Defence takes aim at 'mistakes' made by Sudbury police in Sweeney investigation

After taking photos of pools of blood on the floor of the Adults Only Video store, including around the body of a 23-year-old woman, Rick Waugh noticed that the cash tray was "cocked a little out of position."

The Sudbury police officer would discover a fingerprint on that cash tray, which would become a key piece of evidence in the Renée Sweeney murder investigation.

Waugh testified Tuesday at the second-degree murder trial of Steven Wright, 43, who is accused of stabbing Sweeney to death on Jan. 27, 1998.

Waugh went slowly through all of the photos he took in the video store, including one of a blood-soaked mouse pad next to a phone, and a watch with a leather strap found in a pool of blood on the floor.

The jury was also shown a blurry photo of red and grey swirls which Waugh said was a picture of the fingerprint from the cash tray.

Waugh said he took great care in taking those pictures, so the print could be sent to the RCMP to see if it belonged to a known offender, but it did not.

On Feb. 10, 1998, some two weeks after the murder, that print was compared to prints taken from 31-year-old John Fetterly who had been arrested overnight.

Waugh had looked at the print and did not think it was a match and wrote Fetterly's name in a book of suspects he was ruling out for the murder.

But then he heard that other Sudbury police officers had deemed the print a match and Fetterly was arrested for Sweeney's murder.

"First of all, I thought it was a joke," he told the court.

"I was shocked. I was upset. I was surprised."

Waugh said he looked and looked at the print and "convinced" himself it was a match for Fetterly's left thumb, but still had doubts.

The court heard that day was "chaotic" at the Sudbury police station and eventually, it was determined that the print was not a match and Fetterly was released the day after his arrest.

Waugh testified that he was down in the small Bruce County town of Mildmay searching an apartment that Fetterly once lived in when he found out that the murder charge was going to be dropped.

He also told the court that the false identification of the fingerprint saw him removed from the Sweeney investigation.

On cross-examination from the defence, Waugh was questioned about the process he followed to keep evidence from being contaminated, including how often he changed his gloves at the crime scene.

He told the court that he didn't wear protective coveralls over his police uniform when searching the video store because they were not available that day.

Waugh also told the court that he did not swab or check for prints on the soap dispenser in the washroom where the killer is believed to have cleaned up. 

Defence lawyer Michael Lacy questioned why Sweeney's hands were not covered with paper bags.

DNA found under Sweeney's fingernails is a key piece of evidence and said by the Crown to be a match for Steven Wright.

But Lacy pointed out that an expert at the Centre for Forensic Science said the fingernails were so covered with blood it "made meaningful analysis difficult."

Lacy also questioned Waugh about "falsifying" his notes to incorrectly show how the decision about the Fetterly fingerprint match was made.

Lacy suggested this was symptom of the "pressure" on police investigators in a case like this, while making it clear the the retired officer is "not on trial."

"You're not perfect and you made mistakes, correct?" Lacy asked.

"Correct," Waugh answered.

Waugh will still be on the stand when the trial resumes on Wednesday morning.