Murder victim Joseph Benaquist's son, Michael Benaquist, took the witness stand for testimony Thursday afternoon in Scott Doll's trial.
A series of his father's written checks from Key Bank were observed. Michael agreed that all of his father’s signatures on the checks were valid and had been signed by his father.
However, on the contract for the title of the 2006 Chevy Malibu, District Attorney Friedman asked, “Is that your father’s signature?”
“No” Benaquist replied.
Benaquist was then shown three videos from the Adesa auction camera. In the third video, Benaquist was asked to observe a gentleman wearing a plaid jacket.
The video revealed the man speaking and standing next to another man. The second man was recorded wearing a tan jacket and a baseball cap.
One of Doll's attorneys, Daniel Killelea, asked if the individual in plaid was Benaquist’s father. Benaquist stated that although he was not completely sure, he thought it might be. The other two videos showed the man in the tan jacket wearing a baseball cap at the auction.
Benaquist agreed that in two of the videos, his father’s 2006 Chevy Malibu was passing by the camera. However, he testified that he could not recognize who the other man was, wearing the tan jacket, at any point in the videos.
Paul Kisch, bloodstain-pattern expert, remained on the stand to be cross-examined as the first witness of the afternoon. He agreed with defense attorney, Paul Cambria, that from looking at the autopsy report, there were a number of large cuts on Joseph Benaquist’s head.
The cause of Benaquist’s blood spatter onto Doll’s shoes, overalls and the outside of his Windstar van still remain in question.
Cambria asked the expert, “Is it safe to say that if enough blood came down Benaquist’s head, it could have sprayed on to other individuals nearby? Which is called “expiration," and is the blowing off of blood from the nose, mouth or a wound, pushed by an air source?”
Kisch agreed and testified that this was possible. It was agreed that the impact spatter of blood from a beating can have the same size and range of blood as from coughing blood.
“Expirated, spattered blood can appear similar to impact blood by size and range,” Kisch claimed. However, Kisch made it clear that the blood found on Doll’s clothing and vehicle was “completely consistent with impact spatter that we notice in our case studies and experiments.”
It was verified by Kisch that the blood stains on the Pontiac G6, which had been parked in Benaquist’s driveway the night his body was found, were all transfer stains (the blood on one object was transferred on to another).
As for the puddle of blood found underneath the Nissan Ultima, which was also parked in Benaquist’s driveway, Kisch testified that the blood could have gotten there as a result of another person moving the body to that area.
Kisch also concluded that the blood found on Doll’s overalls and the Windstar van were a result of being in close proximity with Benaquist during the assault.
The jury was dismissed 45 minutes early for the weekend.
