CANTON — A New York State Police forensic scientist testified that DNA evidence from William Freeman’s slaying was found on several items of clothing owned by and inside a truck operated by Adam Smith.

Smith is accused of killing Ronald “Huck” Durham on February 11, 2023, and William Freeman on March 2, 2023.

In the testimony of Elizabeth Walsh, a forensic investigator with the New York State Police Forensic Center, numerous swabs were taken from the crime scene as well as from Freeman’s truck.

Smith was found to be driving the truck on Interstate-81 shortly after Freeman’s body was discovered by his brother Michael and neighbor James Mandigo.

Swabs from Freeman’s truck key and fob included DNA from both Smith and Freeman, Daisha King, a serologist with the Crime Center, testified a day earlier that the fob tested positive for blood.

Several swabs were also taken from Smith’s boots, jeans, blue hoodie, white t-shirt and gloves that were secured at the time of Smith’s arrest.

According to Walsh, each tested positive for DNA from both Smith and Freeman. A teal bath towel also tested positive for Freeman’s DNA.

Photos released in court showed a towel that was heavily covered in blood.

A knife found at the scene, believed to be the knife used in Freeman’s murder, also tested positive for Freeman’s DNA, but a second, unidentifiable source was also detected, according to Walsh.

Several leather gloves secured after Smith’s arrest were also produced in court, three of which had clear bloodstains on them.

Freeman’s DNA was also found on Smith’s jeans and hoodie he was wearing at the time of his arrest, which was previously confirmed to be blood by King.

During his cross-examination from defense lawyer Brian Barrett Walsh, he detailed the steps the Crime Center takes to ensure cross-contamination is not possible when handling evidence.

She also talked about two different DNA profiles that were discovered, both female, confirming to Barrett that no evidence was identified during the testing.

Walsh said the two profiles did not appear in any critical evidence. She said she did not know if her superiors had decided to send the sample to a federal database to run a cross-reference.

Barrett questioned why a control sample was not taken from James Mandigo, given that he was at the scene when Freeman was discovered, however, moments later, prosecutor Gary Pasqua objected the question.

According to the preliminary rulings, Pasqua said Barrett should not have asked such a question. Barrett had tried to cross-examine evidence from the search of Freddie Wing’s house. The objection was sustained by Judge Greg Storie.

Wing initially confessed to killing Durham on February 11, a confession that was later retracted in March 2023 after Freeman was killed and DNA evidence did not place Wing in Durham’s murder.

With the men resting, Barrett then introduced a motion to dismiss the suit, which was then overruled by Storie. After an extended lunch break, Barrett called his only two witnesses to the stand.

The defense calls two witnesses, the testimony rambles

First on the stand was Penny Patton, who lives on Van Buren road across from the Eastside Cemetery.

On air, Barrett asked Patton if he had heard or seen anything related to the Feb. 11 killing of Durham.

But in testimony that disappeared several times, Patton provided numerous details about her morning routine and a brief timeline of that morning’s events.

She said she knew Durham frequented the cemetery daily but had never known him to stay up late into the morning.

“I said ‘something’s wrong, Huck’s been there too long,'” she said.

She noted that his van was also “parked differently” on the morning of February 11, although she did not see or hear anything that morning as she had not been sitting on the porch having her typical cup of coffee and cigarettes .

In cross-examination by Pasqua, Patton confirmed that there were no lights on her driveway or in the cemetery. She said it wasn’t until after sunrise that she could see Durham’s truck in the cemetery.

She said that when her sister, Debbie, woke up at 3:45 a.m. that morning, they were both “inside watching Spectrum News.”

Debbie Rider then took the stand, giving a similar timeline of events from when she woke up, which was about 30 minutes after Patton woke up.

A major difference came when Patton testified that he saw Durham drive the truck into the cemetery that morning.

She said she knew when she woke up and saw the truck pull up “because I looked, I looked at my watch and I said, ‘Huck’s here,'” she said.

But when asked by Pasqua if he remembered what he told her a few weeks earlier when they met, Rider said he couldn’t because he had suffered a stroke and suffered memory loss.

Pasqua asked if she remembered him telling her that he didn’t know what driveway Durham usually pulled into, nor the color of the truck, or if it had any attachments on it, such as a plow.

“I had a stroke, it’s affecting my memory,” she said.

Rider said she’s “pretty sure it’s a white Ford or Dodge pickup” but doesn’t remember if a plow was attached at the time Durham was killed. She said she knew Freddie Wing would probably help Durham hook up the plow “because Freddie told me,” she said.

Closing arguments and jury deliberations will begin Nov. 15 in the Adam Smith double murder trial.