CSI Commander Guilty of Evidence Tampering

Once Cass County District Judge Randall Rehmeier began his forty minute summary of the case against David Kofoed it became increasingly clear Tuesday would be a dark day for the investigator. Rehmeier found Kofoed guilty of tampering with evidence in a criminal case by planting blood in a vehicle in order to make his case in the homicide of Wayne and Sharmon Stock of Murdock, Nebraska in 2006. In reviewing the case, Judge Rehmeier laid out each piece of damning evidence, and supported the argument of Special Prosecutor, Clarence Mock.

Kofoed had claimed he found a tiny amount of the victim's blood in a car investigators believed two suspects had driven to the murder scene. Matt Livers confessed and implicated Nick Sampson, but later said he was not involved. The pair were later released and cleared of the charges. The judge felt there was convincing evidence the car had never been involved in the murder, and there was no reason to doubt that two teenagers from Wisconsin did the shooting. Greg Fester and Jessica Reid are in prison for life, charged with the crime.

Could the blood have come from contaminated swabs taken from a CSI testing kit? The judge said that seemed unlikely since Kofoed's own team testified they did everything they could to prevent such an accidental transfer of blood.

Finally, the court found significant parallels to this case, and another murder investigation. Kofoed claimed to have found a pristine blood sample in a dumpster, also adding evidence to a case where the suspect had already confessed.

Judge Rehmeier said he could not believe that the appearance of the suspicious blood in these cases could have been an accident or a mistake.
The penalty for evidence tampering is up to five years in prison.

Kofoed will learn if he goes to jail at his sentencing hearing, next month.