3:10 p.m. update
The prosecution rested their case Tuesday afternoon. The trial was scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Original story
BENTONVILLE — A DNA expert said that Zachary Holly’s DNA was found on 6-year-old Jersey Bridgeman’s shirt.
Melissa Myhand, chief forensic DNA examiner for the Arkansas Crime Laboratory, testified Tuesday morning at Holly’s capital murder trial.
Holly, 30, is charged with capital murder, kidnapping, rape and residential burglary. He’s accused of abducting the girl from her home on Nov. 20, 2012 and raping and killing her in an abandoned house next to his home.
Lisa Channell, a serologist at the Arkansas Crime Laboratory, testified earlier that she found sperm cells on swabs from Jersey’s body. She also found the cells and blood on the girl’s shirt.
Myhand did the DNA testing on the items.
She told jurors that Holly was the major contributor to the sperm cells found on Jersey’s shirt. Myhand said it was within scientific certainy that it is Holly’s DNA.
Myhand testified that DNA consistent with Holly was found on vaginal and rectal swabs taken from Jersey’s body. “I can not say with all scientific certainty that it is his DNA,” Myhand said. “I can say he can’t be excluded.”
Testimony will resume Tuesday afternoon.
Prosecutors are calling a medical examiner as a witness and then they may rest their case.
Holly is being held without bond in the Benton County Jail.