Even without the conclusion of evidence, I can refute 9 of the 10 points of science that LKB raised in her OS. (The 10th is not available from archived excerpt rewatched by sunstar, her notes posted on the other website on the thread I began in order to compare/contrast OS's with actual evidence.)
10 points refuted --- well, nine anyway (Does anyone know the 10th pt?)
1) LKB: "teeth would be broken inward if gun was shoved inside her mouth."
**I say: only if her teeth were clenched. It is completely reasonable to believe that she could have been speaking or he could have forced her to with the gun in her face.
Also she completely ignores the bruises on her tongue and her wrists which are consistent with a struggle.
2) blood spatter goes 6-8 feet
** I say: Dr Herold says that blood back spatter goes 2- 4 feet. The person who will say 6-8 feet is Dr Henry Lee and he will be utterly discredited to the jury anyway.
But even without that--- the facts show that there was NO high-velocity spatter on her outstretched legs and her shoes, no h-v spatter on the rug or on the wood paneling on staircase (testimony by Renteria about Luminol testing).
Also there is the h-v blood spatter on PS's white jacket which matches the h-v blood spatter on Lana's skirt which proves that PS was standing there
3) tissue on jacket buttons
**was not there from the shooting event rather from the later purge at the coroner's office
4) GSR -- LKB: "absence" on PS
**No, not an absence, a reduction, easily explained by the 40 mins. bet. the shooting and his arrest and the oppty to wash, wipe and remove it.
5) teeth-- location of fragments proves no one was in front of her
**We know that PS went upstairs (blood on bannister, jacket found upstairs, he was seen in the upstairs by LE) and tooth fragments might have fallen off him on the way up the stairs.
6) DNA on bullets proved she loaded the gun
** DNA was found on the TIPS of the bullets and was there as a result of her being shot with the gun in her mouth.
The notion that she loaded the gun is ludicrous, as is the assertion that the gun was hers.
Gun fit in the holster with the old Hunter logo.
Bullets (Speer and Smith & Wesson +P not sold since 1983) in 3 hand guns in house prove the gun and bullets belonged to Spector.
It's ridiculous to assert she brought an unloaded .38 to the Castle with the intent to find .38 bullets there with which to kill herself is laughable.
7)"physical size disparity between LC and PS" proves he didn't shoot her
plus he had the hand tremors
** Piffle! A gun is the great equalizer. Also physical evidence shows she was seated when shot.
Hand tremors? What better way to steady his hand than sticking the muzzle in her mouth??
8)clotted blood on diaper
** Shows he wiped her face at least 3 mins after shooting her. This is cover-up not aid.
9) PS didn't try to cover up the scene. Gun not planted or wiped.
** Gun had no fingerprints on it and also smeared blood on it. It WAS wiped.
It is idiotic to maintain that the gun fell from her right hand and landed under her left leg.
There was also the very credible testimony from ADS that Spector came out of the Castle holding the gun.
10) _____
Lisa,
Great analysis. I'll add a few thoughts here and there, though you've really covered the 10 pinpricks, er, points well. I'm not sure of the 10th point either, and I'm not sure I can stomach another viewing of LKB's OS to find it at this moment.
Actually, I think I just remembered it: PS should be covered in blood spatter; it should be all over his jacket sleeve along with GSR. Or is that part of #2 and/or #4?
1) This is, was, and always will be carp. (Do we have to say carp here?) I thought it was laughable when I first heard it as there are so many other explanations. Does LKB think anybody would buy this argument? PS ordered her to open her mouth, Lana gasped when she saw the gun and PS shoved it in, etc, etc.
2) Per Dr. Herold, the almighty science LKB keeps quoting puts the lie to this: Using physics the theoretical max distance blood droplets of this size could travel is 4 feet, and 2-3 feet is what has actually been observed in the literature. I don't think even HL could spit ketchup that far.
3) Tissue on jacket buttons: Contamination from when Lana was rolled onto her left side.
4) There still was some GSR, and not from doing a brake job on the Mercedes, either. Let's not forget that PS apparently dipped the diaper in the toilet, wiped LC and the gun, etc. Whether or not he washed, which I believe he did, these actions alone could easily have brushed off the GSR.
5) I agree. Do we know by chance whether or not PS's pants were cuffed? The only photo I saw showed them inside out.
6) A blatant lie/misstatement of the facts by LKB. I hope AJ smacks the carp out of her in his CA over this point. IMO she'll pay dearly with the jury over this one.
7) Lana was seated. Phil had a gun. End of discussion.
8) LKB can't have it both ways. At one point she tried to suggest that the gun might have still been moist when it was handled by the gloved Detective more than 12 hours later, but the clotted blood on the diaper means he rendered aid instantly? I think not!
9) Gun was wiped, Lana's head was moved from right to left, Lana's face was wiped, Phil went upstairs and took his jacket off, etc.
No staging. Nothing to see here. Who is LKB kidding?
10) (If I am correct in my recollection) Lana wasn't "covered" in spatter as LKB claims. Much of the spatter seems to have been on a downward trajectory, which is consistent with the gun barrel having been against the top of Lana's mouth. The gun and hand caught much of the spatter: it didn't have any path to get to the sleeve anyway. Phil's long coat blocked spatter from getting on his shirt and pants, not to mention we heard from Dr. Herold today that spatter on the pants could have dried up and fallen off as PS walked around.
The 10 points will be down to no more than 2 or 3 that could have any possible traction by the time the Defense presents their CiC IMO. Rebuttal and a strong CA by AJ and Dixon will easily handle any lingering doubt in the minds of the jurors, assuming of course there even will be any by that point.
Sure, LKB has her 10 points. IMO AJ and Dixon have at least 50 on their side, which makes this a pretty lopsided score.
Team Spector should be called Team Spectator for all the good they've done in this case to date.
PS in October of 2007: :behindbar
I did notice that Cutler isn't there today to babysit PS.