Replies

"The body wasn't desiccated, Kimmy. They recovered some 180ml of fluid from the lung cavity IIRC. Unless they stuck her body in a drying oven and weighed her before and after, there is no telling how much moisture was still available.--dread "

Dread, look at underlined testimony..dissection occurred.

Wonders---, Indeed, his testimony changed between PH and the Trial.

PRELIMINARY HEARING
http://members.cox.net/jeneal/PrelimTranscripts/PVW311.txt
12 Q WERE YOU ABLE TO DETERMINE HOW LONG SHE'D 13 BEEN DEAD? 14 A WITHIN A BROAD RANGE, YES. 15 Q HOW DID YOU MAKE THAT DETERMINATION? 16 A WELL, JUST EVALUATING THE DECOMPOSITION AND 17 THE OTHER -- THE ANIMAL ACTIVITY, REALLY. IT'S 18 CERTAINLY CONSISTENT WITH THE THREE-AND-A-HALF WEEKS 19 SHE'D BEEN MISSING.

http://members.cox.net/jeneal/PrelimTranscripts/020311p1.txt
1 Q. At what point, the 11th -- I mean how far do I go 2 before you say no, I guess is what I'm really asking? 3 A. Well, the body is decomposed and mummified. It 4 certainly has been out there weeks. I don't think it's one 5 week. I think it's more than one week. 6 Q. Okay. 7 A. Two, two and a half, three, three and half. All 8 of those would be consistent.

TRIAL
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/danielle/transcripts/20020605-9999-pm2.html

A. WELL, THE BODY WAS OF A YOUNG WHITE FEMALE IN A 26 STATE OF MARKED DECOMPOSITION. IN ADDITION TO THE 27 DECOMPOSITION, THERE WAS EXTENSIVE ANIMAL FEEDING ON THE BODY. 28 SO A LOT OF THE TISSUE ON THE BODY WAS MISSING. AND THE FACE 3711 1 WAS INTACT, THE SKIN WAS MUMMIFIED OR JUST DRIED, BUT THE 2 FEATURES WERE STILL QUITE RECOGNIZABLE. 3 THE HAIR WAS PRESENT AND RECOGNIZABLE AS BLONDE AND 4 FAIRLY LONG. HOWEVER, FROM BELOW THE COLLAR BONE, THE ENTIRE 5 FRONT OF THE BODY, ALL THE SKIN AND THE MUSCLE, SOME OF THE 6 MUSCLE EVEN WAS MISSING BY THE ANIMALS

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/danielle/transcripts/20020606-9999-am1.html
Q: WERE YOU ABLE TO GIVE US A BALLPARK ESTIMATE ON TIME OF DEATH FOR DANIELLE?A: WELL, JUST LOOKING AT THE BODY, IT WAS CLEAR TO ME SHE HAD BEEN DEAD FOR A CONSIDERABLE PERIOD OF TIME. AND JUST LOOKING AT THE BODY ALONE, NOT TAKING ANY CIRCUMSTANCES INTO CONSIDERATION, I WOULD SAY FROM TEN DAYS TO POSSIBLY SIX WEEKS

Q: WHY DO YOU SAY THAT, DOCTOR?A: WELL, IT WOULD TAKE A MINIMUM OF TEN DAYS OUTSIDE IN THE ENVIRONMENT TO GET THE EXTREME DEGREE OF MUMMIFICATION AND HAVE THE PUTREFACTION GO THROUGH MOST OF ITS PROCESS AND THEN SORT OF DISAPPEAR SO THAT THINGS LIKE THE LIPS WERE ALREADY, WERE NOT SWOLLEN, THEY WERE SORT OF BACK TO NOT NORMAL SIZE, BUT THEY HAD RECEDED. WE SEE THIS IN CASES WHERE BODIES ARE FOUND IN THE DESERT, FOR INSTANCE. I KNEW IT WOULD BE A MINIMUM OF TEN DAYS. AND THE MAXIMUM, WELL, THE HEART AND THE LUNGS WERE STILL IDENTIFIABLE AND, IN FACT, I WAS ABLE TO DISSECT THEM IN ALMOST A NORMAL FASHION. SO IT WASN'T A LONG TIME; IT WASN'T MONTHS. SO IT'S SUBJECTIVE. IT'S AN ESTIMATE. THAT'S MY ESTIMATE.Q: AND THAT IS FROM THE TIME OF THE AUTOPSY YOU'RE COUNTING BACK TEN DAYS OR SIX WEEKS?A: UNTIL THE TIME I EXAMINED HER ON THE SCENE BASICALLY

OK, Kim you earned yourself one. Glad to see it! :)

Actually, his testimony did not change, per se. As I said earlier, three and a half weeks is within the range of ten days to six weeks. It all depends on how the lawyer asks the question what the answer will be, you see. The questions often "lead" the answers. One must watch out for that in a trial.

Gee, I wasn't going to do this. At the PH virtually none of the tests were back and the objective was to give enough information to hold DW over for trial.

The Forensic Dentist didn't give the same answers at the trial, and Jeff Dusek, esquire was NOT best pleased.

Dread, look at underlined testimony..dissection occurred.

Kimmy, look at a dictionary : dessication vs. dissect

Understand the difference ?

Not trying to pick on you, but don't dissection and dessication mean two different things? Maybe I don't understand how the terms are used in an autopsy.