PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The evidentiary hearing, expected to last two weeks, began earlier today. My plan is to drop in on the hearing from time to time where there is particular grist for the Charles Smith Mill. But don't limit yourselves. There's a lot of very fascinating other 'stuff' going on in the hearing room. KVUE Reporter Jenni Lee's is already providing comprehensive live daily updates at kvue.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
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FROM TODAY'S LIVE KVUE UP-DATE: Start reading at bottom of entries.
2:30 p.m. – After a lunch break, the state is now cross-examining Dr. Andrew Baker, the defense’s first witness and forensic pathologist in Rodney Reed’s evidentiary hearing. The state is trying to find other reasons for Dr. Baker’s conclusions.
12:20 p.m. – Dr. Baker disagrees with Dr. Roberto Bayardo’s previous testimony that Stacey Stites was anally assaulted. In fact, Dr. Baker says Dr. Bayardo mistook normal anal anatomy for abrasions and lacerations. Graphic images were used.
12 p.m. – Dr. Baker disagrees with State testimony about intact sperm with tails remaining in the vagina tract can only be 26 hours. He thinks intact sperm can live longer. This is important because the defense says this shows Stites was with Jimmy Fennell and not Reed.
11:41 a.m. – Dr. Baker shows court graphic images of Stites’ body of example of lividity, when gravity pulls blood down to lowest point of body after death and starts pooling. He says the fixed lividity in her arm area may mean her body was moved after she was killed.
11:26 a.m. – Dr. Baker shows more graphic images of Stites’ body in early decomposition like black lips and skin slippage (i.e. skin peels away easily). The point Dr. Baker is claiming is that Stites was dead a lot longer that the State claims.
11:20 a.m. – The defense calls its first witness: Dr. Andrew Baker, a forensic pathologist. Dr. Baker disagrees with the time of death given by Dr. Roberto Bayardo, forensic pathologist the state used in the original trial. The court was shown video of Stacy Stites' body at the crime scene as part of Baker's explanation.
10:30 a.m. – It was an explosive start on day one of Reed's appeals hearing. It began with opening statements from the defense, which told the courtroom that the State used false evidence and withheld evidence to convict Reed."
Today's KVUE entire report can be read at:
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