📄 Cross-examination of Dr. Fredric Rieders (part 2) — Monday, July 24, 1995
Address:
C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\JUL\24\CROSS-EXAMINATION-OF-DR-FREDRI.DOC
TRIAL
▲ Day 120 of 167

Cross-examination of Dr. Fredric Rieders (part 2)

Witness: Dr. Fredric Rieders
Examiner: Marcia Clark
Called by: Defense • Date: Monday, July 24, 1995 • Utterances: 405
Marcia Clark cross-examined defense forensic toxicologist Dr. Fredric Rieders, attempting to undermine his EDTA testimony by establishing that EDTA is commonly found in food, that no baseline study exists for EDTA levels in healthy human blood, and that Agent Martz's own unpreserved blood showed EDTA at levels similar to the evidence stains. Clark then pivoted to impeach Rieders with his prior testimony in the Sconce poisoning case, where he found oleandrin using pattern-matching tests that a later expert could not replicate on the same victim's tissue.
1 (The following proceedings were held in open court, in the presence of the jury:)
2 THE COURT:

All right. Miss Clark, you may resume your cross-examination of Dr. Rieders.

3 MS. CLARK:

Thank you, your Honor.

4 MS. CLARK:

Dr. Rieders?

5 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes, ma'am.

6 MS. CLARK:

Now, Dr. Rieders, it's true, sir, isn't it, that there is no known study that documents precisely how much EDTA would be present in a normal and healthy person's blood on an average; isn't that correct?

7 DR. RIEDERS:

On an average of how many people, the number of patients in the foreman and Trujillo study on the whole had less than couple of parts per billion.

8 MS. CLARK:

No, doctor. First of all, in that article, it says nothing about parts per billion; isn't that correct?

9 DR. RIEDERS:

It doesn't say parts per billion, but it shows you it's less than parts per billion. With the strength of the radioactivity used, the detection limit is a couple parts per billion and they have negative bloods.

10 MS. CLARK:

Doctor, that is not my question. Could you listen to my question, please. To your knowledge, is there any study in which they take the blood of normal healthy people and test it for amounts of EDTA present? In other words, what would be present in an average person on an average day. Is there any such study?

11 DR. RIEDERS:

Study with that title, I don't know of any in the literature. Blood EDTA determinations have been done in the course of other studies I've seen and I've found, but they were not designed to do what you asked, the large number of people and averages and all that, no.

12 MS. CLARK:

There is no known study that indicates how much EDTA you could expect to find on the average in an average person, correct?

13 DR. RIEDERS:

None that I know of.

14 MS. CLARK:

But in fact, when Agent Martz' blood was tested, a low level of what you call EDTA was indeed found; isn't that correct?

15 DR. RIEDERS:

I don't think that that is necessarily correct. What was found is that the sample that he finally analyzed showed the presence of some EDTA in the parts per million range. I cannot conceive that that is what's in his blood, in his circulating blood.

16 MS. CLARK:

Nevertheless, doctor, you found what you would call EDTA in the parts per million in Agent Martz' unpreserved blood, correct?

17 DR. RIEDERS:

No. Incorrect. Absolutely untrue. I didn't find anything. He presented data which showed that when he analyzed a sample of his un-EDTA blood, that in the process, he ended up with a result that showed the presence of EDTA on the instrument. It doesn't prove that he had it in his blood, but what it does show, if he had it in his blood, he'd be an extraordinarily amazing, unusual person at that level.

18 MS. CLARK:

Well, doctor, if other people's blood was tested, and I mean unpreserved blood, that gave the same results as did Agent Martz' blood, would that change your opinion any as to whether or not he was a highly unusual individual?

19 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence.

20 THE COURT:

Overruled.

21 DR. RIEDERS:

I didn't say he's a highly unusual individual. I have not seen the validation of those studies, so I can't tell you whether the analysis is correct. If you ask me to assume that an accurate, reliable analysis of blood from Agent Martz and from others showed the kind of pattern that I saw in the material that he submitted to me, then I would say, yes, these specimens under those conditions, what I see here in my opinion is EDTA.

