Kovacich Service Revolver

• On December 8, 1982, PCSO Detective Johnnie Smith submitted a request to the CalDOJ forensic lab to examine, and test fire Paul Kovacich’s service revolver. PCSO Landry delivered the firearm to the lab, and turned over custody to CalDOJ. 

• The purpose of the testing was to create slugs fired from Paul's duty carry gun so that if Janet’s body was found with gunshot wounds, they could compare any bullets in the body to those fired from the .357 Smith & Wesson revolver that PCSO had issued to Paul.

• Although science can’t reliably “match” a fired bullet to a particular gun, ballistic comparisons can be used to eliminate a gun, or find unusual marks on the slugs that allow the gun to be included as the possible murder weapon. 

CalDOJ records confirm that the firearm was received, and moved to Criminalist Lou Maucieri’s shelf to conduct the requested test firing and examinations:

• When the defense asked to have the gun turned over to their experts for testing and comparison to the hole in the Rollins Lake Skull that the DA was claiming was made by a bullet, the DA said that the .357 service revolver, the CalDOJ test fired slugs, and the CalDOJ ballistics report were “missing” from evidence, and unavailable for examination, testing, or comparison of any kind. 

• Eventually, right before the trial started, the DA turned over a receipt showing that Paul’s firearm had been sold to another PCSO officer in 1989. To this day, DA Gire refuses to say who authorized the disposal of the gun from the PCSO evidence room:

• Once the gun left PCSO custody, it could no longer be used as evidence. It may have been modified, altered, or damaged in a way that changed its firing action, or barrel marks. Janet had been missing for 7 years with no resolution, and the gun wasn’t released back to Paul even though he was still an active duty PCSO Sgt. in 1989. The sale was highly unusual, especially in a case that was a presumed homicide—with no statute of limitations. 

• The sale amounted to intentional destruction of potentially exculpatory evidence (could have proved that Paul’s gun did not make the hole in the skull), which is a crime in California, and an obvious Constitutional Due Process violation. The person(s) who ordered the disposal of critical evidence, and their motive(s) remain unknown. 

•The defense should have been able to submit the gun for forensic testing. The exact ammunition in the gun when it was turned over to Johnnie Smith was test fired by CalDOJ, and a report was generated describing the specific characteristics of the gun’s firing, and unique ballistic qualities transferred to the bullets.  All of that was gone.

•Intentional destruction of exculpatory evidence by the police usually results in all charges in the case being dismissed because it makes it impossible for the defendant to prove his innocence. The law states that a DA cannot use the destroyed evidence, or forensic findings from the evidence against the defendant, because there is no opportunity for retesting by the defense, and impeachment of the state’s opinion. 

• In the end, the judge let the DA strongly imply to the jury that Paul Kovacich’s service weapon was the murder weapon even though five forensic experts said that the hole in the Rollins Lake skull was not a gunshot (more likely a pick ax, or post-mortem damage), and the two experts who claimed it was a bullet hole, could not say exactly what caliber of gun or ammunition was used, and one was unwilling to bet more than $10 on his opinion. 

• The police intentionally destroyed exculpatory evidence, and all of the benefit went to the DA’s case. Without the evidence to test and eliminate, there was no way for the defense to prove that Paul’s service weapon and ammo did not make the hole. The jury believed that “maybe” was enough certainty for them—something the judge never should have allowed.

• According to chain of custody, the slugs were last known to be in the custody of PCSO.

• At trial, Symes testified for the state that Paul's .357 service revolver was possibly the same caliber and type of gun that caused the hole in the skull based upon this level of certainty: “In this case, I said large caliber in my report because that hole is very big–bigger than what you would normally see for a small caliber handgun, much bigger. Keeping in mind again the outside of that bone has eroded, and I ’m not sure my dimensions are accurate. My .65 inches for a minimum diameter, I don’t think is not extremely accurate. It is not a fresh bone.”

• Symes used the phrase “consistent with” a total of 42 times during his testimony. It was opinion only; there were no scientific studies or data to demonstrate or prove this “consistency.”

• As real evidence, the gun and slugs should have been turned over to the defense for examination and testing prior to trial, but that did ot happen. That is the law in CA under PC 1054.1(c), and the evidence is also highly relevant, material, and potentially exculpatory.

•In lieu of scientific testing, the state offered opinion testimony from forensic anthropologist Symes. The medical examiner, and multiple experts concluded that a gunshot was not the likely source of the hole, and that it was impossible to tell if the damage occurred at the time of death, or postmortem—as the skull rolled its way down the rocky wash.

• Mr. Kovacich is in prison based upon the vague, unscientific opinion of one man’s now discredited pattern matching “theory” which could have been scientifically tested and impeached using the actual firearm, and test fired slugs that were intentionally suppressed by the state.