Murder LA 000024: Don’t be fooled by the DNA evidence.

by James Cohen

 
"The D.A.'s case rests entirely on DNA evidence," George Buehler, defense attorney for alleged murderer Kelly Soo Park, reminded jurors this past Wednesday. "Don’t be fooled by the DNA evidence."

Kelly Soo Park

Giving voice to a society fed up with things like science, Buehler heroically challenged the prosecution's misleading evidence: his client's genetic material, which was found on 21-year-old Juliana Redding's strangled neck. It was also on the victim's cellphone, which logged an attempted 911 call the night of her murder, and on the gas stove which was left on without a pilot light -- police arrived at Redding's Santa Monica condo before the candle which was left burning in another room could ignite the gas.

Buehler alleges that the police probably stopped looking for other suspects after they found Ms. Park's DNA all over the crime scene. Well, they did question one other person whose saliva was found on Ms. Redding -- actor Brian Van Holt, who testified that they were intimately involved -- though authorities don't believe he was involved in the murder.

They had, of course, investigated other suspects before. Ms. Redding had at one time dated a Dr.  Munir Uwaydah, who then struck a business deal with her father. Mr. Redding backed out of the deal just five days before his daughter's murder. Authorities believe Park was sent by Uwaydah to send a message on his behalf, as she had apparently done before. She received a $250,000 payment from Uwaydah shortly before the murder in March 2008, and then her family received more money shortly before she was arrested in 2010. Uwaydah, meanwhile, left the country and is thought to be in Lebanon.

You should probably ignore all that, though, since the police only link it together due to having been fooled by DNA evidence.

Juliana Redding was an aspiring actress who moved to L.A. from Arizona. She got a part in one movie and modeled for Maxim. The jury is currently in deliberations as of Friday, May 24th.

Juliana Redding

NOTES

• According to one prosecutor, Uwaydah is paying for Park's legal fees and trying to bail her out so she can flee the country, which would clear him to return. He presented a taped conversation wherein Park's sister informs her that the doctor will bail her out.
• Another prosecutor tried to get Park's bail denied, alleging that she went into a hospital claiming to need treatment and asking if her ankle bracelet could be taken off, and then simply leaving when that request was denied. The judge allowed bail, however, even while stating her own dismay that, because Park has since married a retired police commander, she has access to a vehicle with a confidential license plate.

ADVENTURES WITH FACEBOOK GRAPH SEARCH

I like to run names through social media networks in case there are interesting profiles. So, as a side note, their new Graph Search, which is admittedly in testing, is terribad.

First, it decided "juliana redding" meant someone named Juliana who's from Redding.

Then, when I added Santa Monica to the search, it decided that Redding must be somewhere in Santa Monica.

So then I enclosed just the name "juliana redding" in quotation marks and it decided that was a place.