22 MS. CLARK:

Doctor, you saw the test results for Agent Martz' own blood, didn't you?

23 DR. RIEDERS:

Uh-huh.

24 MS. CLARK:

Is that yes?

25 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

26 MS. CLARK:

And those results do seem to indicate, do they not, EDTA in the range of parts per million in his own unpreserved blood?

27 DR. RIEDERS:

No. In the sample that he analyzed.

28 MS. CLARK:

In the sample that he analyzed, yes.

29 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

30 MS. CLARK:

Do you have any reason to doubt that he was testing his own unpreserved blood, sir?

31 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. No foundation.

32 THE COURT:

Overruled.

33 DR. RIEDERS:

No. I have no reason to doubt that what he says is honest and true, that he took his own blood and tested it. But how he got the EDTA in there, I have no idea.

34 MS. CLARK:

Doctor, you are familiar with the term "Endogenous substances"; are you not?

35 DR. RIEDERS:

Oh, sure.

36 MS. CLARK:

And that means that we have in our bodies certain low levels of chemicals which, if given to us in very high doses, would kill us, correct?

37 DR. RIEDERS:

No, no. Endogenous substance is any substance which is normally present in a organism or body. It doesn't say anything about how much. We have a lot of iron in our body. We have a lot of histamine which sometimes kills us. So these are endogenous substances. Now, we also have substances in our body which come from the outside, but which everybody has in them. Just about everybody has a little bit of nicotine in them. It's not made by the body. It's from the environmental nicotine and other things. But endogenous substances are those that are generated by the body and not the traces of other things that get into it from the outside.

38 MS. CLARK:

Okay. And those endogenous substances have certain normal levels in our bodies, do they not, levels that we can live with, correct?

39 DR. RIEDERS:

Well, that holds for everything. There are levels we can live with with anything.

40 MS. CLARK:

All right. I'm talking about the ones that naturally occur in our bodies.

41 DR. RIEDERS:

Yeah.

42 MS. CLARK:

All right. And then there are, for example, cyanide. Isn't there a certain level of cyanide that we all live with on a daily basis?

43 DR. RIEDERS:

We don't live with it. We make it. Without it, we wouldn't have any vitamin B12 in our body.

44 MS. CLARK:

Right.

45 DR. RIEDERS:

Cyanide is produced and destroyed by the body on a regular basis. It's a normal biological, endogenous substance at very low levels, yes.

46 MS. CLARK:

Yes. And yet if administered in high doses, it will kill you, correct, cyanide poisoning?

47 DR. RIEDERS:

Sure. Anything will.

48 MS. CLARK:

And what about ethyl alcohol, doctor? Don't we all have a certain low level of alcohol in our bodies at all times whether we drink or not?

49 DR. RIEDERS:

That is something which the toxicologists have been kicking back and forth for nearly a hundred years. And it's still--it still is disputed by some that it is not present, but it's formed in the course of the analysis. So if true, ethyl alcohol, I suspect there is a little bit there, you know, sure.

50 MS. CLARK:

Naturally. And if you drink alcohol, you will become inebriated, correct?

51 DR. RIEDERS:

You will. I won't. I won't drink that much.

52 MS. CLARK:

Assuming anyone drinks a great deal.

53 DR. RIEDERS:

A great deal, sure.

54 MS. CLARK:

They will become inebriated?

55 DR. RIEDERS:

Of course.

56 MS. CLARK:

You would and I would, correct?

57 DR. RIEDERS:

Oh, yes. Eventually if I drank enough.

58 MS. CLARK:

And if you drink enough, it will kill you; isn't that correct?

59 DR. RIEDERS:

If you drink too much, it will kill you, yes. It can, and it often does.

60 MS. CLARK:

Now, as opposed to that, there are subjects or items that we ingest on a daily basis.

61 DR. RIEDERS:

Uh-huh.

62 MS. CLARK:

Correct?

63 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

64 MS. CLARK:

And some of those items will enter our bloodstream; isn't that correct?

