[0:03]The Big Easy, one of the true great American cities. The area is known for its culture, its music, and its cuisine. The picturesque scenery is anchored by the Mississippi River, sending fraters and commerce up the river to hungry ports waiting for goods to supply much of the south and Midwest.
[0:39]Jefferson Parish surrounds New Orleans on three sides and is home to some of the most important real estate in the Metro area. This bustling community was shaken in April of 2009, when the unthinkable occurred. 19-year-old mother, Dominique Sterling, was murdered in a Terrytown apartment. Her 23-month-old son and a six-year-old boy were also executed, while they slept. Veteran detective Gary Barteet got the call, and even this seasoned homicide officer was taken back with the scene. force entry. As soon as you get in there, you start seeing bodies and ballistic material and uh, blood, everything, carnage. As you progress further into the scene, then you start seeing the little kids. Um, it's just one of those you never forget the sights. Inside is, you know, a 19-year-old female is dead atop the stairs, um, multiple gunshot wounds to include defensive wounds. ballistics from at least two different weapons right there present. And then you progress down the hallway and you find a room where the one survivor who had been shot. She's shot five times. There's blood all over. There's, you know, ballistic material there. And then the next room is where two little boys, a 23-month-old child in a diaper. you know, shot in the head, laying as he slept. uh, and an a six-year-old child also shot in the head. He ultimately dies at the hospital. And so, the first step of comprehensive collection began in earnest, as crime scene investigators scour the scene for critical clues. Within just a few hours, they had gone through step two of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, or Niven, critical steps, entering ballistics evidence into the nationwide system. The timeliness of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's department in getting their information into Niven would make all the difference in solving this heinous crime. Beauty of Niben is, you get pieces of evidence on many different crime scenes. So the connection made by Niben lets us take the pieces, maybe a palm print, maybe DNA and connect with that firearms evidence and tie everything together. It's just a force multiplier on our end. Well, the crime lab gives us a ballistic match to this particular murder or murders. and a a illegal discharge of a firearm, which is just a for us, it, it's a random shooting event. Somebody calls and reports gunshots in an area, police arrive, there's nobody there, there's, you know, casings everywhere. So a report is written, generated, they pick up the casings through crime scene, uh, that sort of thing. Typical garden variety case. It happens all the time. This particular incident, there were four different calibers fired at that illegal discharge. Two of the calibers were the two weapons used in the the triple homicide and attempt murder case that we talked about. The break in the case came from a seemingly unrelated firearms discharge incident in another part of the parish. The spent casings from that scene were entered into Niven, and guess what? It came back a match to guns used at the triple homicide. Investigators now had the ammunition they needed to pursue their suspects. The timeliness of the Jefferson Parish case was not only critical in the effort of tracking down the real suspects, but in this case, it excluded someone who was already in custody. So, based on the Niben data, a partial palm print and ballistics evidence from another separate crime scene, Jefferson Parish was on the trail of the real cold-blooded killer. The sooner you can get to the bottom of who's doing the violent crime, and the faster that you can lock them up, you know, the better off everybody is. I mean, 48 hours is, you know, it's it's a short period of time, but you can, but with Niben and um, the technology we have, it's it's nothing to have a gun traced. traced within 24 hours, but also put into Niben and matched. Jefferson Parish arrested four suspects, but it was Dominique Davis that received particular scrutiny. He was the alleged triggerman of the brutal triple homicide. If the lab hadn't made the the match. If robbery hadn't been on their game extracting all the information, finding out who had that weapon, then I would have never gotten the name and I would have never that wouldn't have made my print hit me nothing, because it had to be a manual comparison. So it all starts, like a domino effect as we, you know, we come from these ballistic matches to these interviews to another set of ballistic matches to here's your print. I mean, it it was a domino effect and it and it it fell in a line beautifully. It it took a case that you want to solve because, I mean, you want to solve every case, but this one is the little kids, it's, you know, hurts your heart to, you know, it's it's like a gift. You're you're excited and everybody comes together from all facets of the department and put it all together in one. So with Niven and some great police work, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's office was ready to send their case to the District Attorney's office for prosecution. Assistant District Attorney Doug Freeze took the wheel. in order to be able to successfully prosecute Dominique Davis, um, you know, for a triple murder where a 19-year-old and two young children were killed. uh, you know, we needed not only to rely upon the extremely good police work done on that crime scene and that follow-up investigation, but it required good police work in four other instances as well, four other crimes. Those crimes included murder, robbery, and a firearms discharge. The links Niben made between crimes would be crucial in corroborating witness testimony. ADA Freeze pressed forward bringing convictions against four perpetrators, most importantly, Dominique Davis who received four consecutive life sentences for the murders of Dominique Sterling and two children. And why could a jury believe that? Because of Niben. Niben gave me the ammunition to support a murderer statement that we conspired in this way. Yeah, and it was visually represented in a wonderful way. Niven is a cutting edge law enforcement tool used to fight violent crime. Niben has become a valuable and tangible resource used by local, state, and federal law enforcement. I think Niben's a great thing, but it's kind of a secret. Everybody knows about fingerprints, but not all the detectives know how to properly utilize Niben or the the connections we make. Um, I think it's very important that we talk to the detectives, that we teach the detectives what the crime lab has to offer and get them involved in the cases. Through 150 plus sites around the country, along with comprehensive collection methods, and timely action.
[7:29]Niven provides intelligence to assist in follow-up investigation and prosecution as well as keeping the critical feedback open to all involved in the cases.
