Original Article Cops failed to preserve evidence, Pizza Hut murders lawyer says By Joyesha Chesnick ARIZONA DAILY STAR Police failed to preserve evidence that could clear Christopher "Bo" Huerstel in the 1999 murders of three people at an East Side Pizza Hut, according to Huerstel's lawyer, who is seeking to have charges against his client dismissed. The truck in which Huerstel and Kajornsak "Tom" Prasertphong left the restaurant after the killing spree was returned to Prasertphong's family after the two were convicted of first-degree murder in 2000, potentially destroying any traces of gunshot residue that might have rubbed off, attorney James Stuehringer said. Both men were sentenced to death for the slayings of waitress Melissa Moniz, 20, cook James Bloxham, 17, and restaurant manager Robert Curry, 44, during a robbery. Huerstel's conviction, however, was overturned in September 2003 after the state Supreme Court said the judge in the case pressured the jury into reaching a verdict. His new trial is scheduled to start Sept. 13. This time the state will not seek the death penalty because the U.S. Supreme Court has since ruled that people who were minors at the time of the crime can't be executed. Huerstel, now 23, was 17 at the time of the crime. Huerstel originally confessed to the murders and said he laid the gun on the floor under the passenger seat of Prasertphong's pickup truck. But he later recanted, blaming Prasertphong during his trial, according to court records. Prasertphong, who was tried separately, blamed Huerstel for the shootings. The gun was found in a plastic bag in the undercarriage of the truck with other evidence. Stuehringer said checking the floor of the truck for gunpowder residue could help prove whether Huerstel really put the gun there, and residue on the steering wheel could help prove that Prasertphong, who was driving, had held the gun. "The state destroyed the truck without us having the opportunity to look in it," he said. Prosecutor Rick Unklesbay said he had no comment because "we're getting close to trial." Contact reporter Joyesha Chesnick at 807-7789 or jchesnick@azstarnet.com.