HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) - A judge postponed the start of a murder trial in the killing of a Hot Springs Village police dispatcher due to the emergence of new DNA evidence that needs testing.
Kevin Duck, 33, is now scheduled to stand trial on March 27, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported (https://bit.ly/2jxxvKX ). He is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of his girlfriend, 46-year-old Dawna Natzke, whose body was found in 2011 submerged in a pond in northern Garland County. Autopsy reports showed that the mother of three died by blunt-force trauma and drowning.
Duck was arrested in 2013, but the trial has been postponed seven times since 2014. Defense Attorney T. Clay Janske filed a motion seeking the latest postponement Wednesday because he said he needed more time to review the additional evidence delivered that morning. Judge Homer Wright granted the request Thursday.
According to Garland County chief deputy prosecutor Joe Graham, “there was some testing that was discovered that needed to be done.”
He declined to comment further on the matter.
Janske said he believes the new evidence will help his client’s case.
“That’s why I asked for a continuance,” said Janske. “My understanding was when he actually gave his sample last Thursday they were going to put a rush on it.”
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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, https://www.arkansasonline.com
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