Renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Werner Spitz, was the defense's expert witness in the State v. Casey Anthony trial on Saturday, and said Dr. Jan Garavaglia's autopsy on Caylee Anthony was shoddy and a complete failure.
Spitz received his medical degree in 1953 and has examined over 60,000 bodies throughout his 56 years of practicing forensic pathology, and has received countless awards in the duration of his career. He has written four textbooks and published 14 articles.
He explained that he believes a body should be examined by two people of the same specialty in order to share thoughts and ideas, therefore he requested to study the body with Dr. G, but was denied, but conducted a second autopsy of the child.
"I came here to Orlando, equipped with all kinds of equipment to perform autopsy ... I thought it was complete," Spitz said. "But when I came, it was not complete."
He realized one crucial step in the examination was not done, which according to him violated protocol; the opening of the skull to study the interior of the head, which he said to assistant state attorney, Jeff Ashton, during cross examination: "To not open the head is a failure, a failure of the autopsy ... What else was not examined?"
To explain the process, he brought an actual human skull from an adult, with the top removed, to show the jury, and displayed enlarged matted photographs of Caylee's cranium, stating the brain had dissolved, but the nutrients, such as iron and magnesium, remain. He scraped some of the residue in the skull to send to a laboratory for testing.
"The cause of death remains unknown to the first, for me to some extent as well," he said, stating four main causes of any death are: suicide, homicide, natural causes, and accident, which the last one, he said he would definitely not rule out. "You can rule out certain causes of death ... She could have died of certain conditions that at this point we can't determine."
But Spitz does imply that that the duct tape was not the cause of death, because he believes it was placed on the little girl's mouth after decomposition, stating defense attorney Cheney Mason during direct examination that he thinks it was placed there to keep the jaw in tact.
"When the duct tape was applied to the skin, the skin decomposes, the duct tape just doesn't go anywhere," said Dr. Spitz. "The duct tape becomes loose on the skeletal structure, in this case, the face. There was nothing on the bone that would suggest duct tape. There was nothing on the duct tape that would suggest skin either ... It is my strong feeling and opinion that this duct tape was perhaps placed there to hold the lower jaw in place."
He told the jury that he would have expected to see DNA on the sticky, adhesive side of the tape because of the firm connection between the two, that was allegedly stuck to the child's face.
Mason: It is your opinion, sir, that the duct tape was not put on the face before decomposition or anti-mortem?
Spitz: No, it was not. I think the duct tape was a later, later event, not an early event.
Mason: After decomposition?
Spitz: After decomposition.
In cross, Ashton argued that Dr. G had more knowledge of this case than Dr. Spitz, but Spitz rebutted, stating he knew everything there needed to be known, specifically that the Anthonys had a pool in the backyard of their home, which he says, "creates the possibility of drowning," and also expressed, "She was a healthy, young 3-year-old."
(Photography by Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel)
No comments:
Post a Comment