Defense to examine the Sunfire this a.m.

[marla]

He royally screwed up at the Michael Peterson trial in Durham NC about 5 years ago. Spit ketchup all over the place trying to demonstrate blood spatter. It was no help at all and the guy was rightfully convicted. He's just a hired "expert."

Omg!
I thought you guys were kidding!

Did he really do that?

 

[marla]

If Dr. Lee is paid not to find decomp, Dr. Lee will not find decomp. IMO

:clap: You know it!

 

[NancyT]

I like Dr. Lee. His particular expertise is blood drops, spatter, pooling etc. He pretty much wrote the book on blood scenes. I remember one case in which he was involved where the wife disappeared and there were many puzzling issues about her disappearance, one being a stain of blood in front of the garage door.

Lee looked at photos of the house, noticed a missing window shade that no one else had thought important and concluded that the wife was wrapped in the shade and slid out of the window to the ground, exactly where the blood stain was located. IIRC the shade was found with the body.

Lee testified at one of the most famous cases here where 2 men were on trial for killing the wife of one of them. They both admitted being in the house the night she died, but neither would confess nor rat out the other. Lee unscrambled the blood patterns of the house and the spatter on the shirts, pants, walls, ceilings, doors, etc., and determined that both men had taken swings at the wife's head with a baseball bat. Neither would confess, both went to jail for life.

If someone testifies in hundreds of trials, there will be something in the past that went wrong and will be used to impeach the expert. No one is right 100% of the time.

He wasn't called to the stand for SP because he couldn't help SP with his testimony. It is that simple. What Lee had to say would have helped to convict SP.

If I had to hire an expert, I would not hesitate to call upon Lee. It doesn't matter who is paying for his services, which are probably between $5K-$10K - depending on the time he spends on the case but unless KC has been declared an indigent, the State is not paying for his services.

I am guessing that Lee doesn't want Baez with him during the examination of the car to avoid any appearance of tampering, because I can not imagine representing KC and NOT seeing that car for myself.

While you're free to think anything you'd like, I believe you are missing the point where Henry Lee is concerned. No one denies that he's good at what he does (not sure he holds the qualifications to be an expert though - I'd still love to know how he received a Ph.D. in ONE year). His testimony IS for sale, though. He doesn't need the truth on his side. He fabricates it any way he has to to create reasonable doubt and any prosecutor worth his weight will NEVER have to dig too far to get to the heart of the matter to prove it.

I guess you and I have a vastly different set of criteria that must be met to determine if we like someone or not. There is NOTHING to like about a man who is willing to say anything on a witness stand; under oath, to get his client off. My standards are much higher than that. Henry Lee and anyone who is willing to sell their soul in exchange for $$$ are the scum of the Earth, IMO.

BTW, when you say something in his past should be expected because of all the cases he was involved in? Well, that's nothing more than a nice way of excusing criminal behavior, IMO.

You also state that he didn't testify in the Scott Peterson case because he had nothing to say to help the defense? Well, wouldn't one think that if that were true, Mark Geragos wouldn't have had him and Cyril Wecht right there ready to testify? The truth is, Mark Geragos was afraid to put them on the stand. Both Wecht and Lee were all set, ready to lie at the behest of Geragos' queue. We know this because that very night, all one had to do was tune in to the Greta Van Susteren show, where much was talked about in a last ditch effort to have some sort of effect on jurors before they were to begin sequestration. BTW, this was all done while under a gag order too, but that order was ignored, and no charges followed (the defense knew they'd get away with it). It sure didn't have any effect on the guilt phase of the trial though, did it? Oops, it didn't have any effect on the sentencing phase, either, huh?

 

[NancyT]

He royally screwed up at the Michael Peterson trial in Durham NC about 5 years ago. Spit ketchup all over the place trying to demonstrate blood spatter. It was no help at all and the guy was rightfully convicted. He's just a hired "expert."

I really think he could sell it though. Just imagine, he's hired by Heinz for an upcoming promo. He's out at a picnic with family and friends and someone brings him a hot dog. He tastes the ketchup and instantaneously starts spitting everything out of his mouth.

Then, the finale with the great and powerful Henry Lee, saying:

"I cannot eat a hot dog WITHOUT Heinz Ketchup. Nothing else will suffice." At this point, they roll his trial testiMONEY, and he says, "see what happens when someone tries to sneak in an imitation to the real thing."

 

[magnolia]

If Dr. Lee is paid not to find decomp, Dr. Lee will not find decomp. IMO

Exactly !!!!!

 

[anastacia129]

:waitasec: was that a joke?

Huh, um, ya.

 

[Cara's Mom]

Henry Lee "is" well known....supposedly one of the best. However, he was unable to help the defense in the SP case. Probably one of, if not the highest paid too.

