PARIS — Did detectives investigating a homicide in Bethel target the man eventually charged with murder, and did detectives lie to that man about evidence?

Those were among the questions raised during the defense lawyer’s cross-examination of Detective Herbert Leighton in the murder trial of Agostino Samson on Thursday.

Samson, 23, is charged with bludgeoning to death 25-year-old Scott Libby of Raymond this past February. Libby was found in his vehicle, which had been parked on railroad
tracks, with several blunt-force
injuries to his head and neck.

Defense lawyer Maurice Porter questioned Leighton, the lead investigator in the case, for most of Thursday morning on the details of the investigation.

“Were you investigating Mr. Libby’s death, or were you trying to find evidence that (Samson) did it?” Porter asked.

He asked whether police lied to Samson during questioning by telling him that Samson’s DNA and fingerprints had been found in the car. Leighton said he may have made a similar statement to test Samson’s reaction.

“We made several attempts to try to get him to admit that there were inconsistencies in his story,” Leighton said.

In response to questioning, Leighton said police did not look at the banking records of Samson or Libby and examined the phone records of the two men but not those of other people. He said police did not determine where Libby stayed when he worked in Boston, did not find any cash in Samson’s room or any mention of Samson on Libby’s computer.

Also, police did not look into the hostel owner’s suggestion that the nearby stretch of Route 2 was a “gay hitchhikers area,” and did not look into local areas such as restaurants and gas stations during the investigation, Leighton said under cross-examination.

Under questioning by Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson, Leighton said police investigations into homicides do not necessarily seek the in-depth records of the numerous people who are questioned.

Leighton also addressed a suggestion by Porter on Wednesday that an assailant would not have sufficient room to attack Libby with a blunt object inside the vehicle. Leighton said that the nature of the bloodstain patterns inside the vehicle suggest that such an attack took place. He also said someone may have swung a weapon laterally and that Libby may not have been sitting up during some or all of the blows to his head and neck.

Michele Fleury, a forensic chemist with the Maine State Police Crime Lab, said she tested 29 items related to the case. Fleury said she did presumptive tests for blood, followed by confirmatory tests to see whether stains were caused by human blood.

Human blood samples were sent to forensic biologists for DNA analysis and biologists completed confirmatory tests on items if the sample size was too small for both tests to be done without the risk of losing the sample, Fleury said.

She said presumptive tests for blood, which do not confirm the existence of blood, tested positive for a microscopic stain on Samson’s watch as well as stains on one of Samson’s sneakers. Other presumptive tests were positive for fingernail clippings from Libby, a cast-iron pot handle found in Libby’s car and stains on the hostel’s exterior door handle, which included a potential fingerprint.

Fleury also testified that certain liquids can skew the test.

Porter said many of the liquids could be produced in a kitchen, which would be consistent with Samson’s employment as a cook.

Benson suggested that such liquids would not create the red-brown stains on the watch and Samson’s sneakers.

Fleury said initial tests on swabs from Libby’s mouth and anus tested weakly positive for acid phosphatase, a possible indicator of semen. However, the enzyme is also found in other bodily fluids and further tests were unable to confirm the presence of semen or sperm.

Helen Fifield, Samson’s mother, testified that Samson suffers from asthma and a back problem and needs help lifting items over a certain weight.

According to police reports, Samson met with Libby late in the evening on Feb. 19 at the Bethel
Hostel, where Samson was staying at the time. He told police he
returned $400 to Libby in exchange for a watch and bracelet Libby had
taken as collateral for a loan. Libby’s body was discovered around
2:45 a.m. on Feb. 20 after his vehicle was rear-ended by a train.

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Sun Journal file photo
Agostino Samson, right, sits with his lawyer, Maurice Porter, during Samson’s arraignment in Oxford County Superior Court on May 14.