Articles Posted in Expert Witness Testimony

Seattle undercover detectives may have violated police department rules on June 21st when they pursued a driver in a high speed chase. The department’s rules state that “unmarked cars shall not participate in pursuits.” Police say that Jesse James Toro II cut off three undercover officers in traffic which resulted in a high speed chase. Prosecutors say Toro then shot the tires out of the officers’ SUV.

Police conduct expert witness D.P. Van Blaricom, a former Bellevue police chief, says there is good reason for the regulation against unmarked cars getting involved in high speed pursuits. The problem of chasing somebody in an unmarked car is that they don’t know who the hell is chasing them,” said Van Blaricom, who frequently testifies as an expert witness regarding police conduct.

Toro’s defense claims the officers chased Toro at speeds of more than 100 miles an hour and broke departmental rules reports the SeattlePI.com http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/.

Pain management expert witness Dr. Forest Tennant testified July 2nd that untreated chronic pain will break down the human body. Tennant heads a pain research clinic and is an expert witness for the defense of Dr. William Mangino, a Pennsylvania doctor being prosecuted for violations of the state’s drug act. Reports the New Castle News, Tennant viewed files of 11 of Mangino’s patients and commented that the guidelines for pain management “were quite well followed.”

Tennant, a founder of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, said the standards are that a doctor has to believe the patient and provide enough relief for the pain without sedating or impairing the patient….”Pain itself is a deadly disease,” Tennant said, noting it can cause detrimental hormone changes in the brain, spinal cord and adrenal glands. “People with acute pain start rusting out from the inside if they don’t get pain relief, and it’s important to treat pain,” he said.

Deptford, NJ, Police Patrolman John Gillespie is charged with aggravated assault and official misconduct after allegedly choking and beating Joseph Rao Jr., 20, during a traffic stop and arrest in February 2006. Last week the jury heard testimony from Rao himself. Expert witnesses then called to testify in the case included William Pearson, a law enforcement veteran from Morristown and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice. The second witness called to the stand by the prosecution was Deptford Patrolman Sandra Reid. Ried processed the arrest of Rao on Feb. 2, 2006. The trial will resume Thursday with use of force expert witnesses. The trial is expected to last through the week of July 13th reports the CourierPostOnline.

Last week the divorce trial of Peter and Nancy Tauck topped Connecticut records for time and money spent. Over $10.5 million has been spent and even the FBI got involved when Nancy Tauch claimed her husband’s laptop had child pornography on it. Mrs. Tauck’s attorneys told Robert Rabetsky, a computer expert witness, to deliver copies of a CD of images downloaded from the laptop’s hard drive to the Westport police and the U.S. attorney’s office. “I was told to make sure an FBI agent received it,” Rabetsky testified.

But that charge is not likely to stick. By examining the cache or memory on the computer, expert witnesses on both sides testified that Peter Tauck could not have downloaded the pornographic images. Mr. Tauck was in Tahiti at the time and there was no evidence that the computer was accessed remotely. Someone did access the computer and it it likely that it was Mrs. Tauck. W. Anthony Whitledge, Nancy Tauck’s computer forensics expert witness, testified that he could not rule out the possiblity that the wife did it, reports The Hartfort Courant.

Family law expert witness David Pollock testified in Donna Moonda’s murder trial that she would have received between $1.2 million and $1.6 million in a divorce settlement and more than $3million if her husband died. Moonda, a former nurse, faces death penaly charges in the death of her 69-year-old physician husband. Prosecutors accuse her of conspiring with drug dealer Damian Bradford to collect an inheritance.

The defendant originally gave authorities a description of the gunman, who would have been much smaller than Bradford. A psychology expert witness is expected to testify about how common it is for witnesses at a traumatic event to wrongly recall details and descriptions, as reported in The Tribune Chronicle.

Many expert witnesses do not realize that they can file suit against the law firm that retained the expert if the expert is sued for negligence.

