MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A 12-member Monongalia County jury continued hearing testimony Tuesday in the murder trial of a Maryland man charged in the stabbing death of WVU student Devonte Waites.
Robert Hernandez, Jr. is accused of first-degree murder in the Aug. 14 killing of Waites, a 19-year-old freshman from Fairmont.
Prosecutors called to the stand three detectives who interviewed suspects and witnesses, collected evidence and reviewed surveillance video from the stabbing, which followed a fight at the downtown Morgantown club Bent Willy’s on Chestnut Street.
Detective Darren Crouse testified that in his initial review of surveillance video from inside the bar it was unclear there was a stabbing.
During questioning by Monongalia County prosecutor Marcia Ashdown, Crouse said a secondary review of the surveillance video showed Hernandez could have stabbed Waites during the fight.
Of the three detectives who testified, none indicated with certainty that surveillance video captured the defendant stabbing the victim.
Defense attorney Sherman Lambert, from Shepherdstown, questioned Crouse regarding the collection of evidence from the bar and an apartment where Hernandez allegedly visited after the incident.
Crouse said blood samples were taken from at least six areas of the nightclub for processing. The defendant’s clothes also were processed and sent to the WV State Police Crime Lab. The clothes from at least one other person interviewed during the investigation were not sent to the lab, a decision Crouse testified was up to the prosecutor.
The prosecution continued to call witnesses Tuesday afternoon.