65 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

66 THE COURT:

Excuse me, doctor. Why don't you put the microphone just a little closer, sir. Great. Perfect. Thank you, sir.

67 MS. CLARK:

Now, you testified earlier today, sir, that EDTA is a preservative used for food, correct?

68 DR. RIEDERS:

Not so much a preservative as a substance to safekeep color of food, flavor of food, some degree of preservation. But most of its uses in food are for aesthetic purposes.

69 MS. CLARK:

Now, you discussed this subject with Agent Martz about a week ago; isn't that correct?

70 DR. RIEDERS:

Yeah.

71 MS. CLARK:

And when you discussed it with him initially, you did not know EDTA was still being used in food, did you?

72 DR. RIEDERS:

Well, I was--it's not that I didn't know that it was still being used in food. But that the latest thing that I read was that the only authorized deliberate addition to food is or the only authorized addition to food is an incidental addition which occurs when adhesive such as labels are used that have EDTA in them. And I said, aha, they have taken EDTA totally out of the food, and then Agent Martz showed me something that's from I think `93, I'm not sure, that means the actual regulation is from 1993, which gave a list of substances. As a matter of fact, I told him I think it's still used in pickles, but apparently it's used in a lot of other things. At least, it was at the time at which that regulation was made.

73 MS. CLARK:

Your Honor, I have here--it's been shown to counsel. It's a document issued by the food and drug administration. I'm going to ask that it be marked as People's 359?

74 THE COURT:

539.

75 MS. CLARK:

I keep doing this. 539.

76 THE COURT:

This is a FDA article?

77 MS. CLARK:

Yes, your Honor. Actually it's a regulation by FDA.

78 THE COURT:

All right.

79 (Peo's 539 for id = FDA article)
80 MS. CLARK:

I'm going to put it on the elmo. Be easier. Oh, your Honor, before I forget, can I mark what we were formerly looking at on the screen People's--I'm afraid to guess--540?

81 THE COURT:

And that was what?

82 MS. CLARK:

The chart, your Honor, that we printed out.

83 THE COURT:

All right.

84 MS. CLARK:

Thank you.

85 (Peo's 540 for id = printout)
86 MS. CLARK:

All right. People's 539. Do you recognize what I'm showing you here, sir?

87 DR. RIEDERS:

I can't read it through my monitor. It's too--

88 THE COURT:

Do you have an extra copy to show the doctor?

89 MS. CLARK:

I can read it to you, sir. "Title 21, food and drugs--food and drug administration, Department of Health and Services, subchapter B, food for human consumption, food additives permitted for direct addition to food for human consumption; subpart B, food preservatives." Do you recall reading this, sir?

90 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

91 MS. CLARK:

All right. I'm going to drop down to the list. And do you recognize seeing the items listed here?

92 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

93 MS. CLARK:

And these are items in which there's a certain maximum level of EDTA permitted?

94 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

95 MS. CLARK:

All right. And they have things such as canned carbonated soft drinks?

96 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

97 MS. CLARK:

And you have--move down a little bit more--French dressing and mayonnaise at the bottom of the list, sir?

98 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

99 MS. CLARK:

And you have dressings non-standardized in the middle there with a number 75 after it?

100 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

101 MS. CLARK:

Next page. And on this page--drop down--you see mayonnaise, salad dressing and sandwich spread there?

102 DR. RIEDERS:

I can see the--I can see the names, but I don't see the PPM's.

103 MS. CLARK:

Don't see the numbers?

104 MS. CLARK:

Can you move it over so we can see that? Move it over to left.

105 MS. CLARK:

Right?

106 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

107 MS. CLARK:

And that shows how many parts per million are allowed as a maximum in those items, correct?

108 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

109 MS. CLARK:

And the last page, and on this, it has dressings, non-standardized, French dressing and frozen white potatoes, including cut potatoes. Do you see that item, sir?

110 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

111 MS. CLARK:

Like French fries?

112 DR. RIEDERS:

Do I like French fries?

