Expert Witness Blog

Independent medical examinations expert witness Dr. Charles Wetli testified Friday that Renee Javier Perez could not have been fatally injured in the time frame that ex-cop George Bubaris is accused of killing him. LoHud.com reports:

'He did not sustain this injury after 11 o'clock p.m.,' said Dr. Charles Wetli, who was the chief medical examiner for Suffolk County for more than 11 years. Wetli testified at the state Supreme Court Homicide trial of Bubaris, a former Mount Kisco police officer charged in Perez's death.

Wetli is th last defense witness in Bubaris' manslaughter trial and is the second medical expert who refuted findings from the Westchester County Medical Examiner as well as a new York City medical examiner, both of whom previously testified that Perez was mortally wounded after 11 p.m. the night of April 28, 2007.

Tucson copper producer Asarco LLC is suing its former parent company Americas Mining Corp over the value of the company's investment in Peruvian mining operations. Asarco alleges fraudulent transfer of Asarco's majority share in two Peruvian copper mines and related facilities. Asarco contends that the loss of that revenue led to its 2005 bankruptcy. Americas Mining Corp mining expert witnesses testified about the value of the Peruvian mines question. AMC asserts that Asarco's bankruptcy occurred more than two years after the transfer.

German Larrea, one of Mexico's richest men and chief executive and chairman of Grupo Mexico, parent company of AMC., testified Tuesday that he acted in the best interest of Asarco when he shifted its most valuable asset to one of his other subsidiaries.

A gangs defense expert says that five young men charged with murder and gang allegations in the beating death of a surfer outside his La Jolla home do not fit the legal definition of being members of a criminal street gang. San Diego News reports:

Alfonso Valdez, a University of California, Irvine sociology professor who teaches classes on gang cultures, testified in the preliminary hearing for Seth Cravens, Orlando Osuna, Matthew Yanke, Eric House and Hank Hendricks, who are accused in the death a year ago of 24-year-old Emery Kauanui. "It is not a gang," the expert witness testified. "None of the defendants in this case are gang members as defined under California law." Valdez said none of the defendants admitted gang membership and did not act like gang members.

Eyewitness News reporter Nina Pineda reports on the NYPD's aggressive policing tactics:

Excessive police force, racial profiling and the independence of local prosecutors are the three issues the House Judiciary Committee is examining to determine how to proceed on a federal level with the legacy of Sean Bell. "This committee, this delegation, will insist that the Justice Department pursue a comprehensive, fair and expeditious investigation of this case," New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler said.

The committee is going to review the recommendations from police procedures expert witnesses on federal oversight of police patterns and practices, not just in New York City, but in any city where public confidence in law enforcement is questioned.

The risk of injury or death from the use of Tasers is low, an expert witness has testified at a public inquiry ordered after the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski. J. Patrick Reilly, an electrical engineer expert witness, said yesterday the weapon is safe compared with a handgun. The Star.com reports:

"Safety is relative. You can hurt people with batons and even pepper spray," said Reilly, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University. "I wouldn't want to be Tasered myself but I recognize among the arsenal of things, this may be a useful tool."

Reilly has been offered funding money from stun-gun manufacturers and Taser International, the Arizona-based company that produces the weapon, but has declined financial grants from such companies.

He receives money from the U.S. Department of Justice, which is looking at ways to use non-lethal weapons. He has also testified at two coroners' inquests in the Vancouver area following the deaths of two men shot with Tasers in separate incidents.

Al Valdez, Professor at the University of California-Irvine and a retired law-enforcement officer, testified Friday as a gangs expert witness that the murder of Daniel Francis was a gang-related act and not a crime stemming from a road-rage incident. The expert witness described the murder of Daniel Francis as the result of a gang initiation. Valdez says that 50 percent of the people killed in gang violence are innocent bystanders, according to an FBI study and his own professional experiences of investigating gang crimes.