Now where are the A's gonna get $ for Henry Lee? Is JB banking on some giant financial windfall out of this? I know a convicted murderer can't make profits from the case...the A's are gonna go bankrupt and lose everything from this trial. Well they could've prevented this from going this far by flipping on KC but they didn't, so, oh well. Dr. Lee, did you ask for payment up front?

 

[Pink Panther]

Does anyone know if the information regarding this investigation (by Dr. Lee) will be released to the public as well???

 

[NancyT]

Does anyone know if the information regarding this investigation (by Dr. Lee) will be released to the public as well???

I just ran a search and it appears Florida is a state that has a reciprocal discovery obligation. I'm not sure how it falls in line with what's released to the public though. It's just a guess, but I'd imagine it would be released the way the state's evidence is. Of course, with the state asking for a gag order, if that's granted, we might not get to see it till trial if it's even admissible.

I'm just guessing though. Maybe someone who knows more will clear it up further.

 

[Pink Panther]

I just ran a search and it appears Florida is a state that has a reciprocal discovery obligation. I'm not sure how it falls in line with what's released to the public though. It's just a guess, but I'd imagine it would be released the way the state's evidence is. Of course, with the state asking for a gag order, if that's granted, we might not get to see it till trial if it's even admissible.

I'm just guessing though. Maybe someone who knows more will clear it up further.

Thanks for answering Nancy. Also - I thought that the gag order was separate from the release of documents??? I thought that it meant that those that are directly involved in the case are not to talk about it publicly, but I didn't realize that it could apply to document releases as well.

 

[MADJGNLAW]

Gimme a minute til I grab the circus tent.

All we'll hear out of this is how there is not terrible smell (whatevs) nor is there a stain. It will be nothing but twist twist toss. Toss to see what sticks. Which will be nothing, imo.

Baez inspecting Casey's car - an expert, Dr. Henry Leewho helped in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, are inspecting her car at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/p...=14&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1


Last Edited: Friday, 14 Nov 2008, 3:04 PM EST

 

[ishouldbworking]

If Dr. Lee is paid not to find decomp, Dr. Lee will not find decomp. IMO

i agree...

and i he doesnt find anything that will help the defense - they will not submit his findings as evidence...nor will they put him on the stand.

its throwing poop on the wall to see what sticks...IMHO

 

[NancyT]

Thanks for answering Nancy. Also - I thought that the gag order was separate from the release of documents??? I thought that it meant that those that are directly involved in the case are not to talk about it publicly, but I didn't realize that it could apply to document releases as well.

You might be right, but when asked on Fox, Judge Napolitan said he thought they were trying to get a gag imposed because he thought that whatever the state is ready to release is so highly inflammable that the state doesn't want it out there till it's in a court of law.

I do believe that was a guess on his part as well, but I took it as a highly educated guess.

 

[Pink Panther]

Coming up soon...a single squirrel hair...with a death band.

: )

 

[Pink Panther]

You might be right, but when asked on Fox, Judge Napolitan said he thought they were trying to get a gag imposed because he thought that whatever the state is ready to release is so highly inflammable that the state doesn't want it out there till it's in a court of law.

I do believe that was a guess on his part as well, but I took it as a highly educated guess.

I had not seen/read this! Now that's an interesting point of view. I'm feeling a bit demoralized by the events of the past few days and my faith in LE, unfortunately, has waned...So, this is encouraging to hear!

 

[NancyT]

snip

Here, check this link out. I hope it goes directly to the video. If not, I'll link to the page for you to click to view it.

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/M....jsp?contentId=7832624&version=1&locale=EN-US

 

[NancyT]

Coming up soon...a single squirrel hair...with a death band.

: )

Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner. :gold_crown:

 

[Pink Panther]

Here, check this link out. I hope it goes directly to the video. If not, I'll link to the page for you to click to view it.

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/M....jsp?contentId=7832624&version=1&locale=EN-US

Thanks so much for posting this link! So nice to hear rational (non-speculative) discussion about the case. Such a rarity!

 

[azwriter]

The defense runs a big risk by bringing in a famous guy like Dr. Lee.
Just because Dr. Lee is hired to test the evidence and render an opinion, doesn't necessarily mean he will testify for the defense. If his opionin doesn't support the defense's case, he will not be called upon as a witness. His testimony would be the kiss of death. This is what happened in the Scott Peterson case.
The risk comes about because potential jurors hear that Dr. Lee is on the case and when this famous guy doesn't make an appearance in court, minds start to get suspicious and wonder what did the famous Dr. Lee find that keeps him from testifying.
One reason many defense lawyers call in these well-known doctors is to get the jump on the prosecution so they won't hire these celebrity doctors.
JMO

 

[LiveLoveLaughLiza]

"I can't smell anything, can you smell anything?" That will be the extent of the forensic analysis by the defense.

:rolling:hahahah
That was funny! My pick for post of the day!:laughbounce: