Expert: Hathorn's DNA on gun trigger, holster

Robert T. Hathorn Jr.'s DNA was on the trigger of Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper Josef Brobst's gun and holster, a forensic scientist testified Wednesday in Hancock County Common Pleas Court. In addition, a firearms expert testified that Brobst's gun could have been fired by Hathorn while it was still holstered and the two struggled off Interstate 75 last October. Hancock County Prosecutor Phillip Riegle and Assistant County Prosecutor Colleen Limerick have lined up witnesses and evidence this week linking Hathorn to the shooting of Brobst. The two struggled last Oct. 6 after Brobst stopped Hathorn on I-75 in Findlay for driving at a high rate of speed. Brobst had Hathorn step out of the Chevrolet Suburban when Brobst detected an odor of marijuana in the vehicle. As they waited for another trooper to arrive to conduct a search of the Suburban, Hathorn sucker punched Brobst and the struggle began, Brobst has testified. Hathorn, of Muskegon, Michigan, has been charged with felonious assault of a police officer, a first-degree felony; aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; and four other felony charges. Hancock County Common Pleas Judge Reginald J. Routson is presiding over the trial, which continues today with more witness testimony. Hathorn was the "major contributor" of DNA found on the trigger of Brobst's gun after he was shot Oct. 6, testified Allison Mansius, forensic scientist for Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI), in London. She also testified that Hathorn was the only contributor of DNA on the bottom of Brobst's holster. The bullet that was fired into Brobst's groin first went through one of Hathorn's fingers. Normally the gun could not be fired while in the holster. But in the struggle it would have been possible for a finger to have accessed and pulled the trigger while the gun was in the holster, testified Matthew White, a firearm examiner for BCI, in London. After the shooting of Brobst, Hathorn drove the black Suburban about a mile farther south on I-75 before exiting at Trenton Avenue, according to testimony. Just off the exit ramp, the Suburban collided with a semi-truck, which was eastbound on Trenton Avenue, Findlay police officer Nicholas Price testified. Hathorn fled the scene, turning west on Trenton Avenue. Price testified that he eventually issued Hathorn a citation for driving through a red light coming off the exit ramp onto Trenton Avenue. In the wake of the shooting, area law enforcement officers were searching the area west of I-75 for the black Suburban. One of them was Findlay police patrol officer Ricardo Hernandez. Hernandez found the black Suburban abandoned in a field west of Hancock County Job & Family Services, 7814 County Road 140, he testified. A woman and three children, who had been in the Suburban with Hathorn, were found in a woods west of County Road 140, Price testified. The hunt for Hathorn continued for 14 hours after the shooting. Hathorn was captured on County Road 223 near Trenton Avenue, less than a half-mile west of Walmart, 1161 W. Trenton Ave. That location was less than 2 miles south of where Hathorn got into the struggle on I-75 with Brobst. Wilin: 419-427-8413