113 MS. CLARK:

No. No. Is that--does that look--

114 DR. RIEDERS:

I don't think--I don't know whether French fries. Cut potatoes, could be cubes or anything. Maybe. You mean where it's cut into strips?

115 MS. CLARK:

Right. Frozen.

116 DR. RIEDERS:

I don't know.

117 MS. CLARK:

They have frozen white potatoes, including cut potatoes. Does that refer to what may be French fries, sir?

118 DR. RIEDERS:

Could be. I'm not an expert. I really don't know.

119 MS. CLARK:

All right. And we have here mayonnaise, salad dressing, sandwich spread and sauces?

120 DR. RIEDERS:

Right.

121 MS. CLARK:

Whole lot of things there. And ready to eat cereal products?

122 DR. RIEDERS:

Right.

123 MS. CLARK:

All right. So people can potentially be eating EDTA every day?

124 DR. RIEDERS:

Probably they are and I know they have been for many years. I thought it was taken out of the food for some--I haven't followed that story, but that was my impression from what I saw in one of the national library of medicine publications.

125 MS. CLARK:

Uh-huh. And are you aware that it has been estimated that people ingest as much as 50 milligrams a day of EDTA in the food we eat?

126 DR. RIEDERS:

Well, let's see now. Could be even more than that. I think that the maximum allowable amount is something like two and a half milligrams per kilogram if I'm not mistaken.

127 MS. CLARK:

Okay. So even more than that would not surprise you?

128 DR. RIEDERS:

Well, let's say--all right. I'll agree with you. Yes. There are people who eat 50 milligrams a day.

129 MS. CLARK:

Okay. And that that would not be unusual?

130 DR. RIEDERS:

I have no idea about whether it would be unusual or not. I don't know where on the curve it is. I don't know.

131 MS. CLARK:

Not all of the EDTA that we ingest is going to completely pass out of the body, correct? Some is going to go into the blood?

132 DR. RIEDERS:

Well, it will go--about no more than five percent is absorbed of EDTA from a double dose and as soon as--it's excreted more rapidly than absorbed because about 70 percent is excreted in one hour.

133 MS. CLARK:

Uh-huh.

134 DR. RIEDERS:

But up to five percent of a substance is absorbed from the gut, from the intestinal--gastrointestinal contents over a period of time of something like I think two or three days--

135 MS. CLARK:

Okay.

136 DR. RIEDERS:

--if you swallow something. By the time it works its way through, you know, a total of about no more than five percent absorbed.

137 MS. CLARK:

All right. Now, we don't have any studies that tell us precisely how much on an average basis a normal person has in his blood on any given day, correct?

138 THE COURT:

I think we asked that question now about five times.

139 MS. CLARK:

It's foundational, your Honor.

140 THE COURT:

All right.

141 MS. CLARK:

Do you recall agreeing with that, doctor, earlier?

142 DR. RIEDERS:

There has been--I know of no study. Not that we don't have any. I know of no study that you need a large number of people to get that figure, no.

143 MS. CLARK:

And we do--but we do know that everybody eats food that probably contain EDTA on a daily basis?

144 DR. RIEDERS:

Probably, yeah.

145 MS. CLARK:

Now, given all of those facts, sir, it would not be surprising if some level of EDTA were to be found in a normal person's blood such as Agent Martz', correct?

146 DR. RIEDERS:

I'm sure that--I'm reasonably sure there is a little bit there, but minute traces only.

147 MS. CLARK:

I have a chart, your Honor, I'd ask be marked People's 541.

148 THE COURT:

541.

149 (Peo's 541 for id = chart)
150 MS. CLARK:

Showing you this chart, sir, if you could--

151 MS. CLARK:

Can you get the glare out?

152 MS. CLARK:

Have you seen this before?

153 DR. RIEDERS:

Not on my monitor.

154 THE COURT:

I think you need to back out just a little for the--

155 DR. RIEDERS:

I can't read it on my monitor.

156 MS. CLARK:

Okay. Let me help you because the writing is small.

