08x07 - Once Bitten

[bunniefuu]

Narrator:
this man, ray krone,

Was known throughout arizona
as the snaggletooth k*ller.

An unusual bite mark
on a m*rder*d woman

Resulted in his conviction
and death sentence.

A forensic expert told the jury
that he was 100% certain

That it was krone
who bit the victim.

Dr. Souviron:
he knew he was wrong,

But he had already committed,

And his comment to me
was, "I'm in too deep."

Narrator: the cbs lounge is one
of many neighborhood bars

In downtown phoenix, arizona.

Hank arredondo
owned the cbs lounge.

Kim ancona managed it for him.

Arredondo: in the bar business,

You have to have
a nice personality.

You have to be honest.
And all those qualities kim had.

Narrator: on december 29th,


At the usual time,
shortly after 1:00 a.m.

As was his custom,
hank called

To make sure
there hadn't been any problems.

Arredondo: kim answered.

I asked her, I said,
"is everything okay?

Did you have any problems?"
And she said, "no."

She said,
"hank, I know you're tired.

Go to sleep, rest.
I'll take care of it."

Narrator: when hank arrived
the next day to open up,

He noticed the door was ajar.

Arredondo: I know my bartender
didn't leave the door open.

I know I didn't,
so something's wrong.

Narrator: he first
checked the safe,

But none of the bar's
money was missing.

He went to the kitchen.
No one was there.

Then he checked the men's room.

I can close my eyes and
still see that -- that scene.

I saw her laying
in the bathroom,

Her eyes fixed, dead.

I can still remember that
to this day.

I probably will
the rest of my life.

But the girl was beautiful
even in death.

Narrator:
the evidence suggests

The k*ller grabbed a knife
from the kitchen,

Forced kim into the men's room,
and stabbed her to death.

He placed the knife
in a trash can under the liner.

On his way out,
he left a shoe print

On the freshly cleaned
kitchen floor.

Forensic experts
identified the print

As a "converse" brand
sneaker, size 9 1/2.

Hairs were found
on kim ancona's body.

They were black and not hers.

It appeared that the k*ller had
bitten through kim's t*nk top

Leaving a bite impression
on her skin.

Two drinks were
sitting on the bar,

Apparently poured
after closing time.

Forensic scientists found kim's
fingerprints on one glass.

The other had prints not clear
enough for identification.

The working theory then became
she must have known

Who the person was
and allowed them into the bar --

Against company policy,
but nonetheless --

And thereafter was
k*lled by that person.

Narrator: robbery didn't
appear to be the motive.

There was no money missing
from kim's purse.

But inside her purse,
police found an address book

With the name
and telephone number

Of one of the bar's
regular customers,

A postman named ray krone.

Arredondo: he was not
well-liked, you know.

He was just uppity
or something.

There was something different
about him that people --

That didn't sit well
with people.

Narrator: some of
the bar's employees told police

That kim had expressed
a romantic interest in krone.

If the bite mark,
the shoe impression,

And the hairs could be
tied to him,

Police were sure
they had their k*ller.

Narrator:
during kim ancona's autopsy,

Forensic photographers took
numerous photographs

Of the bite wound
on her upper chest.

The photographs showed

The k*ller had
a distinctive bite pattern.

His left front tooth
pointed outward

Beyond the line
of his other front teeth.

Kim's address book contained
the name and telephone number

Of a man named ray krone,

Someone she had often
spoken with at the bar.

Defalco: kim ancona had
told several friends

That she was interested in ray,
that she liked him,

You know, that she thought
maybe something could happen.

And those friends, in turn,
relayed that to detectives.

Narrator: ray krone was


An air force veteran with
no prior criminal record.

Several bar employees told
police that kim had a date

With krone planned
for the night of her m*rder.

When police talked
to kim's friends,

The last person
that they expected kim ancona

To meet that night
was ray krone.

He was supposed to meet her
to help close up the bar.

When questioned,
ray krone said the two

Were just acquaintances.

He denied there
was any romantic relationship.

