9.Daniel Kucharski — Direct (Part 1)
120 linesCOURT CLERK: Please raise your right hand.
DANIEL KUCHARSKI, called as a witness herein, having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
COURT CLERK: Please be seated. Please state your name and spell your last name for the record.
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Daniel Kucharski, K-u-c-h-a-r-s-k-i.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY ATTORNEY KRATZ:
MR. KRATZ: It's pronounced Kucharski?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes, it is.
MR. KRATZ: Mr. Kucharski, how are you employed?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: I work for the Calumet County Sheriff's Department.
MR. KRATZ: What are your duties with the Sheriff's Department?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: I work in the patrol division on routine patrol. I also have, uh, additional duties of the armor for the county and evidence tech for the county.
MR. KRATZ: What kind of, uh, training goes into being an evidence tech?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: It's a two-week course, I believe, um, concentrating on the, um, identification of locating, preserving, and collecting evidence.
MR. KRATZ: How long have you been a evidence tech?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: I went through the school, um, August of 2005.
MR. KRATZ: And could you tell us, Deputy, uh, Kucharski, how long you've been a law enforcement officer?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Approximately five years.
MR. KRATZ: I'm going to direct your attention to November 5 of 2005 and ask if you were employed in the capacity as a deputy sheriff on that day?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes, I was.
MR. KRATZ: On the 5th of November, 2005, do you recall being, um, summoned into work?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes. I was, uh, asked to respond to, uh, intersection of Highway 147 and Avery Road to assist in, uh, evidence collection and searching.
MR. KRATZ: Did you proceed to that scene?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes, I did.
MR. KRATZ: And upon your arrival at the intersection of 147 and Avery Road, tell the jury what you first found when you got there?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: The first thing was, uh, the command post. I went up to the command post, met with Lieutenant Sippel. Um, Lieutenant Sippel -- There were other officers on scene already. Lieutenant Sippel directed me to, uh, go with direct -- Detective Remiker, pick up a couple of pieces of evidence, and then the remainder of my evening was spent, uh, searching the, um, salvage yard with a cadaver dog. I'm a dog handler.
MR. KRATZ: All right. Now, the cadaver dog, or search and rescue K-9 part of this case was a rather big undertaking; is that right?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Absolutely.
MR. KRATZ: Can you describe that, uh, for the jury as I put up Exhibit No. 86? Go ahead. Just -- just tell us about that undertaking?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Well, I -- I was paired up with a single handler and a dog, and we, uh, started out in the, uh -- the actual portion of the salvage yard that held the car. It's kind of on a lower grade than the rest of the, uh -- the rest of the property, and we proceeded to go up and down the rows, um, with the dog, searching, uh, for a body.
MR. KRATZ: How long did that take you?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: The whole evening. I -- I think I cleared from there somewhere around 11:00 that night.
MR. KRATZ: Do you know about how many cars, uh, the Avery salvage property, uh, holds?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: I would say thousands.
MR. KRATZ: Okay. When you say it took you the whole evening with these, uh -- with these dogs and their handlers, uh, about what time did you complete your duties that first evening?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Uh, I think approximately about 11 o'clock.
MR. KRATZ: The next day, then, on the 6th of November, were you asked to return to the Avery salvage property?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes. I was scheduled to return early in the morning, and, uh, again assist in, uh, searching for evidence.
MR. KRATZ: What, uh -- what were your responsibilities, and where and from whom did you receive these, um, directions?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Um, the chain of command for me is, uh -- Lieutenant Bowe was my direct supervisor. Um, I knew -- I knew Investigator Wiegert and a -- a agent from the DCI were in charge of the investigation, but I would always go to Lieutenant Bowe to get my assignments. I believe he would get the assignments from the investigators and would trickle down to me.
Um, and that morning -- uh, the first morning I was, uh, set to -- we were searching the garage, um, at the Steven Avery residence. That was the first, uh, undertaking that we did.
MR. KRATZ: Were you teamed up with anybody at that time?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes. I was teamed up with, uh, Sergeant, uh, Colborn, Detective Remiker, and Lieutenant Lenk from the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office.
MR. KRATZ: Can you describe this garage for us, please?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Two-car detached garage. Um, single side door, service door. A single overhead, uh, car door.
