12.Leah O'Connell — Direct
32 linesMS. SPRAGUE: Call Leah O'Connell.
BAILIFF: Watch your step, please.
LEAH O'CONNELL: Thank you.
BAILIFF: You're welcome.
THE COURT: Hi, good afternoon.
LEAH O'CONNELL: Good afternoon, sir.
THE COURT: Hi. Counsel.
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you. Good afternoon. Can you please state and spell your name for the record?
LEAH O'CONNELL: My name is Leah O'Connell, L-E-A-H O-C-O-N-N-E-L-L.
MS. SPRAGUE: Where do you work?
LEAH O'CONNELL: Currently I'm employed with the Massachusetts State Police as a trooper.
MS. SPRAGUE: Back in January of twenty twenty-three, were you also employed with the State Police?
LEAH O'CONNELL: I was, at the crime lab.
MS. SPRAGUE: And what were your responsibilities at the crime lab at that time?
LEAH O'CONNELL: So I was a forensic evidence technician, so we would receive evidence submitted to the lab for testing.
MS. SPRAGUE: And once you received that evidence at the lab... Well first of all, who would you receive that from? Would that be chemists? Would that be troopers? Who would it be from?
LEAH O'CONNELL: It was local, state, sometimes federal agencies. But there was also seeing evidence gathered by a chemist that we would have to log into the system.
MS. SPRAGUE: And so would it be your responsibility to take that evidence, log it into the system, and move it along for a process through the lab?
LEAH O'CONNELL: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: And were there tracking numbers or lab numbers that you would assign to evidence in order to keep track of it as it progressed through the lab?
LEAH O'CONNELL: Yes, every case gets its own number.
MS. SPRAGUE: And, directing your attention to January thirty-first, twenty twenty-three, at eleven fifteen AM, do you recall receiving six vials of blood and one vial of urine belonging to Lindsay Clancy from Trooper Mark Farioli?
LEAH O'CONNELL: I did.
MS. SPRAGUE: And when you received those items, did you log them appropriately into the system with her case number?
LEAH O'CONNELL: I did.
MS. SPRAGUE: And how were they stored after that point?
LEAH O'CONNELL: So they go into a heat sealed pack. So, it's like a plastic bag that gets heat sealed, initial and dated, and then it goes right into a fridge.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. Thank you.
THE COURT: Attorney Reddington.
MR. REDDINGTON: I have no questions. We stipulate to the blood, so.
THE COURT: Okay. All right. Well, thank you. You may step down. Thank you.
MR. REDDINGTON: Thank you.