SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) - The trial of a California man for the slaying of a South Lake Tahoe gas station employee 34 years ago is scheduled to resume Tuesday.
The trial of Andrew Sanford of Carmichael for the 1980 death of 16-year-old Richard Swanson concluded its first week Thursday in El Dorado County Superior Court in Placerville.
The Tahoe Daily Tribune reports (https://bit.ly/1kWbr5u ) prosecutor Trish Kelliher told the jury that DNA evidence would tie the 52-year-old Sanford to duct tape that was used to asphyxiate Swanson.
Defense attorney Erik Schlueter said Sanford visited the Shell station frequently because he was a roommate of an employee. As a result, Schlueter says, Sanford’s DNA may be on the duct tape.
Swanson was working alone when he was bound and gagged. The robber took his wallet and $190, as well as $761 from the cash drawer.
Sanford was arrested in 2012 based in part on the DNA evidence.
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Information from: Tahoe Daily Tribune, https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/
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