In the 2005 California case of Forensis Group, Inc. v. Frantz, Townsend & Foldenauer, an expert witness was sued for professional negligence for his work in a wrongful death case involving a forklift. The law firm Frantz, Townsend & Foldenauer sued the forklift manufacturer on behalf of the family and retained a mechanical engineering expert witness. At his deposition, the expert did not identify any applicable safety standards, but when the manufacturer later moved for summary judgment, the expert stated in a declaration that the vehicle failed several safety standards. The court granted summary judgment, noting that the expert had contradicted himself. The family filed a malpractice suit against the law firm, and the expert. The expert cross-claimed against the law firm for equitable indemnity, alleging that because he was retained by the law firm, the lawyers should share the loss attributable to the expert’s unsuccessful opposition to the motion for summary judgment. The expert charged that the lawyers had not provided him with adequate information, had failed to rehabilitate him at his deposition, and had failed to brief the court on the law regarding the admissibility of evidence regarding industry standards.
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Gang expert witness Ray Villalvazo testified Friday on the rivalry between two Asian gangs in Fresno which led to death of 20-year-old Nath Ouch and her unborn child. As reported in The FresnoBee:

When Asian Boyz gang members unleashed a hail of more than 30 bullets into a southeast Fresno apartment complex parking lot in January 2006, it was the “ultimate response” to earlier drive-by shootings by members of the rival Tiny Rascal Gang. “It sent a strong message to say to the rival gang, ‘Don’t mess with us,’ ” expert witness Villalvazo said in Fresno County Superior Court. That message also put a bullet in the back of Nath Ouch, who was eight months pregnant. Both Ouch and her unborn child died. Prosecutor Jon Skiles says the Asian Boyz gang members fired bullets at the apartment complex because they knew it was a hangout for members of the Tiny Rascal Gang.

Villalvazo estimated there are 50 members of the Asian Boyz gang in Fresno. Asked about the gang’s “primary activities,” he listed a series of criminal practices: “Possession of firearms, firing at residences, attempted murder, homicide, vandalism, intimidating witnesses, just to name a few,” he said. When people join the gang — at ages as young as 12 or 13 — they’re called “new booty” and have to earn their stripes, Villalvazo said. To accomplish that, he said, they “do dirt.” Translation: They commit crimes. More crimes earn gang members more respect, Villalvazo said

Ivory J. Webb Jr., a sheriff’s deputy in San Bernardino County, says he was justified in shooting an unarmed man at the end of a car chase. Webb is charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm. Law enforcement and police procedures expert witness Kent Ferrin told the jury that he was convinced Webb shot Elio Carrion because Webb believed Carrion had lunged at him. The defense expert witness, an 18-year police veteran, was cross-examined for more than four hours in the San Bernadino Superior Court case. The DailyBulletin.com reported:

“He felt that his life was in danger,” Ferrin testified. “He discharged his weapon at Mr. Carrion because he felt his life was in danger.” However, a videotape of the Jan. 29, 2006, shooting appears to show Webb shoot Carrion as Carrion followed the deputy’s orders to “get up” off the ground. Closing arguments are expected by June 26.

A human resources expert witness’s presentation helped convince a Berkshire County, MA, jury to award $2 million to a former Wal-Mart pharmacist. Plaintiff Cynthia Haddad claimed she was paid less than male pharmacists and was fired in retaliation for complaining.

Massachusetts Lawyer Weekly reports that after more than 10 years at the Pittsfield Wal-Mart, Haddad complained that the retail giant laid her off after she asked to be paid the same as her male counterparts. The company paid her a bonus and then fired her two weeks later. Wal-Mart said the pharmacist was laid off because she left the pharmacy unattended during a period in which an authorized prescription was written by a technician. The jury also heard from North Andover attorney Julie A. Moore, an employment expert witness.

When A. Bernard Ackerman, MD, a New York dermatopathology expert witness, is hired, he refuses to know which side the lawyer represents in the case. Ackerman’s goal is to keep his presentation of the facts and opinion objective. PointofLaw.com writes:

“I want to let the facts speak for themselves,” said Dr. Ackerman, who has testified equally for the defense and the plaintiff in medical liability cases and in other cases where medical expertise is needed, such as criminal cases. Sticking to the facts, he says, prevents a cross-examining lawyer from tripping him up about his opinion being consistent…. States in recent years have ratcheted up efforts to rein in false medical expert witnesses. They have adopted legislation requiring experts to be qualified or have stepped up state medical board oversight over who testifies and what they say.