(Exhibit Nos. 221-229 marked for identification.)
MR. KRATZ: Okay. I'm going to show you -- I'm sorry about that. I didn't know that was happening. I'm going to show you an exhibit. It's Exhibit No. 227. Mr. Fallon's going to show that to you so we can begin. Tell us what that is, please?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: That is a, uh, picture of the overhead garage door of the garage that I searched that morning. It would be, uh, from the, uh, north side of the garage facing south.
MR. KRATZ: There's a laser pointer, Deputy Kucharski, up, uh, with you. If you can refer to the larger exhibit that we have, uh, up here for the jury, since this is the first view, at least, of the interior from the 6th of November. Use the laser pointer and tell us, uh -- tell us what we're looking at?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Well, this is the interior of the garage. Um, like I said, we're facing south from the north. Um, we're looking at, um -- This is after we had already been searching for awhile. I think you can see down here, uh, some circled spots we had been searching. Uh, we took this photo after -- Um, I took this photo after we removed a, uh, um -- a snowmobile that was parked here.
MR. KRATZ: We'll show that in just a minute. But what are some of the other major items just so we can orient ourselves to this garage?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Items that we found or --
MR. KRATZ: Just -- just items in the garage so that we -- when we, uh, refer to some areas that you found things, we'll -- we'll be able to know where they were found near.
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: On the -- on the back wall, um, obviously, a -- a -- a tool chest, uh, miscellaneous other tools. There was a lot of, uh -- a lot of clutter, especially outside of this, uh -- this picture -- on this side of the, uh, picture was several feet deep with clutter.
MR. KRATZ: Okay. Deputy Kucharski, could you, uh, tell us, um, upon your search of this garage -- By the way, whose garage is this?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: It's a garage at Steven Avery's residence.
MR. KRATZ: Based upon your search of the garage, could you tell us the, um -- the first series of items that, uh -- that you found that were noteworthy?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: As we walked through the door, the door -- the service door is on this side, and, uh, that's the door we walked in, and we immed -- immediately noticed, uh, several .22 long rifle shell casings sitting on the, uh, concrete in this area.
MR. KRATZ: Mr. Fallon is going to hand you some exhibits. Actually, they are -- they begin with Exhibit No. 221. Tell us what's Exhibit 221?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Two twenty-one is a, uh, empty .22 long rifle shell casing.
MR. KRATZ: I'm going to put that up for the -- for the jury so they can follow along. There is a -- a number, or a, I think, what's called an evidence tent next to that. Uh, what number is that?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: That's No. 11.
MR. KRATZ: What does No. 11 mean? Just so as we look at some of these, um -- of these photos...
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: As we're going along, um, identifying evidence, the tents help us, uh, first of all, keep the evidence in sight, meaning that there's a tent there. We know there's ev -- evidence right next to it. Help us -- helps us in, uh, um, logging the numbers, also, so that we know, as we're logging them onto the evidence sheets, we can go by number.
MR. KRATZ: I'm going to come up with a little closer or zoomed-in view of, uh, Exhibit 221. You mentioned for the jury that, uh, you believed that to be a .22 caliber shell casing. Uh, how did you know that?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Through my training and ex -- experience. I'm the armor for the county. I can recognize a .22 long rifle shell casing.
MR. KRATZ: And that's what this is?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes, it is.
MR. KRATZ: All right. Tell us what Exhibit 222 is, please?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Two twenty-two is another .22 long rifle shell casing. Uh, exhibit with the tent of 12 there.
MR. KRATZ: Now that the jury can see Exhibit 222, is that what, uh -- what that exhibit depicts?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes.
MR. KRATZ: All right. By the way, where were these items found?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: On the floor in the garage.
MR. KRATZ: Exhibit 223?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes.
MR. KRATZ: Can you tell me what that is, please?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: It's another .22 long rifle shell casing with a tent number of 13, found on the floor in the garage.
MR. KRATZ: And we'll show the jury 223. Is that a picture of what you've just described?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes, it is.
MR. KRATZ: Two twenty-four?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Two twenty-four is another picture of a, uh, .22 long rifle shell casing, uh, found in the garage with tent number of 14.
