Grim Sleeper defense says DNA in some cases points to another suspect

Since Los Angeles police first announced that they had made an arrest in the hunt for the so-called Grim Sleeper serial killer, the case involving the slayings of more than 10 women has centered around DNA.

Genetic evidence at the crime scenes helped investigators conclude they had a single killer. Authorities say tests matched the DNA profile to one man: Lonnie Franklin Jr.

But now Franklin's attorneys are also making use of DNA, alleging that genetic material from another man was found on items collected at the crime scenes of three of the victims linked to their client.

"What role that person plays, we don't know," said defense lawyer Seymour Amster, who filed a 16-page motion last week detailing a defense expert's finding about the new DNA profile. "But we believe he stands in the same equal status as Lonnie."

Authorities say Franklin preyed on poor and vulnerable girls and women whose deaths spanned more than two decades beginning in 1985. He faces 10 counts of murder and one of attempted murder, but investigators believe he is responsible for more killings. Many of the victims were found along a South L.A. corridor straddling Western Avenue, and prosecutors contend that a combination of DNA and ballistics evidence links him to the crimes.

In the motion filed Wednesday, the defense attorneys also argued that the case against Franklin, now 62, is flawed because some of the evidence collected from decades-old crime scenes has since been destroyed.

The motion lists dozens of now-gone items: a dark-red carpet draped over one victim's body, another victim's brown leather jacket and white bra, and a sexual assault kit in another case.

Citing the missing evidence and the other DNA profile found at some of the crime scenes, the attorneys asked a judge to bar the prosecution from seeking the death penalty against Franklin.

"A man is being asked to defend his life without all the evidence to determine what the truth is," Amster said. "That's a problem."

One of the prosecutors on the case, Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman, dismissed the defense's claims, saying that destruction of evidence is far from unheard of in old cases. Silverman said she thinks the defense expert may be misinterpreting the DNA evidence in concluding that the genetic material links another person to three of the killings.

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Grim Sleeper defense says DNA in some cases points to another suspect