She was always a nice,
congenial person,

And very friendly
and outgoing,

And, so, you know,
I liked her personality.

I liked, you know, her
bubbliness and things like that.

There wasn't a relationship.

Narrator: and krone denied
that he had plans to meet kim

At the bar
as her friends claimed.

He also had an alibi.

He shared a house
with a co-worker

Who said krone was home
the night of the m*rder.

But as police
questioned krone,

They noticed that his left
front tooth protruded slightly

In a way that looked similar

To the bite wound
found on kim's chest.

Defalco: after looking
at the bite marks

On kim ancona's body,

Detectives pretty readily
jumped to the conclusion

That his teeth matched
kim ancona,

The bite marks
found on her body.

Narrator: krone willingly
agreed to provide an impression

Of his teeth

By biting into a piece
of styrofoam,

Which is commonly used since
it's soft but still stable.

Forensic odontologists examined
a series of bite impressions

From men who knew kim ancona.

They found only one
in which the left front tooth

Was clearly extended, just like
the bite mark on the body.

It was ray krone's.

I hear, you know, brakes
squealing, doors slamming.

I look over, and here is
a police van unloading

With officers all armed,
g*ns pointing at me,

Telling me to freeze.

I was thrown on the ground,
handcuffed, and taken off,

And I was charged with m*rder,
kidnapping, and sexual as*ault.

That was the day of my arrest,
new years eve of 1991.

Narrator: krone maintained
he was innocent,

But he had no explanation
for why his bite impression

Looked like the wound
on kim ancona.

It was a very frustrating,
aggravating,

Belittling situation

Where you just say,
"why? Why?

Why won't somebody listen?

Why won't somebody
take a minute

And look at this intelligently,
responsibly?

You're gonna see that there is
a definite problem here."

Narrator: but the bite wound
wasn't the only evidence

Against krone.

The perpetrator left his saliva
on kim's clothing.

Dna tests of that saliva sample
were inconclusive,

But tests revealed the
perpetrator had type "o" blood,

The same blood type
as ray krone.

He was arrested
and charged with m*rder.

At his trial,
prosecutors believed

The bite impression evidence
was the most convincing.

They hired a nationally known
bite mark expert

From las vegas, nevada,

To testify that it was
a 100% perfect match,

Better than a fingerprint.

Narrator: that expert
was dr. Raymond rawson,

A forensic odontologist

And also a senator
in the nevada state legislature.

At the trial, dr. Rawson
used this video

In which photographs of the bite
wound from kim ancona's body

Were superimposed
on ray krone's bite impressions.

Based on that evidence,

Ray krone was convicted
of first degree m*rder

And was sentenced to death.

Krone: I didn't care.

If I was gonna be in prison
for something I didn't do,

You might as well k*ll me.

What was my life, everything
I worked for, stood for,

A 35-year-old man, was gone.

Narrator: the press called krone
"the snaggletooth k*ller."

That judge believed
the bite marks

Were a form of t*rture,

And because of that,
he sentenced him to death.

Narrator: but if krone was
innocent, as he claimed,

How could a nationally known
forensic odontologist be wrong?

Narrator: ray krone had
spent three years on death row

For the m*rder of 35-year-old
bar manager kim ancona.

During that time,
he formed his own opinions

About the bite impression
evidence used to convict him.

Krone: I mean, you basically
could take a sharp object,

Stick it in skin a couple
of places,

And have somebody say,
"oh, yeah, that's a bite mark,

And it matches him."

And you could get -- if
you showed it to enough people,

You'd have somebody saying
that, yeah, it's a match.

That's junk.

Narrator: all death penalty
cases in arizona

Are automatically appealed
to the state supreme court.

And fortunately for krone,
this bite mark videotape

Made by the prosecution
provided grounds for an appeal.

The court ruled that the defense
team wasn't given enough time

To review the tape
before the trial.

For krone's retrial,

His family asked chris plourd
to represent him.

Plourd specializes
in difficult forensic cases.

I heard the story,
you know,

That ray krone is on death row
as a result of a bite mark.

I didn't know
whether other evidence

Supported his conviction
or not.

I was originally
kind of skeptical

Because I hear these stories
all the time.

Narrator: forensic experts
hired by plourd

Discovered that the hairs
found on kim's body

Were mongoloid hairs,

Meaning they were
from someone of asian

Or native american descent.

They also discovered
that ray krone wore

Size 10 1/2 shoes.

The shoe impression found
on the kitchen floor of the bar

Was a size 9 1/2.

The defense brought in
dr. Skip sperber,

A past president

Of the american academy
of forensic odontologists,

To look at
the bite wound evidence

That more than anything else

Convicted krone
in his first trial.

What dr. Sperber told them
came as a shock.

He said he'd
seen this evidence before.

It had been sent to him
before the first trial.

A good friend of mine,

John piakis in phoenix, arizona,
called me,

And he asked me
to look at this particular case,

The people vs. Krone.

And when I first
viewed that case,

Thought there were
too many inconsistencies

For that to be
a positive comparison

Between the teeth of ray krone,
the suspect,

And the victim's wounds.

Dr. Sperber
told his colleague

Working for
the arizona prosecutors

That this evidence
was exceptionally weak.

Sperber: we say on a range
of one to 10,

With 10 being very good,

I would have rated this
around three or four,

On the low side.

Narrator: here is a bite mark

Considered on the high end
of the scale, a nine or a 10.

All of the teeth
have made clear marks,

And the relationships between
the teeth can easily be seen.

The bite wound on kim ancona
had very few distinct markings.

Dr. Sperber took the cast
of ray krone's teeth

And, using a low-tech
but time-tested method,

Made a styrofoam impression

And then traced the teeth
patterns onto a transparency.

He then placed the transparency
over the top of the photo

Of the bite mark
on kim ancona's body.

Although the left
front tooth in both marks

Was jutting forward,

Ray krone does not
have any separation

Between his front teeth.

The bite mark
on the victim's body

Shows an obvious separation
between those teeth.

For dr. Sperber,
the results were clear.

If it's a good bite it will
really jump out at you,

And you will
see immediately similarities.

In the krone case,
there were no similarities.

So,
this was the key evidence.

And to get
the initial report back

That a bite mark expert
said it's not me

Was, like, "yeah, wow!"

You know, something good
can happen.

Narrator:
in the second trial,

Dr. Raymond rawson,
the same bite mark expert

From the first trial,
repeated his testimony.

He said there was no doubt

The bite mark
was from ray krone.

A team of defense experts
disagreed.

I can positively exclude
ray krone as being the biter.

I wasn't the only one.

There were three other
forensic dentists

That are all board certified,
highly qualified guys,

And they excluded him.

Narrator:
but the jury disagreed.

They sided
with the prosecution's expert

And found ray krone
guilty again.

Krone: what does it take?

What is
this beyond reasonable doubt?

What is this innocent
until proven guilty?

It don't exist in the justice
system, the one that I seen.

It did not exist for me.

We knew that there was
another person in that bathroom

At the time of death.

There were unknown fingerprints
that came back to somebody.

There was a person who
had shoes that were inconsistent

With the defendant.

The hairs were inconsistent
with the defendant.

You know, the fbi
forensic people testified

That these hairs were
not mr. Krone's.

They were not the victim's.

To me,
logic and common sense told me

It wasn't mr. Krone
who committed this crime.

And the jury
found the opposite result.

When I heard the verdict
in the second trial,

I really couldn't believe it.

It was total disbelief.

It was an absolute
dog and pony show

The likes of which
I've never seen before.

Ray krone tried to reconcile
himself to a life behind bars.

But then he got help
from an unlikely source --

The very system
he had grown to despise.

Narrator: ray krone languished
in prison for a crime

That some of the country's top
forensic experts said

He didn't commit.

Just before krone's second
trial,

Dr. Richard souviron,
one of his defense experts,

Sat next to the prosecution's
forensic expert,

Dr. Rawson,
at a scientific conference.

Dr. Souviron: his comment to me
was, "I'm in too deep."

He knew he was wrong,
but he'd already committed,

And if that isn't a scary thing,
uh, I don't know what is.

And I hated to see him get
sucked in on something like this

And told him, you know,
"get out of this deal.

"Just say, 'i don't wanna do it
any more,'

"Or, 'i've changed my opinion,'

"Or, 'i've listened to everybody
else and, you know,

I've re-thought my position.'"

Anybody can make a mistake.

I mean, we're not -- none of us
are above making mistakes.

But he said, "I'm in too deep,"

And that was the end
of that conversation.

Narrator:
through a spokesperson,

Dr. Rawson denies

That the conversation described
by dr. Souviron ever took place.

It wasn't until 2001 that a new
law offered krone some hope.

Uh, arizona, one of the first
states in the united states,

Passed a new bill for
post-conviction dna testing

Which allows convicted offenders
access to evidence

And post-conviction dna testing

If they contend
that they were innocent.

Narrator: so krone's defense
team asked the state of arizona

To test every piece of
kim ancona's clothing for dna.

The saliva on kim's blouse had
already been tested,

And the results
were inconclusive.

But her jeans had small
bloodstains.

The prosecution believed
the blood was kim ancona's.

The jeans were sent to
the state crime lab

For a new dna test that analyzes


The test yielded
unanticipated results.

The blood on the jeans wasn't
kim ancona's,

And it wasn't ray krone's...

But whose was it?

To find out,

Forensic scientists entered this
new dna evidence

Into a national dna database

With genetic profiles
of more than a million convicts

From across the country.

Profile after profile was
checked and cross-referenced,

And the database came up with
a match to this man --

A 35-year-old native american,
kenneth phillips,

Who was currently in prison
for child molestation.

At the time of kim ancona's
m*rder,

Kenneth phillips lived
just 600 yards away

From the cbs lounge.

He lived right behind the bar,

And his nationality was an
american indian which --

Which was consistent with some
of the other dna results we had

And the hairs that was found
at the scene of the crime.

Narrator:
when interviewed by police,

Phillips made
a startling admission.

He said on the morning after
kim's m*rder

He awoke from
an alcoholic blackout

To find his hands covered
with blood.

Then he saw news of the m*rder
on tv.

His fingerprints were among
the unknown fingerprints

Found in the bathroom
where the m*rder took place.

His shoe size matched the print
from the kitchen floor,

And his bite impression had the
same left front tooth protruding

From the rest of his teeth.

For ray krone,
the ordeal was over.

After serving


For a crime he didn't commit,

He walked out of prison
a free man.

I'd spent over 10 years
in prison.

Uh, I will never forget that day
I got out.

In fact, I commemorated it
so I won't ever forget it.

Narrator:
forensic odontologists say that

The problem with
the krone case

Was that dr. Rawson told jurors

Bite marks could match like
fingerprints,

But that is rarely possible.

The best that a forensic dentist
can give

Is reasonable certainty,

And that means that that's
the highest level we give.

There is always a remote
possibility

That there's someone else
that has teeth similar

That could have left
the pattern.

Narrator: ray krone is trying to
resume his life.

Experts say
the lesson of his case

Is that bite marks are
rarely definitive

And should only be used to
exclude, not include, suspects.

Above all, they say,

Bite mark analysis
is more opinion than fact,

And that this should always be
made clear to jurors.

What was allowed in mr. Krone's
case was bad science --

Scientific, uh, explanations
given by people who were, uh,

Unscientific in their methods.

Interpretation of a bite mark
is what convicted me,

Not the fingerprints that didn't
match me,

Not the -- the --

They even had footprints
that they couldn't match --

The shoes, the hair, not the --
not the, uh, the dna,

None of that stuff.

They used the interpretation
of a bite mark to convict me.

That has no place
in the courtroom

Any more than perjury
has a place in the courtroom.

We shouldn't allow witnesses
that lie,

No matter what they say,

Whether it's regarding
a scientific issue

Or any other issue.

And in this case it was clear

That some of
the scientific experts

Were actually misrepresenting
their data

And the scientific validity
of what they were talking about.