Someone may have already posted about this...
From the Danielle Van Dam case, Dr. Rodriguez.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/724909/postsVan Dam Case Witness Challenges Findings Of Defense 'Bug Expert': But...His Testimony Don't Add Up..
Union Tribune ^ |
July 31, 2002 | Jeff Dillion
Posted on Tue Jul 30 2002 17:58:51 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by FresnoDA
Prosecution witness challenges findings of defense 'bug expert'
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Prosecutors began rebutting the defense insect evidence on Thursday by calling Dr. William C. Rodriguez III, a forensic anthropologist for the Department of Defense, who testified that Danielle's body was in "an advanced state of mummification" that would have delayed insect infestation.
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A snip of Dr. Rodriguez's testimony from the transcript:
http://www.unposted.com/transcript/trial_july_25th_2002_1.shtml ::snipping2::
7 Q. DO YOU DO ANY WRITING OR RESEARCH?
8 A. I DO. I PRODUCED MULTIPLE ARTICLES IN THE FIELD OF
9 FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY, MANY DEALING SPECIFICALLY WITH HUMAN
10 DECOMPOSITIONAL PATTERNS AND RATES AND POSTMORTEM TAPHONOMY.
11 Q. RESEARCH SPECIFICALLY, DO YOU GET INVOLVED IN THAT?
12 A. YES. BASICALLY IN DOING VARIOUS TYPES OF RESEARCH
13 SOME OF MY EARLIEST RESEARCH IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN
14 DECOMPOSITION, WHICH I BELIEVE THE JURY HAS ALREADY HEARD SOME
15 TESTIMONY ON, WAS WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE ANTHROPOLOGIC RESEARCH
16 FACILITY LOCATED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE.
17 Q. THAT'S WHERE YOU WENT TO SCHOOL?
18 A. THAT IS CORRECT.
19 Q. HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THAT?
20 A. I WAS A GRADUATE STUDENT STUDYING AT THE DEPARTMENT
21 OF ANTHROPOLOGY THAT AT THAT TIME WAS HEADED BY DR. WILLIAM
22 BASS, A VERY WELL NOTED, RESPECTED FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST.
23 AT THE TIME HE, AS WELL AS OTHER STUDENTS IN THE
24 DEPARTMENT, HAD A QUESTION ABOUT HOW DO WE TELL TIME SINCE
25 DEATH. IT'S A VERY COMPLICATED SUBJECT. AND DR. BASS IN
26 CONVERSATIONS WE TALKED ABOUT BUILDING A FACILITY WHERE WE COULD
27 ACTUALLY STUDY FOR THE FIRST TIME THE ACTUAL PROCESS OF
28 DECOMPOSITION.
8652
1 AS UP TO THAT TIME MOST OF THE INFORMATION WE HAVE
2 IS BASICALLY INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE GONE TO SCENES AND THEIR
3 EXPERIENCE, BUT NO ONE HAS EVER ACTUALLY REALLY CONDUCTED
4 EXPERIMENTS USING HUMAN CADAVERS TO STUDY THE PROCESS OF HUMAN
5 DECOMPOSITION.
6 SO I WAS VERY FORTUNATE AT THE TIME TO BE ONE OF
7 THE SENIOR GRADUATE STUDENTS THERE. DR. BASS ELECTED ME TO WORK
8 AND START THE FIRST PROJECT. SO WE WERE -- I WAS VERY FORTUNATE
9 THERE TO BE THERE FOR THIS PIONEERING RESEARCH.
10 Q. THAT PROGRAM, HAS THAT AT LEAST COMMONLY BECOME
11 KNOWN AS THE "BODY FARM"?
12 A. YES, UNFORTUNATELY IT HAS.
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I also noted that he was a paid consultant in this trial ($300 an hour), and he tried to make a statement at the beginning of his testimony about his opinions being his own, not the governments...blah blah blah....he got the same "shut up" unless your asked treatment then too.
One thing that I found interesting in his testimony is about ants and how they can take away evidence of other insects being there...
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1 Q. IF THAT HAPPENS THEN, IF THE ANTS AND BEETLES AND
2 OTHER ANIMALS EAT OR REMOVE THE FLY LARVA AND FLY EGGS, DOES
3 THAT HAVE AN IMPACT ON ESTIMATING THROUGH INSECTS HOW LONG THE
4 BODY HAS BEEN THERE OPEN TO THE INSECTS?
5 A. WELL, IT DOES. AND WE HAVE TO LOOK AT IT IN TWO
6 WAYS. ONE ASPECT THAT WE LOOK AT IT IF WE HAVE ANTS OR FORGING
7 INSECTS FEEDING ON THE BLOW FLY LARVA AND EGGS, THAT'S GOING TO
8 REDUCE THE POPULATION OR IT MAY TOTALLY DECIMATE IT. SO THE
9 POPULATION WE SEE YOU COULD HAVE, FOR EXAMPLE, SOME INSECTS THAT
10 HAVE BEEN FEEDING ON A BODY FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, AND ANTS COME
11 IN IN SUFFICIENT NUMBERS AND REMOVE ALL THAT LARVA AND EGGS, AND
12 YOU MAY SEE THAT BODY AND LOOK AT IT AND SAY I HAVE NO BLOW FLY
13 LARVA HERE. I HAVE NO EGGS. BODY MUST HAVE BEEN THERE A VERY
14 SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
15 WELL, IF YOU DON'T ACCOUNT FOR THIS ANT ACTIVITY,
16 THAT BODY HAD ACTUALLY BEEN THERE A LENGTHY PERIOD OF TIME.
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