A fingerprint found on the vehicle of a murder victim may play a role in the appeal of the man found guilty last week in the death.
Donald R. “Doc” Nash, 66, was found guilty of capital murder in the 1982 death of Judy Spencer of Salem. Spencer’s death remained a mystery until DNA testing tied the crime to Nash.
Nash’s attorney, Frank Carlson, as jurors deliberated, was allowed to throw another piece of previously unheard evidence on the record. Carlson told retired Circuit Judge Douglas Long, who heard the case, that a lone fingerprint belonging to Lambert Anthony Feldman was found on Spencer’s car after the murder. The attorney said neither the fingerprints of Nash or Spencer were found on the vehicle after heavy rain fell on the area. Feldman’s print had been transferred during or after the murder, he theorized.
Feldman was later convicted of sexual assault in Iowa and was known to carry a 12-gauge shotgun, the same weapon used in the Spencer murder, he said. Felman died in October 2008 after committing suicide.
Long did not allow the evidence to be entered into trial, and Carlson said the information was entered into the transcript to preserve the issue on appeal. Carlson said Nash would seek a new trial and seek an appeal if it not granted.