Articles Posted in Expert Witness Testimony

In the wrongful death suit involving University Central Florida football player Ereck Plancher, the jury has awarded the family $10 million in damages. The jury found the UCF Athletic Association negligent in Plancher’s death.

Plancher collapsed and died following off season conditioning drills at the UCF football complex on March 18, 2008. Orange County medical examiner Joshua Stephany and three experts hired by the Plancher family attorneys testified Plancher died from complications of sickle cell trait.

Read more: sun-sentinel.com.

A Pueblo district judge disqualified two expert witnesses in the attempted-murder trial of Robert Bruce, one of whom was an expert in the field of propane gas. District Judge David Crockenberg ruled that the Pueblo, CO, district attorney’s office failed to provide notice and share the results of the experts’ testing with Bruce’s defense team in a timely manner.

Bruce is set to go on trial July 19 for attempting to blow up the home of Pueblo police officer Nathan Pruce on Oct. 6, 2009.

Read more: chieftan.com.

Accident reconstruction expert witness Sgt. Billy Richmond testified in the murder trial of Glenn Doneghy, 34, accused of hitting and killing officer Bryan J. Durman April 29, 2010. Richmond, supervisor of the collision reconstruction unit that investigates serious-injury and fatal crashes, explained why a re-enactment of the crash was performed last month – more than a year after the collision.

Several officers who investigated the collision testified in Fayette Circuit Court, KY, about evidence they found linking murder defendant Glenn Doneghy’s vehicle to the crash.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com.

In Opinion analysis: New curb on crime lab reports, journalist Lyle Denniston writes:

A closely divided Supreme Court on Thursday continued its pattern of restricting prosecutors’ use of out-of-court statements to get criminal convictions, ruling that a report of a crime lab is valid evidence only if the technician who did the testing or observed it – not a substitute witness – is called to the stand.

Read more: scotusblog.com

An Arizona jury convicted a self-help guru Wednesday for the deaths of three clients during a 2009 sweat lodge ceremony that went horribly awry. Medical examiners Drs. Archaius Mosley and Robert Lyon, emergency room physician Dr. Brent Cutshall, the State’s expert witness Dr. Matthew Dickson and defense expert Dr. Ian Paul testified as key medical witnesses in the negligent homicide trial.

Read more: slatestslate.com.

Psychiatry expert witness Dr. Gerard Figurelli testified Monday in the defense case of Police Officer Joseph Rios III. Figurelli testified that medical records indicate alleged beating victim Ronnie Holloway suffered from a host of schizophrenic symptoms through the years that included violence while prosecutors argue that Ronnie Hollaway was the victim of the Passaic police officer’s excessive use of force.

Read more: northjersey.com.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash, (ND Georgia) refused to disqualify several experts and attorneys in an antitrust litigation stemming from a patent dispute over AndroGel, a medication used to increase testosterone production. The plaintiffs, direct purchasers or the medication, wish to retain Dr. Bozena Michniak-Kohn and Dr. Howard Maibach as expert witnesses in topical drug delivery.

In 2000, the Food and Drug Administration approved Solvay Pharmaceuticals’ application for an exclusive three-year license to sell AndroGel for the treatment of male hypogonadism, a medical condition in which the body fails to produce normal levels of testosterone.

Read more: courthousenews.com.

Psychology expert witness James H. Hilkey for accused murderer Shelton Mills told jurors that the shooting deaths of Cylvonnia Preddy Crowder and Robert Bizzell Jr. Aug. 26, 2007″ is not a ‘who-dunnit,’ crime, but a ‘why-dunnit’ crime.”

In Pitt County Superior Court, North Carolina, the psychologist described Mills’ personality as paranoid, avoidant, psychotic and probably schizophrenic. He also testified that Mills, who was last tested with an IQ of 71, has “mild mental retardation.” The state threshold for eligibility for the death penalty is 70.

Read more: reflector.com.

Courthouse News Service reports that Tribune Co.’s plan to exit bankruptcy may violate FCC rules because some of the creditors backing its plan have holdings in other media companies, an expert witness testified in Bankruptcy Court. Finance expert witness Mark Prak testified on Thursday that Tribune creditors JPMorgan & Chase, Angelo Gordon & Co., and Oaktree Capital Management have significant holdings in media companies that compete in some of the same markets with Tribune.

Those holdings, Prak said, would violate the Federal Communications Commission’s multiple- and cross-ownership rules under Tribune’s reorganization plan.

Read more: courthousenews.com.

The staff at Portland House Nursery, Huddersfield County, UK, who tried desperately to save tragic toddler Adam Milner could not have been expected to know exactly what to do, a medical expert has said. Dr Michael Bell, a Leeds intensive care consultant, gave expert evidence at the inquest at Bradford Coroners’ Court into the death of two-year-old Adam. He said: “These individuals are not health care practitioners and are not working in a health care setting.

Adam is thought to have died after choking on a piece of sausage while having his lunch at Portland House Nursery in Lindley on August, 19, 2009. A postmortem report showed that after choking on a foreign body Adam was starved of oxygen and had a heart attack.

Read More http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2011/03/03/portland-house-nursery-staff-did-all-they-could-for-adam-milner-86081-28269002/#ixzz1FliKXv6R