Dr. Michael Baden
Director of Forensic Sciences for the New York State Police and formerly the Chief Medical Examiner for New York City. Dr. Baden is internationally recognized as an expert in forensic pathology and is frequently called upon by medical examiners and prosecutors nation-wide to assist with difficult and high-profile cases. He was appointed Chairman of a 1977 Congressional panel established to review the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was named to a similar panel that investigated the death of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Dr. Baden reviewed the autopsy report and the alleged murder weapon. In his opinion, the hammer could not be the instrument used to commit the murder because:
(a) there were no wounds found exhibiting marks or patterns consistent with the hammer; and
(b) there were patterns and wounds found which could not have come from the hammer. In addition, he testified that it would have been possible for the assailant to have left the scene without tracking blood due to the time it would have taken for the head wounds to "bleed out".
Peter Barnett
Consulting criminalist and partner in the California firm of Forensic Science Associates, a forensic laboratory used by law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorney and private industry.
Mr. Barnett performed all laboratory tests and visited the crime scene on three separate occasions. He examined the alleged murder weapon (a small ball-peen hammer) and concluded that it could not be the instrument used to commit the murder because no trace of blood or blood residue was found on, around or under the head of the hammer. He also examined the defendant's clothes and shoes looking for traces of glass fragments or particles and found none.
Bart Epstein and Terry Laber
Assistant Director and Supervisor, respectively, of the Forensic Science Laboratory for the State of Minnesota. They are crime scene experts who process and evaluate homicide crime scenes for law enforcement agencies and prosecutors throughout Minnesota. Together they conduct an annual crime scene and blood stain pattern training course for national and international law enforcement agencies. Attendees have included agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the countries of England, Germany and Japan; as well as local and state law enforcement agencies from throughout the United States.
Epstein and Laber visited and independently evaluated the crime scene. They examined the defendant's clothing, the alleged murder weapon and conducted laboratory tests to try to duplicated the blood stain patterns found at the crime scene. Their joint conclusion, arrived at independently, was that the crime scene was wholly consistent with the defendant's stated actions. Furthermore, they stated that it would be extremely difficult for the defendant to fabricate a story which so completely fit the blood stain evidence at the scene. In addition, their examination of the hammer confirmed the conclusion of Peter Barnett that it could not be the murder weapon. (Epstein and Laber agreed to conduct their examination only on the condition that their findings, even if detrimental to the defense, would be made available to the district attorney.)
Blair Gluba
Retired Special Agent with the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), the chief investigative body for the United States Navy and Marines. In his position with in NIS, he was primarily responsible for all homicide investigations world-wide.
Mr. Gluba reviewed all police reports, transcripts of taped interviews, a crime scene video, and crime scene photographs. In his opinion, law enforcement did a poor job in their investigation and gathering of evidence, such as the lack of fingerprint lifts. In particular, he felt that control of the crime scene was inadequate and that the numerous people allowed in prior to working the scene, as evidenced on the police crime scene video, very possibly hid or destroyed key trace evidence essential to identify the assailant.
Testimony of Mr. Gluba, taken from the Official Transcript of the trial
Dr. Alvin E. Reynolds
Dr. Reynolds was a practicing optometrist located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, concentrating on specialized contact lens treatment. He was the holder of over 10 US patents concerning contact lenses and was a pioneer in the research and development of contacts during his service in the Armed Forces. Dr. Reynolds is now deceased.
Dr. Reynolds was asked to examine and read the power of a whole contact lens removed from the victim's body during the autopsy. He read the power to be -5.25 diopters at a minimum. The victim's prescription was -4.75 diopters for her right eye and -4.25 for her left eye. Even given the accepted tolerance of +/- .125 diopters, his conclusion was this contact lens could not have belonged to the victim and therefore must belong to another person. The defendant does not wear contacts.
Larry Birk
Mr. Birk is Manager of the Duffins Optical Contact Lens Division in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
While making a sales call on Dr. Reynolds, Mr. Birk was presented with the contact lens and asked to read its power. Prior to reading the lens, he was not informed of Dr. Reynolds' opinion or any circumstances surrounding the contact. He read the power to be -5.25 at a minimum, verifying the reading of Dr. Reynolds. He concurred that the strength of the lens was sufficiently different from the victim's prescribed lens that it must belong to someone else. Prior to his testimony, the optometrist which prescribed the victim's contacts, Dr. Robert Burch of Caney, Kansas, called an optical lab seeking assistance in how to read the power of a soft contact lens. Ironically, he called the Duffins lab in Tulsa the very same laboratory of which Larry Birk is the manager.
lh 1998