09x15 - Pinned by the Evidence

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Narrator: a late night street fight left one man dead and

Contradictory accounts of what took place.

Some said the victim was m*rder*d.

Others said it was self-defense.

It took a member of the wrestling hall of fame, a

Blood-spatter expert, and forensic animation to reveal how

A world-class athlete lost one of the most important fights of

His life.

San diego, california, is a mecca for both athletes and

Outdoor enthusiasts.

And it's where -year-old dusty harless settled after his

Successful college career as the a.a.u. National wrestling

Champion.

Dusty was a wakeboard salesman, which combined his passion for

Sports with his personality for sales.

He had so many friends.

He knew so many different groups of people all over san diego,

And everyone loved him.

He was just a great person.

If he touched your life, you were a lucky person.

Hey, here's dusty's fat stomach after eating all the

Candy!

Tomorrow, he'll sit on the can for an hour, run five miles,

Come back, do a couple of hundred push-ups.

Narrator: just after midnight one saturday night, dusty and

His girlfriend, sky flanders, were heading home after an

Evening on the town.

We were just gonna walk to the liquor store to call a cab.

Narrator: sky ran ahead of dusty, seeking shelter from the

Rain.

A man in a car pulled up beside her.

He said something to the effect, "hey, baby, you want a

Ride?" And I said, "no, I'm with

Someone."

Like, obviously, I don't need a ride because I'm not alone.

He hadn't seen dusty right away.

Narrator: dusty walked over to investigate.

He made a statement to the effect of, "hey, that's my

Girlfriend.

What's going on here?" Narrator: dusty went around

To the driver's side.

Words were exchanged.

There was an altercation.

By the time it was all over, the car sped away, leaving dusty

Lying on the ground bleeding to death.

I didn't know there was a w*apon involved until then.

And, obviously, when I saw the wound, things started coming

Together.

I was hysterical.

"Why did you do this to dusty?" Narrator: when paramedics

Arrived, dusty had bled to death.

I just was in total disbelief.

I didn't want to hear what he was telling me.

I didn't want to believe it.

I didn't want to hear it.

I was like, "you're lying to me!"

And I was hitting the wall and freaking out, and he had to take

Me outside.

I was being way too loud.

Narrator: sky was able to provide the assailant's license

Plate number...

The car was registered to barbara genzler.

She told police her son, david, was using the car, but she

Didn't know where he was.

-Year-old david genzler was a finance student at

San diego state university.

He matched the general description sky had given to

Police -- about six feet tall, thin, with glasses.

Three days later, genzler turned himself in.

Obviously he knew he stabbed someone, but didn't know the

Extent of that wound.

When he learned that this person had d*ed, that's when he

Contacted an attorney.

Narrator: genzler refused to tell police where the car was,

And he also refused to give them the clothes he wore that night

And the Kn*fe.

What his story is, I don't know.

He's never given us a statement.

Genzler looked very studious.

He had the little glasses and was a tall, lanky guy.

He didn't look like someone you would expect to get into a

Street brawl, much less k*ll someone.

Narrator: but several eyewitnesses disagreed.

Narrator: hundreds of friends turned out for dusty harless'

Funeral.

Love you, dusty.

Narrator: he was a former wrestling champion and a

World-class wakeboarder.

His friends went out into the pacific near his home and

Dropped wreaths of flowers on the water in his memory.

He knew so many people in san diego, different groups of

People in different areas, and he had a lot of friends.

A lot of people loved him.

If you knew dusty, you were touched, and you were lucky.

Narrator: the autopsy revealed the cause of dusty's

Death was a single s*ab wound to his aorta, the largest artery in

The body.

Just one s*ab wound, and it went in four inches into the

Body and sliced the aorta.

Narrator: dusty's girlfriend, sky flanders, didn't see

Everything that happened, but she was certain david genzler

Was a k*ller.

He looked kind of crazed.

He looked like a wild animal.

Really, he had like a crazy look in his eyes and got in his car

And left.

He didn't say anything.

Narrator: eventually, an eyewitness came forward.

His name was scott davis.

He said he was driving by and saw two men fighting and stopped

To try to break it up.

Scott davis was a first-class petty officer with

The navy who was moonlighting as a bouncer at a local bar.

And he drove up just as this was beginning.

And what he said is, as he drove up, he saw this beginning of a

Confrontation, and he saw the defendant take a hard swing and

Hit dusty on the left side of his head and that dusty went

Down on his back, that the defendant jumped on top of him,

Straddled him, pulled out a Kn*fe with his right hand, and

Stabbed him once in the chest.

Narrator: davis said he fled the scene because genzler had

Threatened him, too.

But david genzler's version of events was significantly

Different.