MR. KRATZ: Seems to have a worm next to it; is that right?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes. Yes.
MR. KRATZ: You take these pictures kind of as you find them?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Absolutely. As we find them, uh, if we can take a photo of it, we, uh, try not to disturb it. We circle where it was and -- and take a photo before we collect it, so...
MR. KRATZ: And so the -- the record reflects, that has tent number 14 next to it?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes.
MR. KRATZ: All right. Next shell casing? Tent number 15. What, uh, exhibit?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Exhibit 225. Again, another .22 long rifle shell casing found on the, uh, floor in the garage. Tent number 15.
MR. KRATZ: Okay. And, finally, Exhibit 226?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Be tent number 16, another .22 long rifle shell casing found on the, uh, floor in the garage.
MR. KRATZ: Now, Deputy Kucharski, um, I think we've seen -- is it six photos of shell casings?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes. Six photos.
MR. KRATZ: How many .22 long rifle shell casings did you find that morning?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Um, 10 or 11 we found.
MR. KRATZ: And could you tell the jury where they were located? In other words, were they close to each other, or spread around, or give us some kind of a description of where they were?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: These were the ones that were out in the open that were able to be photographed. They were spread all over, um, in that portion of the garage. Um, some of them were underneath things. Can't -- couldn't take a picture of it underneath it once we collected it. So these were the ones we could take photos of.
MR. KRATZ: Mr. Kucharski, before we show you these -- these next photos, I want to talk a little bit about, um, the rest of your team. Who else was with you, uh, at the time, and what responsibilities each of you had? Can you --
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Sure.
MR. KRATZ: -- describe that for us?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Well, I was given the -- basically a team leader position from, uh, Lieutenant Bowe, who said -- told me to take control of the team and -- and give assignments as needed. Uh, Lieutenant Lenk, Sergeant Colborn, and Detective Remiker were on my team. So came up with a plan, um, of what to do. They were searching. Uh, I was photographing, and collecting, and bagging, and tagging evidence.
As a piece of evidence would come into, uh -- would be found, they would, uh, point it out to me. Um, I would collect it, I would photograph it, and -- and put it in the bags.
MR. KRATZ: Okay. I'm going to show you Exhibit 227 again, the open garage door, and I'm going to zoom in and actually show you what appears to be some wires hanging from the rafters. Do you see that?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes. Uh, they appear to be some type of, uh -- some type of electrical wires that were tied up there.
MR. KRATZ: All right. And I'll direct your attention to Exhibit No. 228. Tell the jury what that is, please?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Two twenty-eight, that's a closer up photo of the, uh, um -- of the electrical wires tied there on the rafter.
MR. KRATZ: And by the way, do all of these photos accurately depict how each of these items looked on the 6th of November?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes, they do.
MR. KRATZ: What's Exhibit 229, please?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Two twenty-nine is a, uh, picture of the, uh -- of the electrical cords after they had been cut down.
MR. KRATZ: So after they were, um, recovered, seized, put into evidence, this, like all the other evidence, was photographed by somebody; is that right?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes.
MR. KRATZ: And that's 229?
DANIEL KUCHARSKI: Yes.
MR. KRATZ: Judge, I'm happy to continue if you want me to. Otherwise, we can take our break at this point.
THE COURT: No, I think they -- Or this is probably a good time to break, uh, for today. Um, members of the jury, uh, we're going to conclude proceedings for today. I'm going to remind you again not to discuss the case, uh, with yourselves, with each other, any member that's of your family, and, uh, make sure that you're not exposed to any media coverage about the case. Uh, we will resume at the normal time tomorrow morning.
(Jurors excused at 4:28 p.m.)
THE COURT: You may be seated, counsel. I do have a few matters to take up in chambers before you leave today. I'd like you to stop in.
MR. BUTING: Do you want to put any of the side bars on the record or...
MR. KRATZ: The last one was a -- a -- a court administration. I asked how long you wanted to go and --
THE COURT: Yeah. There was just one side bar, I think, we haven't accounted for, which was after four o'clock, and that was Mr. Kratz, uh, asking how far we were going to go today, basically.
MR. BUTING: Thank you.
(Wherein Court stands adjourned at 4:29 p.m.)