157 DR. RIEDERS:

If you can show it to me. But maybe you can tell me from the left.

158 MS. CLARK:

Yes. From the left.

159 DR. RIEDERS:

One, two, three, four. What's the one next to the big piece? What does it say under that?

160 MS. CLARK:

Let me read them all to you, sir. Let's start from left to right as you face it. All right?

161 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes. Sure.

162 MS. CLARK:

K65C--

163 DR. RIEDERS:

Now I can read it. If you enlarge it that, I can read it perfectly now. You have to keep moving it to the left however.

164 MS. CLARK:

K65C is the dress--

165 DR. RIEDERS:

Right.

166 MS. CLARK:

--that Nicole was wearing.

167 DR. RIEDERS:

Right.

168 MS. CLARK:

That shows some amount of EDTA, correct?

169 DR. RIEDERS:

An amount, yes. The swatch that was analyzed had an amount of EDTA.

170 MS. CLARK:

All right. And that certain amount of EDTA, would you agree would be attributable to the manufacturing process in which they added it for some--

171 DR. RIEDERS:

I don't know what it's due to, whether it's detergent, manufacturing or what. I just don't know. But it could be from any number of sources. Fabric can contain EDTA from the laundry, from the manufacturing and from other sources too. Mayonnaise.

172 MS. CLARK:

All right. And now, the next entry, K65, the dress, that is the swatch containing Nicole Brown's blood?

173 DR. RIEDERS:

Uh-huh.

174 MS. CLARK:

And you just testified, sir, that that was substantially higher than the measurement of the cloth of her dress that did not have her blood on it?

175 DR. RIEDERS:

The picture makes it substantially higher. You can see that the riser is substantially higher on the 65 than on the 65C, enough that you can tell the difference with the naked eye without measuring.

176 MS. CLARK:

Would it be your testimony, sir, that the interpretation of that greater amount shown for the portion of her dress that has her blood on it is that the blood that has been typed as Nicole Brown's blood on her own dress is her preserved blood?

177 DR. RIEDERS:

No, I wouldn't say that because remember, that the way these analysis were done, you really have no idea of how much sample you have to start with. So you might have twice as much on the K65 to start with, blood, that you actually start pushing through the machine than you have in K65C. So all I said is that this one's more than this in quantity. I don't think you can say anything about concentration because you don't know how much blood was used to start with for the analysis. There's no way of telling.

178 MS. CLARK:

Let's put it all--show the whole chart.

179 MS. CLARK:

All right. After the two dress items, you have the gate, the sock and Agent Martz' own unpreserved blood?

180 DR. RIEDERS:

That's correct.

181 MS. CLARK:

See those?

182 DR. RIEDERS:

Uh-huh.

183 MS. CLARK:

Then the two big blocks on the right-hand side of the screen as you face it are the reference blood samples of the Defendant and Nicole Brown. You're aware of that?

184 DR. RIEDERS:

I knew it was one, the other or both. I didn't know which one, but all I know is, this is EDTA blood, you know, that's an actual LAPD top tube of blood.

185 MS. CLARK:

Now, sir, I understood what you said about the difference in concentration that may apply concerning Agent Martz' method of cutting the samples in this testing that he did. Bearing that in mind, is it your testimony, sir--well, strike that. You would agree, would you not, sir, that looking at this chart, the levels, the difference between the level of EDTA shown in the reference bloods and all the others, Agent Martz' and all the evidence blood is very dramatic?

186 DR. RIEDERS:

The--yes. The quantities shown are very dramatically different as much as what? Can you move it a little to the right so I can see the numbers along the--up and down?

187 MS. CLARK:

Sure.

188 DR. RIEDERS:

That's all right.

189 MS. CLARK:

No. Back out.

190 DR. RIEDERS:

That's fine.

191 MS. CLARK:

Wouldn't you agree, sir, that the reference samples are at least a hundred times higher than the evidence samples?

192 DR. RIEDERS:

In some of them, yes. Not a hundred times higher than the dress, but probably about a hundred times more. Not, you know, as high as mishmash of concentration, but there are more--there's a lot more in the reference sample in the big ones than down there and it's probably around a hundred fold different, sure.

