Closing arguments under way in LA detective trial

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A defense attorney for former Los Angeles police detective Stephanie Lazarus has told jurors the prosecution’s centerpiece evidence in her cold-case murder trial can’t be trusted.

Defense attorney Mark Overland said Monday that the passage of time caused DNA from a bite mark on the victim’s arm to become compromised. He says it was improperly packaged and preserved, and he argues that the rest of the case is based on circumstantial evidence.

Overland spoke after prosecutor Paul Nunez argued that Lazarus was consumed with love for a man who married victim Sherri Rasmussen and was driven to hunt her down and kill her.

Rasmussen was murdered in 1986 and the evidence lay dormant until a cold-case team subjected it to DNA analysis. They found a probable match with Lazarus, a veteran police detective.

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