5.Rose Stoffers — Direct/Cross
145 linesMS. BUCKINGHAM: The Commonwealth would call Rose Stoffers to state witness.
ROSE STOFFERS: I do.
COURT CLERK: Thank you. You may be seated.
BAILIFF: Watch your step, please.
THE COURT: Hey, good morning.
ROSE STOFFERS: Good morning.
THE COURT: Morning. All right, Attorney Buckingham, please.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. Good morning.
ROSE STOFFERS: Good morning.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Could you please tell the jurors your first and last name?
ROSE STOFFERS: Rose Stoffers.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Could you spell your last name for the record?
ROSE STOFFERS: S-T-O-F-F-E-R-S.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And how—what do you do for work?
ROSE STOFFERS: I'm a sergeant on the state police in the Crime Scene Services section.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And how long have you worked for the state police?
ROSE STOFFERS: Since January of 2019.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Can you tell us a little bit about what the Crime Scene Services section is of the Massachusetts State Police?
ROSE STOFFERS: Sure. So we get called to all different kinds of crime scenes. Our main job is to document the scenes with photos and videos. We can also process evidence on scene, or we collect evidence and bring it back to our lab, and we process it there. We're processing for fingerprints, and then we do fingerprint analysis to try to identify any fingerprints we find on the evidence.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And fair to say the State Police Crime Scene Services have labs across the state, right?
ROSE STOFFERS: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And what office do you work at?
ROSE STOFFERS: Right now I work out of the Boston office.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Going back to 2023, were you working out of the Lakeville office?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so fair to say that the troopers that are out of that Lakeville office do respond to a lot of scenes here in Plymouth County?
ROSE STOFFERS: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I'm gonna draw your attention to January 24th, 2023. Do you recall being called out to the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth on that night?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And do you recall approximately what time you arrived there?
ROSE STOFFERS: I arrived at about 8:35 PM.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Were you by yourself, or were you with anyone else from the unit?
ROSE STOFFERS: I was by myself. I met then Trooper Lawler there. He's from the Plymouth detective unit, and I also met the forensic scientist there.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And can you explain to the jurors a little bit about that relationship that you as a trooper have with forensic scientists that work for the lab?
ROSE STOFFERS: The forensic scientists are civilians who work for the lab. But they will come out to scenes as well. They do mostly testing of, like, biological evidence that we don't do. So we work closely with them both at scenes, and they share our office in Lakeville.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And fair to say that they're actually part of a different unit with the State Police Crime Lab called the Crime Scene Response Unit?
ROSE STOFFERS: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: But oftentimes is it the case that when you're responding to crime, serious crime scenes like this one, that you're working in tandem with a forensic scientist from that unit?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes, that's correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so in this circumstance, you indicated that Maureen Hartnett also was at the South Shore Hospital with you?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: When you got to the South Shore Hospital, what was the purpose for you being called out there? What were you asked to do?
ROSE STOFFERS: So my instructions were to document the defendant, any injuries that she had. Forensic Scientist Hartnett was gonna be taking swabs, and any time they take swabs, we have to document the areas in which they swab.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: So when you got to the South Shore Hospital, do you remember where you went in the hospital?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yeah, I went to one of the trauma rooms in the emergency department.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so were you able to make observations of Lindsay Clancy?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And do you see Lindsay Clancy in the courtroom?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Objection.
THE COURT: All right. The record may reflect the identification.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. What were your observations of her when you saw her?
ROSE STOFFERS: She was covered in, like, blankets and, like, heating devices, and she had a neck collar on. So when I first walked in the room, I couldn't see anything on her body 'cause she was under the blanket other than, like, the neck brace and her face.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: May I approach?
THE COURT: You may.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: So let me show you a photograph. Is that a fair and accurate representation of how you observed Lindsay Clancy?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: So I move this as an exhibit.
THE COURT: Any objection?
MR. REDDINGTON: I have no objection to any of the photographs.
THE COURT: All right. They may be admitted.
COURT REPORTER: Exhibit 140.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Sergeant Stoffers, I'm just showing you now what's been marked as Exhibit 140. Can you see that from where you're sitting?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so, this blanket, that's how you observed her in the trauma room?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: At some point, did you and other medical staff remove the blanket to document injuries?
ROSE STOFFERS: We didn't remove the blanket, but we did remove her arms out from underneath the blanket.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so were you able to do that on your own or did you need assistance?
ROSE STOFFERS: I needed assistance.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And why did you need assistance?
