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Sanel Saint Simon trial continues

By Field Sutton and Kelly Healey
By Field Sutton and Kelly Healey
Testimony wrapped upThursday in the case against an Orange County man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend's daughter in 2014.
Sanel Saint Simon is accused of killing Alexandria Chery, 16. Her body was discovered in July 2014 on a road near the Osceola-Polk county line.
Saint Simon’s uncle, Charles Saint Simon, testified Thursday about the black Pontiac his nephew was allegedly driving the day of Chery's disappearance. 

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Read Saint Simon trial: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

"He came to the front door, (and) he asked to borrow the car. My wife let him borrow the car. I did not let him borrow the car; the Pontiac," Charles Saint Simon said.
Traffic cameras recorded video in 2014 of Saint Simon abruptly leaving the Boston Market where he worked.
The cameras also spotted the black Pontiac going toward Chery’s apartment, but the identity of the driver is unknown.
The defense said no one witnessed Saint Simon driving the car during that time.
Crime Scene analysts showed the court pictures that were taken, showing blood stains found inside the car. The stains were on the center console and on the front passenger side door sill.

Detective Gina Adams, with the Orange County Sheriff's Office, testified Thursday that she drove Saint Simon's route home from work.

Adams: “I started about the same time of day that he would have left, because I wanted to capture the same kind of traffic conditions that he would have seen.”
Prosecutor: "How long did that take you?"
Adams: "12 minutes.”
Adams also checked Saint Simon's cellphone records, which she said eventually led her to the spot where Chery's body was later discovered.
Meanwhile, the judge is considering what evidence jurors will hear during the trial.

Prosecutors want to call two teenagers to testify that Saint Simon was sexually interested in Chery, and that was the motive for her killing. But the defense said the testimony would be unreliable.

Read: Witness in teen's murder trial killed in Apopka head-on crash
“Miss Garrett (potential witness) acknowledged the difficulty in remembering the exact details due to the passage of time," said a defense attorney.
The judge would have to make a special ruling to allow the teenagers to testify because the testimony could be considered hearsay.
Channel 9 reporter Field Sutton was in the courtroom Wednesday. Sutton said crime scene analyst, Alison Smolarek, testified that she examined Chery's mattress and discovered what she suspected to be a semen stain. However, DNA testing results released later Wednesday showed the semen on Chery's mattress was not Saint Simon's.
 
Smolarek also said she lifted blood and fingerprints from the outside of a bottle of bleach found in Chery’s home.
 
Pictures of a large teddy bear that was on Chery's bed were also shown in court. Smolarek testified that the teddy bear had a large blood stain on one of its legs.
 
Smolarek also showed photos of small drops of blood in the apartment's master bathroom, and she took samples of those as well.
 
She said she cut an area of the carpet that was soaked in bleach under Chery's bed.
Smolarek said the underside of the carpet pad and the concrete underneath were heavily stained with what appeared to be blood.
Another CSI analyst, Ashley Church, testified Wednesday as well, and showed the jury various areas on Saint Simon's pants that she believes were bloody, based on field testing.
 
Church pulled the pants from a washing machine in the apartment. They are believed to have been the same pair Saint Simon wore the day Chery disappeared.
 
DNA and CSI analysts concluded that the blood found on Saint Simon's pants, bathroom and carpet is that of a female. However, the defense argued the blood could have been there for years.
Analysts have not concluded that the blood belonged to Chery.

Cox Media Group

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