivity of the Sheriff’s Office handling the testing for one of its own officer-involved shootings instead of using an outside agency.

Also in question is whether unidentified DNA found on Custer’s clothes from the night of the shooting means someone else was at the scene.

As for the unknown DNA found on Custer’s jeans, Sessa said she doesn’t know how long it had been there and that, “it’s very common to have DNA mixtures on articles of clothing.”

Sessa said she didn’t think the DNA found on Custer’s neck came from blood because the swab with the sample wasn’t discolored, though she couldn’t say for sure what biological material it was.

Sessa said she tested the materials that were requested by Sheriff’s Office investigators and that no one asked her to alter the results.

“We are a very good laboratory,” Sessa said. “We would never do something that we shouldn’t.”

Also on Monday, Sheriff ’s Office employees were questioned about Custer’s cellphone from the night of the shooting, which went missing during the investigation.

While Custer has said he turned it in the day it was requested, employees of the Sheriff ’s Office telecommunication office testified that they never received the phone.

“He didn’t turn it into me,” said Ruth Zabovnik, one of three employees of the telecommunications office who said Custer didn’t give them the phone. “I thought it was going to internal affairs.”

Adams’ family attorneys have said they want the phone to check for text messages and other information that could be relevant to the shooting. The Sheriff’s Office says the phone was lost.

Barranco, who represents Custer and the Sheriff’s Office, has told jurors that the missing cellphone has nothing to do with the shooting and is “one of the many red herrings in the case.”

The trial in West Palm Beach before Senior U.S. District Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley started Feb. 13 and is expected to last at least four weeks.