ROSE STOFFERS: When I first attempted to pull out her right arm, she was uncooperative and pulling it back and fighting against us a little.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: So did you enlist the help of the nurses to help you to remove her arm from the blanket?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Were you able to make any observations of kind of the temperature in the room at the time that you got in there?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes, it was very hot in the room.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And that blanket that you observed, were you aware that blanket was to kind of bring her body temperature up?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: When you were able to view her arms, when you first saw them, did they have anything on them?
ROSE STOFFERS: There was a red-brown stain on her hands. And there was gauze on, like, her wrist area.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Did you enlist the help of the medical staff to remove the gauze?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And why was that?
ROSE STOFFERS: To document any injuries that might've been underneath.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And were you able to observe injuries?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: In addition to... Well, strike that. The injuries that you observed, or the areas of the body that you documented, what were they?
ROSE STOFFERS: I documented, I took that first overall photo of her. I took a close-up of her face and, or the neck area that I could see. I documented both her hands, both sides of them, her wrist area underneath where the gauze was, and then the nurses assisted in opening up the neck brace, and I took photos of her neck as well.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And in addition to documenting the defendant herself, did you document any other items that were at the South Shore Hospital that evening?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes. I documented any personal belongings that were brought in with her.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so, you're aware that they removed clothing from her?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so you documented the clothing?
ROSE STOFFERS: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And that she had two rings?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And that you photographed those rings?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And you're aware Trooper Lawler had retained those items?
ROSE STOFFERS: I'm not sure who retained them from there.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. But your role was just to document them?
ROSE STOFFERS: Correct. I didn't take anything.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. In regards to this particular ca-... Well, go back for one second. In the crime lab, how does your unit, or how do you identify particular cases that you work on?
ROSE STOFFERS: As in, like, being called out to something?
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Well, is there a way that you, once you get called out to a case and do work on a case, is there a way to track what you did with each case by some sort of case number or lab number?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes, we have a case number associated with it.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And as far as lab numbers go, you're aware that the crime lab follows pieces of evidence using the same lab number?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes, that's correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And does that track items that go through your system?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes. It... So our lab number goes into a computer system, and it tracks everything. It keeps every report written on that case. It tracks the custody logs. It tracks every piece of evidence that's been involved in the case.
MR. REDDINGTON: If it helps you, Your Honor, there's no issue as to chain of custody or foundation or anything like that.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. Other than going out to the South Shore Hospital on January 24th, you recall being called out to another location later in relation to the same lab number?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And that would've been on January 6th, 2023?
ROSE STOFFERS: February 6th.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Or excuse me. February 6th. Thank you. So where did you go?
ROSE STOFFERS: I was called to the Plymouth Detective Unit's office in Brockton.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And did you meet or speak with one of the troopers from that office?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes. Yes, I did. Trooper Rabbitt.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Trooper Rabbitt. And what did he ask you to do on that day?
ROSE STOFFERS: He asked me to photograph a bag of medication and some documents that were inside that bag that had been brought to their office.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And did you do anything else with the items that Trooper Rabbitt had in his possession on January... Excuse me, February 2, 6th?
ROSE STOFFERS: No, I just photographed them and left them with them.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And again, is that something that your unit sometimes is called out to do?
ROSE STOFFERS: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. Nothing further.
THE COURT: Okay. Attorney Reddington.
MR. REDDINGTON: So, is a trooper, are you a chemist or—
ROSE STOFFERS: Sergeant.
MR. REDDINGTON: Sergeant. Sorry. Sergeant, you had a search warrant apparently when you went into the house, I guess, with Trooper Rabbitt?
ROSE STOFFERS: I didn't go into the house.
MR. REDDINGTON: Oh, so he just gave you the bag. In other words, you didn't go in the house and take pictures of any of the rooms or anything like that?
ROSE STOFFERS: No, the bag was at their office when I went to their office.
MR. REDDINGTON: Oh, okay. All right. That's all I have. Thank you.
THE COURT: Anything on... Anything further, Attorney Buckingham?
MS. BUCKINGHAM: No, thank you.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, Sergeant.
ROSE STOFFERS: Thank you.
MS. SPRAGUE: Can we approach?
THE COURT: Yeah, please. Recess at this point. And so I'm gonna ask you to go back. We'll get you back in here in a short while. Okay, thank you.
BAILIFF: Court, all rise. Jurors, you can close your notebooks, put them on your chairs.
BAILIFF: Jurors have exited the courtroom. The court is in session. Please be seated.
THE COURT: All right. So we'll be in recess on this matter at this time. Thank you.
BAILIFF: All rise.