He said dusty harless instigated the fight by pulling him out of

His car and wrestled him facedown to the ground.

He also said that scott davis, the so-called witness, was, in

Fact, an active participant.

Genzler insisted davis kicked him repeatedly while dusty had

Him pinned down, but he managed to get a Kn*fe out of his pocket

To defend himself.

He's thinking he's getting his ass kicked, and he's in fear

Of his life.

And he just blindly reaches back and stabs him.

Is it likely or unlikely -- I really can't say.

And that is what made the one s*ab wound into, pretty much,

The center of the chest of dusty.

Narrator: a week after dusty's death, police found

Genzler's car parked in a neighborhood on the other side

Of the city.

We were able to get dna from the steering wheel, from the

Gearshift, from the turn signal, and that dna, that blood, came

Back and matched that of the victim, dusty harless.

Narrator: this tied genzler to the k*lling.

A short time later, after hearing about the incident in

The media, one of genzler's friends turned over a Kn*fe

Which she said belonged to genzler.

It was consistent with the size of the wound.

It was, basically, a -inch, single-bladed Kn*fe, and it was

Consistent with the depth of the wound and other dimensions of

The wound.

Narrator: and the friend also turned over a bloody shirt.

Tests revealed the blood on the shirt was that of the victim,

Dusty harless.

The blood was on the front of the shirt, inconsistent with

Genzler's version of the incident.

Had genzler been underneath dusty on his stomach when he

Stabbed him, dusty's blood would have been on the back of

Genzler's shirt, not the front.

The fact that the majority of the blood is the front, it seems

A more likely theory that it was a front, face-to-face

Confrontation.

Based on the facts of the case, based on the eyewitnesses,

Based on the periphery witnesses after the fact, I felt

We had a m*rder case here.

[ Sobbing ] I couldn't believe that I actually took

Another man's life.

I only thought I got the guy in the shoulder.

I didn't know he was gonna die.

Narrator: david genzler was convicted of second-degree

m*rder in the death of dusty harless.

He was sentenced to years to life in prison.

Which, in california, means life.

People don't get paroled when they have indeterminate

Sentences like that.

Narrator: while in prison, genzler continued to maintain he

Had acted in self-defense, and he hoped that, one day, he would

Get a second chance to prove his innocence.

Narrator: david genzler couldn't understand how a jury

Concluded he b*at a national wrestling champion, then stabbed

Him in the chest without provocation.

Genzler appealed his conviction, arguing he was denied his choice

Of counsel.

The defendant's initial attorney, gerry blank, was ruled

Not to be able to represent him because of some technical

Issues.

The court of appeals said that that denied mr. Genzler his

Right to the counsel of his choice and reversed it on that

Ground.

Narrator: in preparing for the second trial, genzler's new

Defense team found something in dusty harless' background that

Made genzler's claim of self-defense more believable.

Numerous witnesses came forward to say dusty harless had a

Reputation for starting fights.

They brought some people in that said my son was a street

Brawler.

I don't know how they found them, but they did find some

People that weren't really, you know, a dusty fan.

Narrator: in addition, toxicology tests showed dusty

Was legally intoxicated at the time of his death, with a .

Blood alcohol level.

There were also traces of marijuana in his system.

And the defense team discovered that sky flanders originally

Gave police a completely different version of events from

What she testified to at trial.

Sky flanders is interesting.

She told police a few hours later that she saw dusty in some

Kind of a wrestling hold, holding genzler and throwing

Him.

But, then, she didn't see a lot else until she saw him bleeding.

Later, she changed that story on the stand in the first trial

And testified that it was genzler who was the complete

Aggressor, coming out after him.

Narrator: sky also admitted that dusty instigated more than

His share of fights.

Sky flanders did admit that she had committed perjury, that

She had, in fact, seen dusty harless in one brawl that

She had witnessed.

After she had been insulted in a bar, he'd taken the guy out and

Beaten him, beaten him bad down in the alley, and that she had

Heard about several other fights where he was always, pretty

Much, the winner.

He was a good fighter, apparently.

It was now coming out that I had not been completely

Truthful in my original testimonies, and the reason I

Had said that is because I didn't want to feed the defense

Any information that they would use against dusty in the case.

Narrator: from the beginning, david genzler described, in

Specific detail, how dusty held him to the ground.

To see if this was possible, the defense consulted ned blass, a

Two-time national collegiate wrestling champion and member of

The wrestling hall of fame.

Blass said that genzler's description was consistent with

A classic technique every wrestler is taught.

I'm taking the position of mr. Genzler, mr. Harless over

Here, and I'm probably not wanting to fight.

As I back up, he would att*ck my arm, turn me up.

I'm gonna go to my face 'cause I don't want to land on the back

Of my head.

