Sorry, I posted too soon...!
...to continue..I managed to get to court today after all...so heres some feedback...
Today was a very tetchy day in court. It was a different attorney who handled the cross examination of the kinetics expert than yesterday. Mr Greer had the expert give a demo of where RZ was standing on a marked floor mat, with a barrier style to demonstrate the height of the balcony rail. In summary he explained that it appeared she had been flipped over the balcony, and would be unable to go over unassisted due to her center of gravity and the rope ties restricting her...and he also thought that her fall had been broken in some way, or slowed as her velocity should have caused more damage to her neck, and would have virtually decapitated her due to the 9 drop.
He also echoed the croicoid fracture opinion of Dr Wecht. It was too low on the throat to be attributed to the rope position during the hanging.
There was quite a bit of bickering between Mr Greer and the defence, as the defence attorney kept trying to introduce a lady ( who actually looked quite like RZ(!)) that he had brought along to court to try and demonstrate / throw herself over the barrier set up in the court. He said she was 52 and the same weight...Mr Greer objected (saying you cant say she was the same fitness level, flexibility strength etc and the set up was a demonstrative not actual evidence, it was not a scientific method) . It was bizarre. the defense attorney tried to introduce her several times, and she stood up, and the judge said no...words to the effect of Hello, Thankyou for coming along, sit down, youre not required...
The judge told the attorneys off several times, one time as they huddled and vyed for position behind the expert witness as he tried to demonstrate at the defenses request how RZs fingers couldnt fit on the knife blade the way he had described. He said they did and the defence said they didint... It was chaotic. No one could see, they kept instructing the witness, it was bonkers. The judge eventually shouted at them both to SIT DOWN!
The defense attorney also kept making statements and the judge had to keep telling him off and advising the jury that ...what an attorney says or does is NOT EVIDENCE.
If she said it once she said it a hundred times. In one incident the expert and the attorney argued over the length of a measuring stick, the interaction between the defence and witness was just constant bickering with the Judge constantly telling the defence to wait to hear the witness answer before the next question, and to stop making statements ...and just ask questions..then telling the witness to stop and wait for the next question and just answer the question and stop embellishing and elaborating. This was repeated over and over again. It was hard work.
However, it was just tetchy and bickering...until about 3 pm and the defence dropped an absolute bombshell. In the page of calculations the expert submitted to the court there was a mistake. The defence put his calculations on the big screen. The defence identified a mistake. He had written a 2 instead of a 7...but it was in a calculation of a six figure number ( to calculate the range of force / velocity / friction - lowest to highest range ) eg he should have used wrote 327658.16... but wrote 322648.16, mistakenly changing a 7 to a 2...this calculation was then used going forward to evaluate all the aspects... so they were all wrong from that point forward ( just in the lowest range...if that makes sense)
In one instance it seemed that there would have been several HUNDRED pounds of PSI ( pressure for want of a better word) differencial in the right calculations and those he has calculated ( on the exertion of the pull on the rope on RZs neck). It was devastating as the attorney highlighted all the errors in the calculations along the working out. I was cringing in my seat.
They then went on to attack the experts PHD, saying it came from a diploma mill identified by the feds...but this was overruled by the Jude as lacking foundation...but the jury still heard it...but were told to disregard it.
I didnt get to hear the final response from Mr Greer as I had to go, but there was only 15 minutes of court left. I felt so so bad for the family and Mr Greer.
Ive looked at the calculations, and the only good thing to come out of this is that in my interpretation of the figures...the error actually makes the fact that there was no spinal damage EVEN LESS LIKELY, and decapitation ( or partial decapitation) MORE likely...
From what I can figure out, the entry point range ( so the lower of the two levels showing the range of force on RZs neck for example) would actually be higher than he had estimated with the incorrect calculations.
I hope that makes sense? Its very hard to explain... the workings appear in a court document...I can load the ROA title and maybe cynic can post it as I am having trouble posting add ins or images ( sorry guys)
The figures went over an awful lot of peoples heads in my opinion...many were glazed over, it was very complicated to follow, what wasnt though...was the fact there were mistakes, and the defence REALLY highlighted these to the best of their ability... and it was painful to watch. You could see how he missed this one number, it was an understandable mistake, but an inexcusable one from an expert.
I went today to try and get a better understanding of the dynamics of the events - and the expert made some really great points early on, but I feel they were negated by the errors he made, his credibility was in the gutter.
Sorry to bring such negative opinions... be interested to see if the news picks it up... there was no reporter or camera in court today that I could see, so maybe it wont be publicized.
On a final note, Im of the understanding that there are several video depositions being played tomorrow and Thursday to include ( I believe) the lady who heard the scream and JS ( I thought I heard this mentioned in the court during planning discussions, but I cant be certain)
It was also mentioned today that AS did not have the right notice or information / exhibits list (?) to take the stand, so his testimony is likely not going to be tomorrow...but later...
Best to all, and hope my opinion and interpretation of the court proceedings in interesting for you all.