193 MS. CLARK:

A hundred times. Then, sir, are you aware that the cuttings used for this testing by Agent Martz were at the largest, two millimeter squares? Are you aware of that?

194 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes. Yes, I know that. I mean, yeah, I think it was two times, two, something like that.

195 MS. CLARK:

Uh-huh. Now, you described a dilution method that you would have used with pneumonia to determine exactly how much blood was present in any given swatch. Have you ever done that?

196 DR. RIEDERS:

Sure.

197 MS. CLARK:

For as small as a two-millimeter square?

198 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

199 MS. CLARK:

And you would have recommended he do that here?

200 DR. RIEDERS:

I don't recommend. That's what I would do. I say I would determine--get a good estimate for the mathematics in this case. I would not go for ion and the other things because that would take up sample. And I could take that little swatch into 25 microliters of slightly among the active blood and shake it for several hours or whatever, then transfer it to another vial and do the same thing. And then the first thing I would do is to take each one of the recovered fluids, put it in a spectrophotometric micro sell and obtain a spectrum that goes through the ultraviolet, the so-called sorey band, to where hemoglobin or hematin absorb and get an estimate against standards of how much hemoglobin is there in that 25 microliters, how much hemoglobin is in the second 25 microliters and perhaps a third and a fourth, you know, keep watching until it's negative. If there's so little that I say, gee whiz, I may be able to do my analysis, but I'd have to use all of that, so I'd bring it all back together and concentrate it, which is fairly simple. You see, we freeze dry it and then take the whole thing up in an amount that I need to inject and inject it, and then I would know that I started out with so many micrograms or milligrams of hemoglobin or of blood protein and I'm getting a picture, and then I can talk about concentration. Now, that little square, that could be any amount of blood that's on there, anything from a nanogram to a microgram, maybe even a milligram. I don't know. But the point is that there's no way, nowhere anything that gives me even an idea of how big the sample is. And if this is two drops, you know, the EDTA blood, which is--two drops is about 50 microliters and if that swatch down there gives me--instead of 50 microliters of blood, gives me--

201 MS. CLARK:

Excuse me, doctor.

202 DR. RIEDERS:

A nanoliter of blood, then, you know, of course you find--

203 MS. CLARK:

I hate to interrupt, but this has gotten very nonresponsive. Let me ask you another question.

204 MR. BLASIER:

I object to the commentary, your Honor.

205 THE COURT:

Sustained.

206 MS. CLARK:

Doctor, assume for a moment the following hypothetical: That Agent Martz had made an effort in all cases to use a larger amount of sample of the evidence stains than of the reference stains and that in each and every case when he made a cutting, he made the cuttings of the evidence larger than the cuttings of the reference sample. And by that, I mean, not just a big piece of cloth, but more blood in each and every case.

207 DR. RIEDERS:

I beg your pardon. I thought that the--do you mean the reference stain that he created? What do you mean by "Reference stain"?

208 MS. CLARK:

Dr. Rieders, assume for a moment that Agent Martz took a larger area of blood for the reference stain than he did for any of the swatches created from the reference sample for his testing as to each and every evidence stain. Do you understand what I'm saying?

209 DR. RIEDERS:

No, I don't. I honestly don't understand what you're saying.

210 MR. BLASIER:

I also object. Assumes facts not in evidence that that was done.

211 THE COURT:

Overruled.

212 MS. CLARK:

I want you to assume as a hypothetical that Agent Martz followed the following procedure: That he took the evidence of the sock and a swatch of the gate stain and with respect to every time he tested evidence versus reference, he made sure that the evidence stains were larger than the reference stains in order to compensate for any imprecision.

213 DR. RIEDERS:

I still don't--what do you mean "Reference stain"?

214 MS. CLARK:

I'm talking about blood from the EDTA tube, doctor.

215 DR. RIEDERS:

He took more blood, more sample, more OJ blood--I mean, you know, sock blood from the sock blood than he took EDTA blood out of the tube?

