As the Daily Beast article by defense attorney, Roy Black, has been raised in support of the suicide theory of the case, I feel that the numerous errors within it should be underscored.
The DB article in full may be found here:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...bysitter-rebecca-zahau-s-death-no-murder.html
Excerpts and my comments are below, (my italicized comments in blue.)
After nearly two months of intensive investigation by these four reputable law enforcement agencies, it was conclusively determined that Max’s death was an accident and Rebecca Zahau’s death was a suicide...
I’ll agree with the part about two months.
Once I drilled down to the actual facts, rather than opinions, I could clearly see how it all happened.
It would appear that Mr. Black is in a very elite group. Most people, even the most eminently qualified experts, on both sides wouldn’t claim to “clearly see how it all happened.”
Unfortunately not all of the commentators or experts have taken the time to actually read the reports, let alone analyze them, and the result has been a variety of half-baked theories and opinions despite the facts.
See my comment at the end of this post.
After two days of hopeful reports, Rebecca Zahau for the first time learned in a 12:50 a.m. voicemail message that Max was brain dead, on life support, and his death was inevitable.
We have only the uncorroborated word of Jonah that this is true. IF Nina and Dina are to be believed they offer a different timeline.
Nina claimed [during her November 7 New8 interview] they would never bring on additional grief to themselves, especially while Max was struggling for his life, saying nobody had any indication until Thursday, the day after Rebecca's death, that Max would not survive his injuries.
http://www.examiner.com/article/nina...w-max-shacknai
DINA SHACKNAI: I didn`t. I -- it happened on Friday, the first. He suffered from brain death and on Friday morning, approximately 6:30 in the morning, the EEG went flat and I thought something was wrong with the machine. [...] And it was soon clear that the doctors came in and said, you know, that he was brain dead.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP.../ddhln.01.html
The crime scene technicians collected 10 DNA samples: from the rope used to bind her hands and feet, the rope looped around her neck, the section of rope anchored to a footboard of the guestroom bed, and a small knife next to the bed which may have been used to cut the rope. All the DNA collected was Rebecca’s, and none was from any third party.
Not true
Sheriff's Crime Lab Director Michael Grubb did not dispute the presence of unidentifiable, mixed DNA at the Coronado scene.
[SNIP]
In addition to the fingernail sample, unidentified DNA also was recovered from the rope used in Zahau's alleged hanging; a large knife used to the cut the rope; the bed frame to which the rope was tied; a door knob on the balcony door; and a pair of black gloves found on a table in the mansion, Grubb said.
http://www.cbs8.com/story/16068012/mixed-dna-all-over-zahau-death-scene-some-evidence-not-tested
The technicians collected a significant number of fingerprints: from the guestroom door entry, the balcony door, the bed leg holding the rope, and from another knife discovered in the guestroom. All these prints were Rebecca’s and none were from a third party.
Proper precautions and staging to leave biological evidence and fingerprints from the victim could account for this.
The floor of the balcony holding the rope was very dirty and easily captured footprints. Only her footprints--other than a police officer’s boot--were found.
According to Godwin’s examination, there was ANOTHER set under the supposed officer’s footprints: “It appears to me that the officer stepped on top of another print based on this photograph. This indicates that a second person was on the balcony with Rebecca,” Dr. Godwin says.
The renowned expert has harsh criticism for the San Diego Sheriff’s Department’s handling of Rebecca’s investigation. “One of the major crime scene mistakes was to step on the balcony before completely photographing and videotaping it. Also, the police did not scale Rebecca’s prints with a tape measure. No doubt the police should have been wearing booties,” Dr. Godwin asserts.
http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2...prints-found-balcony-reveals-forensic-expert/
There was no evidence of a struggle, and she didn’t have any defensive wounds on her body.
No defensive wounds? Of the great many injuries and abrasions detailed in the autopsy report, Mr. Black cannot conceive any to be defensive in nature?
How could anyone do all this without leaving behind a scintilla of microscopic evidence?
There’s too much involved in a rebuttal here. It has been outlined at length in a number of posts in a number of threads. For a start he failed to consider the fact that mixed DNA was found.
We have to assume that if another person did this to her, she would have aggressively fought back
If she was surprised and outnumbered, rendered unconscious by blows to the head and then restrained, the fight could have been minimal.
Mr. Black completely fails to acknowledge the potential significance the head injuries to Rebecca.
"A blow or blows sufficient to produce subgaleal, subscalpular hemorrhage could be sufficient for someone to be knocked out, just temporarily, not to produce any damage to the brain, not to cause any prolonged unconsciousness; but one cannot say," Dr. Wecht said. "They are clearly indicia of some kind of blunt force trauma. So, for someone to say there is no evidence whatsoever of any kind of a struggle is not correct."
http://www.cbs8.com/story/15388199/autopsy-rebecca-zahau-found-gagged-with-t-shirt-in-mouth
They would have to have been wearing a full rubber suit or some type of space suit and levitated over the scene.
Speaking of levitation, that must be how Mr Black pictures Rebecca getting over the balcony railing because the evidence doesn’t support the SDSO lean and fall theory.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...oeprints-on-the-balcony&p=7277170#post7277170
…at 12:50 a.m., she hears the shocking news about Max’s worsening condition. Within two hours, in a fit of despair, she hangs herself.
Mr. Black states this with such confidence that you would think that he listened to the voicemail himself. The reality is that he is accepting hearsay as fact.
Video cameras at the hospital also showed Dina was there during that time period.
There nothing in the record that firmly places her at the hospital during the time in question.
Dina's alibi, according to SDSO was through "cell phone triangulation,” While that’s a great alibi for her cell phone it’s not a good alibi for Dina.
http://www.cbs8.com/story/16068012/mixed-dna-all-over-zahau-death-scene-some-evidence-not-tested
And Jonah’s brother, Adam, who discovered Rebecca’s body, was polygraphed and cleared as well.
Of all the mistakes in this mistake-laden article, this is the most obviously wrong.
The polygrapher that gave Adam Shacknai his lie detector test, tells RadarOnline.com exclusively, that the results of the test were inconclusive, and that he recommended to the San Diego Sheriff’s Department that another test be given.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...-lie-detector-test/+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca
Let’s see, what was it that Mr. Black said near the beginning of his article? Ah yes, “Unfortunately not all of the commentators or experts have taken the time to actually read the reports, let alone analyze them, and the result has been a variety of half-baked theories and opinions despite the facts.”
I guess the moral of the story/article for Roy Black is that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
eace:
