But wait.....doesn't this call into play whether these experts actually AGREED to be defense witnesses as opposed to being contacted initially as a "consultant"?
As I am understanding it after reading AZLawyers posts in the legal thread, as well as the quotes by Hornsby posted by TWA, the defense may have originally contacted these experts on a consultation basis to see what they have to say before making a determination that they would serve the defense well as a "defense expert"?
Is it possible that these experts were originally contacted for consultation but after review and verbally stating that they did not find anything contradictory in prosecution expert reports, they did NOT agree to testify as a defense witness, but Baez, with his limited knowledge, listed them as witnesses anyway...hence the current problem with getting them to return Baez' calls?
I thought I read earlier that as a defense attorney, if you consult with an expert whose opinion AGREES with the prosecution, you do NOT want a written report that will be turned over in discovery and used in trial against your client...so initial oral consultation between expert and defense attorney of findings is first step before retaining expert?
TWA had some brilliant postings about this just up above in this thread from earlier today. But the gist of it comes down to this. Yes you can verbally consult with experts and get their opinions. And yes you can play cagey and not get a written report, especially if you are fearful or concerned that the experts opinion is not in synch with what you need for the case or your defense strategy. You pay the expert as a consultant or in some way contract them. This locks them up from giving a counter opinion. AND THEN YOU WALK AWAY FROM THEM. YOU DO NOT PUT THEM ON YOUR WITNESS LIST. The witness list is for those people you expect to be giving favorable testimony at trial. These are the ones you will subject to cross examination and these are witnesses that damned well better be prepared to put their views findings and opinions in writing. That whole "no reports please" strategy. That's for much earlier in the process.
And there's the problem. JB slacked off for TWO YEARS. he never bothered to sit down and work out what his actual expert witness strategy was for 2 bloody years. So when the due date for the defense witness list came, passed, came again and was finally demanded by the judge, he just threw up all of the names of his consulting experts. With the assumption that like general witnesses it was a meaningless list of names that can be changed at any time. So now he finds himself at an impasse. he has experts listed on his witness list that he probably never reached an agreement with for testimony. He has reciprocal discovery of those witnesses being demanded that he never made arrangements to actually get from them. He is facing contempt orders for all of this nonsense. And he rather obviously has no back up plan.