Russell J’Nee Paschal was convicted of murder and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime arising from the stabbing death of DeCarla Harris.1 On appeal Paschal asserts that the trial court erred in allowing the admission of certain DNA evidence because the State failed to establish a chain of custody. Finding no error, we affirm. But because Paschal received two life sentences for the murder of a single victim his sentence for felony murder must be vacated for the reasons which follow. Paschal and Harris lived in the same apartment complex. Paschal had regularly purchased marijuana from Harris and he knew that she stored quantities of the drug in her apartment. Earlier in the day of the stabbing, Paschal purchased marijuana from the victim, and he told her he would return later that night to transact more business with her. Around midnight, a neighbor observed Paschal knocking on the victim’s door. At about 1:30 a.m., another neighbor was returning to her apartment when Paschal almost knocked her down as he ran out of the victim’s building toward his own apartment. He was shirtless and sweating profusely. The victim’s brother found her body the next morning and called the police. Her jugular vein had been severed, causing massive blood loss and death. The officers who responded to the crime scene observed what appeared to be a blood smear on the back door of the victim’s apartment building, leading to a chain link fence. An officer walked the exterior and noticed a dish towel on the fence near the rear of the building. He also found the blade of a knife and a white washcloth, which appeared to be stained with blood, on the ground. The unattached handle to the knife was located nearby. The officers photographed the items as they were positioned at the fence, and then collected and logged them. The crime scene technician working the scene placed the items in an evidence bag and transported them to a serologist at the Augusta crime lab later that day.
Police canvassed the neighborhood and interviewed Paschal. He appeared to be “sweaty, shaky and nervous,” and had an open cut on his finger. He gave the officers consent to search his apartment, and he voluntarily relinquished two “dime bags” of marijuana and a pillowcase stained with blood. A warrant was obtained and during a second search the police removed a used bandage from between Paschal’s mattress and box spring.
