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Jamaican expert witness Fitzmore Coates testified Thursday at the inquest into the death of ex-Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer. Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18 and Coates, acting chief forensic officer at the Government Forensic Science Laboratory, said tests showed traces of the potentially deadly pesticide cypermethrin. The toxicology expert witness said 3.4 milligrams per millilitre of the deadly pesticide was found in Woolmer’s stomach. “The final calculation of cypermethrin in the stomach content which I analyzed would be significant. It could cause vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and death,” Coates. He also found cypermethrin in samples of blood and urine taken from Woolmer and the substance was also seen in a straw-coloured liquid taken from Woolmer’s room at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. AFP.com also reports:

Last month, the government’s pathology expert witness Dr. Ere Sheshiah, who performed the post-mortem in Woolmer’s body, told the court the cause of death was “asphyxia, associated with cypermethrin poisoning.”

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On Wednesday the US Court of Appeals 4th District ruled against a West Virginia coal company with a yearly capacity of one million tons in Sewell Coal Company v. Gerald Triplett, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 25921. Triplett had been awarded black lung benefits in 2006 by the Benefits Review Board of the Department of Labor. Sewell argued that Triplett had an 18-pack year smoking history and that pneumoconiosis substantially contributed to his disability.

The Board had found pulmonary medicine expert witness Dr. Ramussen’s testimony persuasive in the case. Rasmussen reviewed Triplett’s x-rays, pulmonary function studies, arterial blood gas studies, medical records, and earlier expert witnesses’ reports. He concluded that Triplett’s pulmonary impairment is severe, disabling, and attributable to coal mine dust exposure. Dr. Rasmussen also noted that coal mine dust exposure can produce chronic obstructive lung disease including bronchitis and emphysema. Thus, he explained that it was completely impossible to exclude coal mine dust exposure as a major contributing factor to Triplett’s disability.

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Eight marine science expert witnesses were called to testify before the Congressional Subcommittee hearing at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. The expert witnesses spoke before the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans at a field hearing that was the first of several the subcommittee expects to hold in various parts of the nation before introducing a bill to re-authorize the National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP). SantaBarbaraIndependent.com also wrote:

Witnesses told the subcommittee that the NMSP’s mission needed to be clearly defined as resource management primarily, and that the sanctuaries need more money for research and monitoring. They said that sanctuary managers needed the authority to more easily declare portions of the sanctuaries off-limits to fishing, in order to replenish diminishing species and the ecosystems of which they are part. They all agreed…that the Bush administration’s de facto moratorium on declaring new sanctuaries, by withholding money, needs to be lifted.

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In Utilizing Experts In An Expert Way, Kelli Hinson and Tesa Hinkley describe the crucial role expert witnesses have at trial and give advice on how best to use them. In this excerpt, Hinson and Hinkley give tips on how to agree with opposing parties on what is discoverable.

Judicial rulings on discoverability remain in flux. Given the uncertainty of this environment, agreement with the opposing parties on document discoverability will result in clearer testimony and reduced costs as the process is streamlined. For example, you might agree not to produce draft reports and to limit discovery to material ‘relied upon’ rather than merely ‘considered’ by the testifying expert. In the absence of such argreement, careful document management including emails and voice mails (which are now often digital files similar to emails) will avoid confusion as well as lengthy and expensive e-discovery.

Excerpted from the ABA Expert Witness Alert, Summer/Fall 2007

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In All Things Jury: Jury research as standard practice? R. Robert Samples discusses due diligence and preparation as the the most important responsibility that counsel owes to his or her client. Samples writes:

Law firms don’t hesitate to bring in an expert witness if they believe their testimony is crucial to winning the case. The hiring of expert witnesses is routine and accepted, and it is understood that the cost will be passed along to the client. If counsel is asked if failure to contract with a qualified expert witness could result in legal malpractice, the answer would be a resounding “Absolutely!” However, law firms and their clients may not be as accepting of the need for jury or trial research (nor the cost associated with conducting the research)…

Obviously, the services of jury/trial consultants are not essential in all cases. But as the complexity of the case, and exposure to damages increases, the need for trial research becomes more pronounced. In these cases, the types of trial research services that jury consultants provide becomes part of the counsel’s due diligence to ensure adequate representation of his/her client.

