Expert Witness Blog

Cardiology expert witness Dr. Daniel Wohlgelernter testified Tuesday that Dr. Conrad Murray was not qualified to treat Michael Jackson. Jackson's family is suing concert promoters at AEG Live saying that AEG should be responsible for hiring Dr. Murray.

Dr. Wohlgelernter, Cardiology Consultants of Santa Monica, earned his medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine and has been on the UCLA faculty since 1985. He testified that “Dr. Murray did not have the appropriate training, experience or knowledge to administer propofol.” In addition Dr. Murray did not have the proper equipment or ancillary personnel.

Ernst & Young's Andre Toh testified as a business valuation expert witness in the trial against three Profitable Plots directors accused of cheating 86 clients in Singapore of more than $8M US. The fraudulent investment plan was the work of Timothy N. Goldring, John A. Nordmann, and Geraldine A. Thomas. Mr. Toh specializes in valuation and business modeling.

BP’s petroleum engineering expert witness testified this week that the company was drilling safely before the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Retired LSU professor Adam T. Bourgoyne Jr. is president of Bourgoyne Enterprises, Inc. and active as a professional petroleum engineer. He described the Deepwater crew as following normal industry practices at the Macondo well. U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana judge Carl J. Barbier is hearing the case. In a separate trial, two BP well supervisors are charged with manslaughter in the deaths of eleven workers.

The forensic psychiatry expert witness who testified in the case against Richard Kachkar said the defendant was difficult to diagnose. Kachkar is charged with the death Toronto police officer Sargent Ryan Russell. Kachkar drove a stolen snowplow through Toronto and struck down Officer Russell.

Expert witness Dr. John Bradford is Clinical Director of the Forensic Program and Co-Director of the Sexual Behaviors Clinic at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, Professor of Psychiatry and Head, Division of Forensic Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa.

Read more at http://ca.news.yahoo.com/.

Jodi Arias' defense expert witness Richard M. Samuels has testified that Arias suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and dissociative amnesia. Arias is on trial for the murder of her boyfriend Travis Alexander in 2008. Dr. Samuels, Ph.D., FACCS, ABPP, is a practicing clinical and forensic psychologist in Scottsdale, AZ. He testified that that the 2008 event was so traumatic for Arias that she cannot remember details.

According to the Grand Lake News, accident reconstruction expert witness Stan Andrews testified in the criminal case against Roger Shane Carroll. Mr. Andrews testified for the state of Oklahoma that Carroll was the driver in a boating accident that killed 39 year old Monte Price. Excessive speed and alcohol use were involved in the fatal crash. Mr. Andrews leads the accident reconstruction team at the The Engineering Institute in Farmington, AR.

Engineering expert witness Richard Heenan testified last week before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier that British Petroleum and Transocean Ltd. officials mishandles safety tests on the Deepwater Horizon. Pressure tests were misread before the rig exploded and killed eleven people. Heenan is with Canadian Engineering Petroleum, Inc., and has supervised projects both onshore and offshore.

Bloomberg reports more: www.bloomberg.com.

Geology expert witness Andrew Hurst testified that British Petroleum drilled the Deepwater Horizon well in an area weakened by a 2006 earthquake. The expert described the ocean floor as likely weakened by the earthquake and says there is evidence BP knew about the earthquake at the start of drilling. Professor Hurst is Chair of Production Geoscience, University of Aberdeen. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier will decide if BP acted with gross negligence.

More info: http://news.yahoo.com/expert-bp-drilled-area-hit-220714979.html;_ylt=AwrNUbDDSzZRuRUAcazQtDMD.

An ophthalmology expert testified in the manslaughter case against singer Randy Blythe. The heavy metal band vocalist is charged with pushing a fan off the stage in 2010. The 19 year old concert goer died of head injuries. The expert described the Lamb of God singer as vision impaired.

An occupational medicine expert witness has testified in the Los Angeles County Superior Court hip implant case against the DePuy Companies. DePuy provides orthopedics, spinal care, and sports medicine and is part of Johnson & Johnson. The expert described how the device failed due to the metal debris which sloughed off the implant. DePuy has recalled the metal-on-metal artificial hip implants and patients may have to undergo revision surgery within six years of their original hip surgery.

Forensic psychology expert witness Dr. Robert C. Engle testified Wednesday in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boise on the competency of convicted murderer Joseph Duncan. The hearing will determine whether Duncan was competent when he waived his right to appeal his death sentence in 2008. Duncan was sentenced to death for kidnapping and torturing two Idaho children before killing one of them. Dr. Engle has worked in hospitals, university counseling centers, children's clinics and his own private practice.

Quebec Justice Brian Riordan agreed to hear the testimony of Stanford University's Robert Proctor in the class action case against Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, and JTI-Macdonald. The tobacco expert witness published Tobacco and the Global Lung Cancer Epidemic in 2001 and has previously testified in 30 trials. Dr. Proctor testified for plaintiffs in the $27B case.

Chemistry expert witness Neal Langerman testified in a hearing regarding the death of a young chemist burned in a UCLA laboratory. Chemistry professor Patrick Harran may be tried for not properly training the 23 year old Sheharbano Sangji. Langerman described how the chemical she was working with becomes highly flammable when in contact with oxygen. Ms. Sanji , who was also not given the proper protective gear, died 18 days after the accident.

Brooke Sissom of Shelbyville, TN, has been accused of using Manchester Health Care Center patient's drug prescriptions for herself. While employed at the nursing home, Sissom allegedly ordered strong pain medication fraudulently by using patient names and prescriptions. Criminology expert witness Stuart Colwell testified that Sissom may have sold pills as well as using them herself. Police Corporal Colwell is a Manchester police investigator.

Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper Brian Bragonier is expected to testify in the Fremont County, WY, case against William Dean Barnes. Barnes is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide in the death of an 11 year old girl who was getting off a school bus in 2011. Bragonier is a recorded vehicle data expert witness and will speak about downloading the information from the system on Barnes's truck.

Electrical engineering expert witness Richard Bonyata testified that a refrigerator, not a stove, might have caused a fire in a Texas home day care that killed four children and injured three. Jessica Tata, charged with murder, left children in age from 16 months to 3 years old alone with hot oil cooking on the stove and went shopping at Target.

Law enforcement expert witness Alex Payne is expected to testify in defense of Barren County, KY, Sheriff Chris Eaton. Eaton is charged with deprivation of rights under color of law, witness tampering, falsification of documents, and giving a false statement to federal investigators.

Expert witness Professor Matthew Hickman testified in the brutality case against the city of Chicago. Bartender Karolina Obrycka was beaten by off-duty policeman Anthony Abbate and the police department is charged with covering up the videotaped attack. The criminal justice expert witness is a criminal justice professor at Seattle University.

Psychology expert witness Dr. Antoinette McGarrahan testified during the sentencing of convicted killer Steven Lawayne Nelson. Nelson suffocated 28 year old Arlington, TX, Baptist minister Clint Dobson in 2011. Dr. McGarrahan testified that Nelson is a violent psychopath.

A former Maryland state trooper testified as an excessive force expert witness in the case against Prince George County, MD, officers Reginald Baker and James Harrison. Baker and Harrison are charged with excessive force in hitting a University of Maryland student with batons during a basketball postgame celebration. Student John McKenna was defenseless and on the ground.