He drives my head down and keeps me positioned -- I can't get up.

He pulls my head back.

I'd realize I have a Kn*fe in my belt.

I'm taking the Kn*fe out -- plenty of room to take it loose

And s*ab wherever I can s*ab.

Narrator: prosecutors scoffed at this notion, as did dusty's

Family.

David genzler would have us believe that he was laying

Facedown on the ground and dusty was sitting on his back, and

That david genzler actually stabbed dusty like this, up over

The back of his head and stabbed him in the chest, while he was

Sitting on his back.

There are just so many things that don't wash here.

Narrator: but if genzler was telling the truth, why was the

Blood all over the front of his shirt and not the back?

Narrator: david genzler spent six years in prison for the

m*rder of wrestler dusty harless.

But he eagerly awaited his new trial.

His hopes were raised when dusty's girlfriend,

Sky flanders, changed her story and now admitted that dusty had

Been in several previous fights with others while they were out.

As both sides prepared for the second trial, they each had very

Different explanations for how dusty's blood got onto genzler's

Shirt.

We have a blood-spatter interpretation expert look at it

From our crime lab.

The defense hires a blood-spatter interpretation

Expert to look at it from their end.

And, not surprising at all, their opinions are diametrically

Opposed.

Narrator: the shirt had a large stain on the right, front

Shoulder.

Since dusty's aorta had been severed, both defense and

Prosecution experts agreed the blood would have been spurting

From the wound in the same cadence as his heartbeat.

You now have a victim that is bleeding and spurting with the

Maximum blood output that could be, under stress, - liters

Of blood per minute are going to be coming out of this wound,

Either in the body or spurting out of the body.

Narrator: this meant that the blood flow wasn't continuous.

With an aortic wound, blood doesn't generally spill out.

It spurts out or sprays out because of the pressure into the

Aorta.

Narrator: defense experts believed this would have given

Genzler enough time to rotate his torso to face dusty as the

Blood spurted from the wound.

But genzler's attorney had to find some way to show the jury

How this could have happened.

And, for that, he turned to the new field of forensic animation.

Forensic animation has a specific application within the

Court system, and those animations have to be conformed

To the rules of the court and what are expected in terms of

Rules of evidence.

There was a videotape made with david genzler, and I think

It was the attorney who played the role of dusty harless.

And we videotaped that from an angle that we were gonna do the

Animation from, so I could use as reference to create the

Animation and create the poses to get it as accurate as

Possible.

Narrator: the computer takes several of these keyframes, and

Then calculates the most likely way the bodies would move from

One key position to another.

It's called pose-to-pose animation, which was developed

In the 's by disney, where they would make a pose and then

You'd draw the next major pose, and then you fill in in between

Later.

Narrator: a layer called a texture map was then created to

Show the movement of the blood to genzler's shirt.

We wanted the eye to focus on this almost in a clinical frame

Of mind, rather than an emotional frame of mind.

Narrator: a frame-by-frame sequence was created

Corroborating genzler's story by showing how the blood got on his

Shirt.

In august , years after dusty harless' death,

David genzler went on trial a second time for m*rder.

The defense presented a much different account of the

Incident than the prosecution did.

The defense said genzler innocently offered sky flanders

A ride because he thought she was alone.

And the toxicology reports prove dusty harless was intoxicated.

Genzler said dusty pulled him out of the car and, in short

Order, pinned him to the ground.

And that the witness, scott davis, helped dusty by

Kicking genzler while he was pinned.

Genzler says the fight was two against one, and that he pulled

The Kn*fe from his pocket, stabbed blindly behind him, and

Quickly turned around, so that the blood hit the front of his

Shirt.

Scott davis admitted leaving the scene of the incident, but

Strongly denies attacking genzler.

This interpretation of the forensic evidence, the forensic

Animation, and testimony of a hall-of-fame wrestling coach

Resulted in a very different conclusion.

David genzler was found guilty of the much lesser charge of

Involuntary manslaughter.

His sentence was reduced to time served, and he was released from

Prison.

His life could have been ruined.

Now he's a free man.

I don't know what he's doing now, but I understand he wanted

To become a lawyer.

Narrator: the case shows the limits of what answers science

Can provide.

Questions about exactly what happened the night of

Dusty harless' death remain.

Most likely, the main reason why there was more forensic

Evidence in the second trial is because there was, literally,

Years in between to prepare and to really go through everything

With a fine-tooth comb and to present all evidence that you

Possibly could.

I've learned that in a fight, in a physical fight, things

Don't go always according to plan.

The guy who's supposed to win the fight ends up losing.

Anything can happen, and I think that's what happened in this

Case.

Exactly what happened, I don't think anybody will really

Know, except, possibly, the defendant.