For more see: NWAnews.com

Anesthesiology expert witness Dr. Mark Dershwitz's testified that Ohio's execution procedure is humane and includes enough anesthetic to knock out an average inmate for two hours. wcpo.com writes:

The doctors testified in a legal challenge brought by two men who could receive death sentences if convicted of separate murders in Lorain County. The defendants are challenging the constitutionality of the state's lethal injection process, saying it doesn't provide the quick and painless death required by Ohio law.

Lethal injections are on hold nationally while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge in a case from Kentucky, which is among the roughly three dozen states that administer three drugs in succession to sedate, paralyze and kill prisoners.

Anthony Pellicano, former Hollywood private eye, called his one and only witness, an FBI computer expert witness in his defense against wiretapping and racketeering charges. HollywoodReporter.com also reports:

On the witness stand, Donald Schmidt testified that he was told to look for evidence of audio recordings on Mac computers confiscated by federal agents in a search of Pellicano's Sunset Boulevard office in November 2002.

"I recall hearing audio files," Schmidt said. "Did you or anybody determine these files were wiretaps?" Pellicano asked. It's not my job," Schmidt responded. "I was told to find audio files."
Pellicano is accused of being the ringleader of a criminal enterprise that included tapping phone lines and employing others to dig up often confidential information on adversaries of clients who hired the private eye...

Among the co-defendants is retired Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Arneson, who took the stand in his own defense following Pellicano's witness. Under questioning by Arneson's attorney Chad Hummel, the former sergeant admitted he "crossed the line" when he ran records searches for Pellicano on police computers over a seven year span.

A legal battle between Coos County, Oregon and MasTec, Inc., over construction of a natural gas pipeline appears to be coming to an end. MasTec will pay $8.7M, and will dismiss it's claims against the county for more than $11M for unpaid work and $3.5M for alleged delay damages. Construction expert witnesses opined on numerous problems, including four lawsuits from private landowners against the County and MasTec. Landowners say their private property was damaged during construction of the 60-mile pipeline from Roseburg to Coquille, Oregon. kcby.com also reports:

County Commissioner John Griffith said in a press release on Wednesday, that after MasTec left the county intended to recover what they spent on cleaning up MasTec's mess. And, he says, they have substantially achieved that goal and without a costly trial.

However, the settlement depends on the impending outcome in the Federal Government's own case against MasTec in U.S. District Court in Eugene. The County says they have remedied most of the environmental damage caused by MasTec during construction, and they finalized a four-year old agreement in March, with a formal settlement decree with the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

Dish Network asked a federal appeals court this past week to rehear the TiVo patent-infringement case, alleging that a TiVo expert witness gave contradictory testimony. In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the lower court's ruling that Dish violated TiVo's "Time Warp" software patent and affirmed the judgment against the satellite operator for $94 million in damages. Dish said this week that one of TiVo's patents expert witnesses contradicted himself and argued that the infringement verdict was not "supported by substantial evidence." Broadcastnewsroom.com also reports:

EchoStar argued that a TiVo expert witness, Jerry Gibson, testified at one point that a Broadcom chip in Dish's digital video recorder included software that extracted audio and video from a physical data source (a process he said pertained to the Time Warp patent). At another point, however, Gibson identified the Dish DVR's "Ioctl command" as the software that extracted audio and video " a command, according to Dish, that's handled by a separate data-buffering memory chip, not the Broadcom chip. "The two parts of Dr. Gibson's testimony the [appeals court] panel considered are thus in conflict," Dish said in its petition. In a statement, TiVo said: "This appeal was expected and we remain confident we will prevail in this appeal."

Former University of Minnesota football player Dominic Jones, 21, is accused of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. His defense attorney is asking for a "sexologist" as a witness and for the state to pay the bill for the expert's testimony. The St. Paul lawyer Earl Gray lost the battle to keep the jury from seeing a cell phone video and photos, taken by a witness to the alleged assault which purportedly show Jones ejaculating on the woman. Gray hopes to convince jurors that some people view that as playful and not sexual abuse. Jones was charged after an 18-year-old woman said he and three other players got her drunk on vodka and then took turns having sex with her. Twincities.com writes:

Gray said in court papers his expert witness will testify that while some people view ejaculation as an act of hostility or aggression, others see it as "a symbol of closeness, sexual bonding or sexual competence."

Sorry counselor, but from my perspective as a woman, a sexual abuse expert witness and not a "sexologist" is called for.

Troy Critchley, a Queensland drag racer, has been charged with six counts of vehicular homicide in Tennessee. Six people were killed and 22 were injured when Critchley's car ploughed into a crowd of spectators at a charity drag racing event. The racer was performing a "burnout routine" in June of 2007 when he lost control of his car and crashed. Race car builder Bobby Umstead testified as an automotive expert witness for Critchley and said that revving the motor did not affect the speed of Critchley's dragster.
Couriermail.com reports:

An internationally-recognized expert in crash reconstruction and mechanical inspections was hired to conduct a comprehensive vehicle autopsy of the race car, with the evidence turned over to District Attorney General Mike Dunavant.

Are skiiers responsible for the injuries they suffer? Kenny Salvini, 23, became paralyzed from the neck down after a jump in 2004 at the Summit on Snoqualmie, WA. Nine days later ski instructor Peter Melrose died at the foot of the same jump. Jasper Shealy, skiing and snowboarding expert witness defends the ski industry. Seattlepi.com reports:

In 2007, a King County jury found the Summit at Snoqualmie liable for just less than half of Salvini's pain, suffering and lasting paralysis, levying $14 million in damages against the ski area. The judgment -- described by one group representing ski areas as a "runaway jury verdict" -- came as a shock to the industry, which, in the past two decades, has largely received legal protection from skiers hurt on the hills. Jasper Shealy, a retired engineering professor often hired as an expert witness by the ski industry, called the assertion that ski area managers can design safer jumps "a naive notion." Salvini's injuries were unfortunate but, Shealy contended, occurred because he hit the jump too fast. In Shealy's view, suggested engineered fixes underestimate a skier's impact of flight and the variability of snow.

"The problem here is you're not dealing with something like steel or iron or concrete. You're dealing with a very malleable, changeable substance," said Shealy, speaking from his Rochester, N.Y., office. "Even if we had some magic formula -- and frankly I don't believe there is one -- within a day or two the jump is likely to be very different."

The number of deaths in rollover crashes has climbed with the popularity of SUVs and other light trucks whose relatively high centers of gravity increases the chance of rollovers. While some carmakers have denied any connection between roof strength and passenger safety, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a study Wednesday that suggests the opposite. Carl Nash, a former NHTSA official who works as an accident and safety expert witness in rollover cases against car companies says automakers "build cars as if the roof is never going to touch the ground." Newsday.com also reports:

In its tests, the institute said, the differences among the 11 vehicles were dramatic. For example, it said, when a Nissan Xterra and Ford Explorer, both 2000 models, were subjected to a crushing force of up to 10,000 pounds, the Nissan's roof crushed about two inches, while the Explorer's deformed 10 inches, "caving far into the occupant compartment even before reaching 10,000 pounds of force."

Other vehicles tested and studied included the 1996-2004 Chevrolet Blazer, 2002-05 Chevrolet TrailBlazer, 1998-2003 Dodge Durango, 2002-04 Ford Explorer, 1996-98 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 1999-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 2002-05 Jeep Liberty, 1997-2004 Mitsubishi Montero Sport, and 1996-2000 Toyota 4Runner.

The report, "Relationship between roof strength and injury risk in rollover crashes" by M.L. Brumbelow et al. is available by writing to: Publications, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 1005 N. Glebe Rd., Arlington, Va., 22201, or by e-mailing publications@iihs.org.

Safety advocates have long argued that SUV roofs crush too easily in rollover crashes and cause avoidable deaths. About 10,000 deaths a year occur in rollovers. The numbers have climbed with the rise in popularity of SUVs and other light trucks, whose relatively high centers of gravity increased the chances of rollovers. While some carmakers have denied any connection between roof strength and passenger safety, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a study Wednesday that suggests the opposite. Carl Nash, a former NHTSA official who works as an accident and safety expert witness in rollover cases against car companies says automakers "build cars as if the roof is never going to touch the ground."

NHTSA hasn't upgraded its standard for roof strength since 1971but this about to change. Newsday.com writes:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is scheduled to increase vehicle roof strength requirements this summer for the first time since 1973 for passenger cars and since 1994 for light trucks. The current minimum mandates that cars and light trucks be able to support of 1 1/2 times the vehicle's weight in a roll over crash without deforming more than five inches, and that requirement could change to 2 1/2 times their weight.

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The leading expert witness for National Century Financial Enterprises executives accused of the nation’s largest private fraud also had talked with the FBI about fraudulent business at the company. Computer expert witness Bryant testified about work he did analyzing National Century’s computer system. Crashes in nine of the company’s hard drives, discovered years after National Century filed for bankruptcy, made it impossible for anyone to make conclusions about the company’s data, Bryant told the jury. But Bryant also had met with the FBI and handed over National Century documents he had secretly stored at his house. He did not disclose that to defense attorneys before federal Judge Algenon L. Marbley declared him an “expert witness” for the defense. Dispatch.com also writes:

Former National Century executives Parrett, Ayers, James E. Dierker, Roger S. Faulkenberry and Randolph H. Speer are charged with fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

James Ziliak, director of the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research, testified Tuesday as a nutrition expert witness before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging in Washington, D.C. UKy.edu also reports Ziliak is expected:

... to provide expert witness testimony on hunger among senior citizens in America. During the testimony, Ziliak will deliver results of research he conducted with co-investigator Craig Gundersen of Iowa State University on the causes, consequences, and future of senior hunger.

The two recently completed a major research initiative funded by the Meals on Wheels Association of America Foundation and underwritten by Harrah’s Foundation. Ziliak is one of six invited witnesses who will speak before the committee. Other expert witnesses include officials from the U.S. Administration on Aging, Department of Agriculture, a volunteer with the Meals on Wheels program, and a representative of the Harrah’s Foundation

Expert witness Dr. Douglas Zusman testified this week in the wrongful-death suit filed by John Ritter's family. The cardiology expert witness said Ritter had a 'lethal' tear of the aorta. Zusman testified that Ritter was too far gone for the emergency surgery performed the night he died. Zusman has performed 8,000 surgeries on the aorta and described the procedure to repair a torn aorta, aortic dissection, as long and difficult.

Ledger.com reports that the lawsuit was filed against two doctors involved in the actor's care, Dr. Joseph Lee, the cardiologist who treated him that night, and Dr. Matthew Lotysch, a radiologist who performed a body scan on Ritter two years earlier and allegedly did not discover an enlarged aorta.

Gustov 'Bud' Clark, prosecution expert witness in the death of Francisco Javier Dominguez, testified on how Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett could have shot and killed the 22-year-old Mexican national. The law enforcement expert witness told jurors in federal court Friday about 'sympathetic squeeze.' The Arizona Department of Public Safety expert said it means if a gun is held in one hand, and the other grabs something, you'll likely pull the trigger, as a reflex. Clark told jurors that in video training sessions with Border Patrol agents, when a scenario is presented where a suspected illegal entrant is holding a rock, the agents are trained to back up but nothing in the surveillance video indicates that Corbett backed away from Dominguez.

In Avoiding the Top 10 Mistakes with Distributor Agreements, Glen Balzer, management and forensic consultant and expert witness in domestic and international marketing and sales, shares a checklist of ten common mistakes to avoid when drafting your next distributor agreement. Mistake #6 is entitled Termination by Only One Party - Not Both.

Distributor agreements that allow for termination by only one partner are biased. Experience suggests that such lopsided agreements more frequently end in a legal dispute. By allowing both parties to terminate the agreement, some legal disputes can be avoided. The best distributor agreements allow either party to terminate the agreement.

Glen Balzer, President of New Era Consulting, can be reached at glen@neweraconsulting.com.