The hairs found on murder victim Dr. David Brian Stidham's body do not belong to the man accused of stabbing him to death two years ago.
In fact, mitochondrial DNA testing shows the hairs are consistent with Stidham himself.
The revelation came Tuesday during a 90-minute hearing in the case of Ronald Bruce Bigger.
Bigger, 40, is accused of killing Stidham in October 2004 at the behest of former eye surgeon Bradley Schwartz.
Schwartz was convicted in May of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder but was found not guilty of first-degree murder.
After Schwartz's trial, prosecutors decided to have hairs found in Stidham's hand and on his medical scrubs undergo mitochondrial DNA testing — a more rare form of DNA testing that traces a person's lineage through the mother's side.
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On Tuesday, Judge Nanette Warner of Pima County Superior Court asked if the results on the hairs were back. When told what they were, Warner said Bigger's defense team must be breathing a sigh of relief.
Apparently believing Warner was insinuating he is guilty, Bigger loudly professed he knew the hairs weren't his and had to be calmed by attorneys Jill Thorpe and Harold Higgins Jr.
Warner promptly apologized.
The results on the hairs come as somewhat of a blow to prosecutors Sylvia Lafferty and Richard Platt, who suffered setbacks during Schwartz's trial on the subject of DNA.
Prosecution witnesses during that trial initially said only one person in 20 million has the same DNA profile as was found on the knobs of Stidham's Lexus, but later had to concede the number is actually one in 13,000. As a result, the odds of the DNA belonging to Bigger and Bigger alone fell dramatically.
Interviewed after their verdict, six of the jurors said they completely discounted the DNA evidence.
Ironically, Thorpe asked Warner in August to stop prosecutors from having the hairs tested because once they were tested there wasn't anything left for defense experts to test.
Thorpe argued the hairs should be left alone so if Bigger is convicted they would be available for testing in the future, in the event scientific tests become available that wouldn't consume the hairs.
According to prosecutors, Schwartz grew to hate Stidham, a father of two, after Schwartz was forced into drug rehabilitation by the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners in the fall of 2002.
Schwartz expected Stidham, 37, to keep his practice going while he was gone, but Stidham started his own practice. As a result, Schwartz lost his hospital privileges, patients, staff members and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Schwartz is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Opening statements in Bigger's trial are slated for Jan. 3.
The results come as somewhat of a blow to prosecutors, who suffered setbacks during Dr. Bradley Schwartz's trial on the subject of DNA.
