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Alleged Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann appears in court on Feb....

Alleged Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann appears in court on Feb. 6. Credit: James Carbone

A Suffolk judge is expected to schedule the first pretrial hearings in the case of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann when the defendant returns to court Wednesday.

Heuermann, 61, of Massapequa Park, has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Heuermann's defense team, in a pair of motions filed earlier this month, asked Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei to exclude DNA evidence in the case and to try three of the seven charged killings separately from the others, court records show. Prosecutors have not yet filed response papers opposing the motions.

Heuermann's hearing on Wednesday is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.

Attorneys for Heuermann filed a motion Jan. 7 asking Mazzei to exclude expert testimony related to nuclear DNA results obtained from rootless hairs found at six crime scenes, arguing the technique used by a California lab working with Suffolk investigators has not been generally accepted as reliable in the scientific community, a requirement under state law.

"There appears to be no precedent from any New York court, or elsewhere in the United States, that the proprietary scientific procedures, methodology or software program employed by [the lab] has ever met the Frye or Daubert standard of admissibility," defense attorney Danielle Coysh argued in the filing.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said earlier this month that his office is ready to present the nuclear DNA evidence from Astrea Forensics in court and said prosecutors wouldn't have introduced it if they didn't believe in its "efficacy and admissibility." He has conceded, however, that a hearing is necessary because it's the first time prosecutors have relied on the science in a criminal case in New York State.

Tierney has also previously stated that his office will oppose any efforts to separate the cases.

Heuermann's defense team, in a motion filed Wednesday, argued that a "substantial disparity" exists between the evidence in the first indictment — charging Heuermann with first- and second-degree murder in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman — and the allegations in three superseding indictments, which could lead to an improper conviction based on "cumulative effect."

"Much of the evidence will involve lengthy testimony, multiple exhibits and be of a technical nature," wrote attorney Sabato Caponi, of Bohemia, a member of the team appointed to represent Heuermann. "A trial encompassing all 10 counts would unjustifiably create a strong risk that the jury will be unable to segregate the evidence by its separate and distinct relevance to each individual incident."

The new defense filing makes several additional arguments for why the killings of Brainard-Barnes, Taylor, Mack and Costilla cannot be lawfully tried alongside the first three charged killings and should also be tried separately from each other, including the timing of their deaths spanning nearly 17 years, varying methodologies used in the killings and the different locations where their bodies were found.

Heuermann, who has been in custody at the Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead since his arrest on July 13, 2023, has denied that he was involved in any of the seven killings.

Mazzei previously indicated he would first schedule the hearing on the DNA evidence, known as a Frye hearing, for late February or early March.

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