DNA Test Entitles Brea Man to Retrial

An Orange County judge has reversed a Brea man’s conviction for a 1992 murder after DNA testing raised significant questions about the man’s guilt.

The ruling entitles Michael Kevin Claude, 29, to a new trial in the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend in a Yorba Linda parking lot. He was sentenced in 1994 to 30 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors relied largely on DNA testing to convict Claude of murder, but new testing found genetic material from a second man, providing what Claude’s lawyer called proof that someone else could have committed the crime.

“What the new evidence does is cast fundamental doubt on the accuracy and reliability of the verdict,” Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel explained in his ruling.

Claude’s attorney, Doug Myers, said: “It’s great news. It’s the big hurdle we’ve been trying to get over, to get someone to recognize that his trial wasn’t fair.”

Fasel faulted Claude’s trial attorney for failing to conduct the same testing Myers relied on in his appeal.

Without evidence of a second possible suspect, a prosecutor argued at trial that the evidence clearly pointed to Claude.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Molfetta argued last month that the evidence still pointed to Claude.

The prosecutor noted that victim Nancy Elsayed told a friend she was going to see “Mikey” on the day before her body was found in her car along a Yorba Linda embankment. Claude purchased a .22-caliber handgun--the same caliber used to kill Elsayed--shortly before the slaying, Molfetta said.

If prosecutors do not successfully appeal Fasel’s ruling, they will have a difficult time convicting Claude at a new trial, Myers said.