216 MS. CLARK:

Correct.

217 DR. RIEDERS:

How does he know that? He doesn't know how much blood there was on the sock, the sample that he took.

218 MS. CLARK:

Doctor, I'm asking you to assume the hypothetical. I'm not done. Okay? Assume that he cut a larger evidence stain from the sock and from the gate stain than he did from the swatch created for the evidence samples.

219 DR. RIEDERS:

Okay. Now, I understand.

220 MS. CLARK:

All right?

221 DR. RIEDERS:

Okay.

222 MS. CLARK:

That's your hypothetical.

223 DR. RIEDERS:

Yeah.

224 MS. CLARK:

Given that fact, to the extent that there would be any discrepancy in the concentration amounts between the evidence stain and the reference stain, aren't those small discrepancies more than accounted for by the dramatic differences between the amount shown in the reference sample and the amount shown in the evidence stain?

225 DR. RIEDERS:

No. Because all he did, he cut an area out of the sock and he doesn't give a clue of how much blood was in there. He took a swatch that had been wiped on the gate and he cut a piece out and he doesn't have a clue how much blood there is in that--what he cut out. He has not measured it. He doesn't have a clue whether it's a microliter, a nanoliter or what.

226 MS. CLARK:

But, doctor, these are two millimeter squares; are they not?

227 DR. RIEDERS:

Right.

228 MS. CLARK:

And the differences between the reference sample and the evidence samples are a hundred times as great; isn't that correct?

229 DR. RIEDERS:

Yeah.

230 MS. CLARK:

And it is your testimony then, you're telling us that whatever discrepancies in concentration may exist by a small difference in the size of a cutting to the concentration is not well-compensated for in the amount, the dramatic difference between the amounts in the reference and the evidence stains?

231 DR. RIEDERS:

You have--no, it isn't because you don't have a clue of how much blood is on that sample square of two square millimeters. You just don't know. You haven't made any measurements. You extract it, you get a little bit of blood out. That may represent a microliter, a nanoliter. I don't know how much it represents. There's no--there's nothing that tells me what it does, what it is. You can't go by the area because one is a swab and the other one is--you don't know how many drops of blood or what are put on that sock or fell on that sock or whatever you have.

232 MS. CLARK:

Well, doctor, how do you account for the readings that came up from Agent Martz' blood? How do you account for the fact that his blood unpreserved gave the readings that it did consistent with EDTA?

233 DR. RIEDERS:

Well, I don't account for it. I think he would have to account for it because I think it's absurd to find that much EDTA in normal blood. Even if--all I can say, it's in the part per million range. It just seems totally absurd to me just like that 2,000 parts per million. You would be dead. I mean, you know, these absurd numbers.

234 MS. CLARK:

So given the fact that we have a test result from someone's unpreserved blood--

235 DR. RIEDERS:

Uh-huh.

236 MS. CLARK:

--that shows a presence of EDTA in the parts per million, your answer--the way in which you account for that is to say it's absurd, you dismiss it?

237 DR. RIEDERS:

I give you a scenario how that can happen very easily. May I?

KEY QUOTE
238 MS. CLARK:

Dr. Rieders, would you answer my question, please?

239 THE COURT:

Answer the question.

240 MR. BLASIER:

Your Honor, I object. I think he's entitled to answer the question that she asked.

241 THE COURT:

No. That's proposing an answer, not to a question. Ask a question.

242 MS. CLARK:

Can you answer the question I have asked?

243 DR. RIEDERS:

You want to repeat it?

244 MS. CLARK:

Is it your answer that the results obtained by testing Agent Martz' blood showing EDTA in the range of parts per million very similar to the range shown on the gate and the sock? Correct?

245 DR. RIEDERS:

Very similar.

246 MS. CLARK:

Very similar. And your answer to that is, it is absurd and you dismiss it; is that correct?

KEY QUOTE
247 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes. I'll tell you--I'll give you a reasonable probability at how that can happen. Not that it did, but I'll give you a reasonable probability.

