[oremus]

Can someone get me up to speed on the poison oak - why did he bring it up and what did he say about it?

[NatureGirl]

There was poison oak at the Dehesa Rd. site. Even though the plants were dormant for the winter, there were still enough leaves to cause people to get a rash. Faulkner (the bug guy) testified that he got such a rash, because he had to search around through the plants.

IMO, the defense drew attention to that, to show that there was a high possibility that the person who dumped the body at Dehesa would also have contacted the poison oak, and would have had a rash. DW was under police surveillance early on in the case. If the defense can show that he's allergic to poison oak, but didn't develop a rash, then it's another point that shows he couldn't have dumped the body there.

[hoosiermama]

The bug man had a severe case of poison oak after examing the area that the body was found. Poison oak near the body....

[NatureGirl]

There was poison oak at the Dehesa Rd. site. Even though the plants were dormant for the winter, there were still enough leaves to cause people to get a rash. Faulkner (the bug guy) testified that he got such a rash, because he had to search around through the plants.

IMO, the defense drew attention to that, to show that there was a high possibility that the person who dumped the body at Dehesa would also have contacted the poison oak, and would have had a rash. DW was under police surveillance early on in the case. If the defense can show that he's allergic to poison oak, but didn't develop a rash, then it's another point that shows he couldn't have dumped the body there.