Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [148]
I showed him the photo taken at the medical examiner’s office, showing that strands of hair were draped over the skull. I asked him how the hair could fall so perfectly back to its original position in a re-created scene. I pointed out that the manner of the hair falling on the skull was not consistent with it being on its side.
Dr. Spitz got belligerent with me, to a point where he didn’t know how to answer. He said that maybe the medical examiner had staged the photo. So I showed him the photo taken at the scene with the strands of hair in exactly the same position. He then claimed that maybe the police had staged the skull. In my opinion, Dr. Spitz’s testimony ended up being completely discredited.
William Rodriguez was a forensic anthropologist who worked for the U.S. Department of Defense, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, a government body in Washington, D.C., that does all the U.S. military’s pathology, such as remains found in Vietnam twenty years after the fact. I had read his report and it was not all that in conflict with what our experts were saying, so I decided not to depose him. He took the stand on a Saturday morning and recited his qualifications. One of his claims was that he was a cofounder of the Anthropological Research Facility, also known as the “Body Farm,” at the University of Tennessee, where my man, Dr. Vass, had his lab. This was news to me. Being so familiar with that research facility, I was shocked that I hadn’t heard about him before. However, in the days following his testimony, I received calls from people in the field who were offended that he had claimed to be a cofounder. They acknowledged he had been a grad student at the “Body Farm,” but had not been credited as a cofounder.
Right off, Dr. Rodriguez started talking about the stickiness of duct tape and other areas that were not in his report and not necessarily in his area of expertise. I objected, and after a great deal of wrangling back and forth, the judge said it appeared there were new areas being discussed and authorized a recess so I could depose him. The witness had to stop testifying and the jury was dismissed. We completed his deposition that afternoon.
Unbeknownst to me, while I was sticking to the decorum of courtroom argument, chaos was breaking out outside the courthouse. The previous night, people had begun lining up for tickets to view the proceedings. The paucity of seats had caused a lot of aggressive behavior in the line. Little fights had broken out now and again, but this was a blow-out brawl. At five A.M. that Friday, two men tried to cut the line. People who had waited all night would have none of it and a shoving match erupted. The circus of this trial had officially turned violent. This was a major embarrassment to our community to have such uncivilized behavior shown on national television. I was often disgusted with the atmosphere reminiscent of the Roman Colosseum. After that, we changed the rules of ticket distribution. All tickets were handed out the night before and no one could show up the day of court without a ticket.
That evening, when I was dining with family and friends I received an urgent call from Dr. G. She had just gotten a call from Dr. Rodriguez’s boss, a captain at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in D.C. He wanted to talk to me urgently. I excused myself from the table, and there in the lobby of the Cheesecake Factory in Winter Park, Florida, I called the captain. He told me he had seen on television that Dr. Rodriguez was a witness in the Casey Anthony trial and there was a huge problem. As a government employee, he was not authorized to testify, and if he continued to do so, he would be terminated from his employment. I was surprised by the information but did not want to become involved in any way in the decision of Dr. Rodriguez’s boss, but I did not expect that he would show up on Monday to complete his testimony.