LAKEPORT — A crime scene investigator and a forensic pathologist — both of whom assisted in investigating an Upper Lake woman”s murder — testified Thursday, ending the third week of a Nevada man”s murder trial.
Prosecutor Richard Hinchcliff drew one day closer to finishing the presentation of his case against Paul Smiraglia, 46, of Reno, Nev., who is accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend, 43-year-old Diedre Coleman, in July 2002.
On Thursday Hinchcliff called witnesses Michael Potts and Dr. Gregory Reiber to relate their findings in the Coleman murder investigation.
First up was Potts, a retired crime scene investigator with 35 years of experience in FBI and state Department of Justice forensics labs.
In 2003, Potts was working at the DOJ crime lab in Santa Rosa when he assisted Clearlake Police detective Jim Bell examine a Chevrolet Caprice owned by Sharmon Hawley, the woman in whose home Coleman allegedly was murdered nearly four years ago.
Potts said Thursday he and Bell examined the car for trace evidence — materials such as hairs and fibers — in the search for what happened to Coleman, and collected several hair samples from the trunk.
Three months later, on July 23, 2002, Potts took part in “collection and preservation” of evidence at the area along Cache Creek where Bell and fellow Clearlake Police detective Carl Stein located Coleman”s body.
When Coleman”s autopsy was conducted two days later in Santa Rosa, hair samples were taken from her scalp which Potts said were supplied to him for the purpose of comparison with those recovered from the Caprice.
However, Potts said the samples from the body were damaged and degraded from exposure to the elements and decomposition. Those factors, he said, prevented him from making a solid conclusion.
“I couldn”t determine whether the hairs in the Caprice came from the victim or didn”t come from the victim,” Potts stated.
Potts also tested a cartoon beach towel found with Coleman”s body for trace evidence of muriatic ? or hydrochloric ? acid, which a witness on Wednesday testified Smiraglia allegedly said he injected in Coleman”s ear before hitting her in the skull with a hammer. Potts tested the towel but couldn”t find conclusive evidence of the acid”s presence.
Under cross-examination from defense attorney Doug Rhoades, Potts stated he “had an extreme amount of trouble” in getting a feel for the true characteristics of Coleman”s hair samples due to the presence of hair coloring chemicals coupled with decomposition.
Some hairs found in the Caprice”s trunk, he said, had similar characteristics to those from Coleman”s body, but he couldn”t arrive at a “meaningful conclusion” from his examination.
The day”s second and last witness was Dr. Gregory Reiber, a medical doctor who for 20 years has worked as a forensic pathologist, a position in which he estimated he has conducted close to 6,400 autopsies.
Reiber explained to the court how autopsies are conducted, that they are a “process” and “not a single event” that includes collecting information about a person as well as performing a medical examination.
When bodies are in an advanced state of composition, as Coleman”s was, Reiber said the autopsy process remains the same but is more limited because of substantive physical changes.
He conducted Coleman”s autopsy on July 25, 2003, at the office of the Sonoma County Coroner”s Office.
The body”s condition, he said, “would be consistent with a minimum of four to six months of decomposition.”
Reiber said a Thomas the Tank Engine beach towel was matted over the right side of Coleman”s head. Underneath the towel he said he located a “significant skeletal injury” ? a 3 inch by 2 inch hole, along with another depressed area of the skull and fracture lines extending around into the facial structure.
The severity of the skull”s damage represented “a very forceful injury” that required a significant amount of force, Reiber said, which led him to conclude that Coleman died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Under Hinchcliff”s questioning, Reiber said the injury could have been caused by several blows from a hammer. Because of the size of the hole in Coleman”s skull, he said, “A single blow from a hammer head simply couldn”t achieve that.”
However, because of the lack of soft tissues, Reiber said there was no way to be absolutely certain about what was used to kill Coleman.
Hinchcliff asked Reiber to describe the results of injecting muriatic acid into someone”s ear, which Smiraglia is alleged to have done to Coleman. Reiber said the acid would liquefy the eardrum and much of the ear”s inner structure. “It would be an intensely painful injury,” he said.
Reiber, however, said he did not think that it would cause death unless no medical help was sought and an infection set in.
He also said he did not test the body for muriatic acid because detectives didn”t present him with the possibility of its presence.
In a brief but compelling cross-examination, Rhoades asked Reiber if he could state if the injury to the skull occurred before or after death. Reiber was emphatic that it took place before death. “There was no other cause of death in this individual,” he said.
But Rhoades, in a six-minute period of questioning, sought out opportunities to insert doubt into the medical examiner”s conclusions. Specifically, he asked if injury from a gun or knife would usually skeletal damage. Reiber said no.
Rhoades, quoting Reiber”s earlier testimony, pointed out that the body had little soft tissue remaining, and asked if the presence of other injuries had been detected. Reiber said no.
When Rhoades asked him if he could make an absolute determination in what killed Coleman, Reiber said no, that he couldn”t state “with absolute certainty” what took her life.
Rhoades asked about the possible time of death, citing Reiber”s estimation that the body had been decomposing for at least four to six months. Because the body was wrapped in several layers — including garbage bags and the tarp — Reiber said that could have helped slow decomposition, allowing the body to be in its location a year or longer.
Testimony ended shortly before noon Thursday, and the trial recessed for the week. Judge Arthur Mann told the jury that on Tuesday, the day the trial resumes, the prosecution will likely rest its case.
Contact Elizabeth Larson at elarson@record-bee.com.