Continue reading

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Darren Mack has pled guilty to the stabbing death of his estranged wife, Charla, on June 12, 2006. He agreed to an Alford plea concerning the intent-to-kill portion of the attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon in the sniper shooting of his divorce judge. Victor Ruvalcaba, a forensics and laboratory expert witness with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, said that the bullet cut into the skin and clothing of Family Court Judge Chuck Weller and his secretary after traveling 515 feet from a downtown Reno parking garage and through a courthouse window. The expert witness is a forensic investigator with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. Prosecutors had offered testimony from crime scene investigators Wednesday and a pilot who said he saw Mack in Mexico after the crimes. The Reno Gazette Journal reports:

“I do understand right now in my state of mind that shooting at the judiciary is not a proper form of political redress,” Mack said.

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Vicki Colvin, executive director of the International Council on Nanotechnology, told the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology Wednesday that nanotechnology holds great promise for the future of cancer therapy and water treatment. Colvin, also director of Rice University’s Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology, said however, that concerns about the safety of nanoproducts may limit important technological developments. Colvin was an expert witness at the hearing “Research on Environmental and Safety Impacts of Nanotechnology.” The hearing relates to the current direction of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The technology expert witness also said:

‘There is an urgency to nano-EHS research that affects the entire NNI investment,” she said. “Innovation in nanotechnology is being threatened by the uncertainty about its risks. We need this innovation more than ever right now.’ She called on the National Nanotechnology Initiative to release a detailed strategy for nano-EHS research no later than fall 2008.

To read the full text of Colvin’s remarks, visit http://icon.rice.edu.

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In Utilizing Experts In An Expert Way, Kelli Hinson and Tesa Hinkley describe the crucial role expert witnesses have at trial and give advice on how best to use them. In this excerpt, Hinson and Hinkley give tips on how to control costs.

Include expert costs in your budget. Consulting and testifying experts can be significant expenses, and you should ensure from the outset that your budget includes line items for this purpose. In all cases, agreeing early on a scope of tasks and requesting regular updates is the best way to avoid surprises and manage costs. Mid-course changes as well as last minute rushes are costly. If it is not initially clear which tasks are to be completed, hiring consulting experts may help to bring focus to the right topics once the issues are better understood. In large cases wilth significant ramp-up costs, you can minimize the costs associated with document management, learning curves, and coordination among testifying experts by relying on consulting experts for all phases of the engagement, with testifying experts assigned to specific tasks.

Excerpted from the ABA Expert Witness Alert, Summer/Fall 2007

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In Utilizing Experts In An Expert Way, Kelli Hinson and Tesa Hinkley describe the crucial role expert witnesses have at trial and give advice on how best to use them. In this excerpt, Hinson and Hinkley give tips on how deal with the timing of expert witness reports.

Because clients often want to review reports prior to filing, experts must complete their reports well in advance of the actual deadline. Depending on the complexity of the report, up to two weeks may be needed for auditing to ensure an error-free analysis and preparation of backup material. Planning to substantially complete the report several weeks prior to the deadline will leave sufficient time for you to review it, for your expert to address client comments, for the expert’s support team to resolve last minute concerns, audit the report, and complete backup material.

Excerpted from the ABA Expert Witness Alert, Summer/Fall 2007

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Three of the six Australians charged with the Bali Nine heroin smuggling ring challenged the constitutional validity of the death penalty and lost on Tuesday. Indonesia’s Constitutional Court rejected the challenge, saying the right to life could be limited by Indonesian laws. Expert witnesses argued that executions breach Indonesia’s constitution and international obligations. Indonesia is a signatory on an international treaty supporting abolition of capital punishment. The treaty calls for executions against only the “most serious crimes,” which does not include drug trafficking.

If the Bali Nine had prevailed, criminal law expert witness Rudy Satrio from the University of Indonesia, predicted the court could retain capital punishment but endorse a new draft of the national criminal code, to avoid creating chaos in the justice system.

For more, see The Age.com.