248 MS. CLARK:

Then, doctor, I would like you--

249 MR. BLASIER:

Objection.

250 MS. CLARK:

Nonresponsive.

251 THE COURT:

It is.

252 MR. BLASIER:

May he be allowed to explain his answer?

253 THE COURT:

You can ask the question, not in that manner though. Proceed.

254 MS. CLARK:

Now, doctor, isn't it true, sir, that you cannot tell us that the substance detected by you in the gate and the sock and--not by you--excuse me--by the testing done by Agent Martz as you interpret it, you can not tell us, sir, that those--that substance is EDTA to the exclusion of all other substances, correct?

255 DR. RIEDERS:

You never can say. No, I can't and I can't say that for any analysis that you present me, even in Nobel Prize winning ones.

256 MS. CLARK:

Then given--considering the EDTA results that Agent Martz got on his unpreserved blood, sir, is it your opinion that the bloodstains on the sock and the gate had to have come from the preserved blood to the exclusion of all other sources?

257 DR. RIEDERS:

I didn't say that. I said that it's sort of like if you hear hoof beats, it's probably horses and that the most likely source for EDTA in a blood sample when you have a control that is negative is that it was EDTA blood to begin with. That's what I said. So it could be. I didn't say it was. I said could reasonably be considered that and doesn't exclude other possibilities, but I don't know what they are.

258 MS. CLARK:

You don't know what they would be?

259 DR. RIEDERS:

No, I do not. I deny that there's any reasonable probability that it could be from food or from the normal level of EDTA in the blood of a person.

260 MS. CLARK:

Even though you also realize that there is no study indicating what that normal level would be?

261 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes, there is, but it is not a study which was designed to determine the normal level in the world's population like has been done with blood typing and with other things. But from the study that is a very good study--

262 MS. CLARK:

Objection, your Honor. I'm sorry. That's nonresponsive.

263 THE COURT:

No. He can finish the answer.

264 DR. RIEDERS:

May I finish?

265 THE COURT:

You may.

266 DR. RIEDERS:

From the study that is an excellent study that the authors can be proud of, on the number of people that they tested, they didn't find any EDTA. I don't see any reason why they should find it now.

267 MS. CLARK:

Except that it was found, isn't that correct, in Agent Martz' blood?

268 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Asked and answered, argumentative.

269 THE COURT:

Sustained. Rephrase the question.

270 MS. CLARK:

All right. Doctor, let me ask you something. You're familiar with the case of a Defendant by the name of sconce; isn't that correct?

271 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

272 MS. CLARK:

And you were in that case, sir, retained by the Ventura County District Attorney's office; were you not?

273 DR. RIEDERS:

I thought it was the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Mr. Giss. Wasn't he from here?

274 MS. CLARK:

Dr. Rieders, can you answer my question?

275 DR. RIEDERS:

As far as I recall, it was Los Angeles County.

276 MS. CLARK:

Do you recall working with a District Attorney by the name of de nose?

277 DR. RIEDERS:

No. Giss is the one that I remember.

278 MS. CLARK:

And you remember that Mr. Giss was a member of the District Attorney's office of Los Angeles County, correct?

279 DR. RIEDERS:

That's my recollection.

280 MS. CLARK:

And do you recall testifying in a courthouse in Ventura County?

281 DR. RIEDERS:

Yeah. That's right.

282 MS. CLARK:

And in that case, sir, you were told that there was a question as to whether the decedent had been murdered by the means of oleandrin poisoning, correct?

283 DR. RIEDERS:

Oleander or oleandrin, yes.

284 MS. CLARK:

And was it your understanding at the time, sir, that no one had been charged with the murder pending your determination as to whether or not the victim had been poisoned to death?

285 MR. BLASIER:

Objection.

286 THE COURT:

Sustained.

287 MS. CLARK:

Was it your determination, sir, that was sought as to whether or not the victim in that case had been poisoned to death?

288 DR. RIEDERS:

My corroborative determination. Initial work was done by Dr. Basil in San Francisco on negating determination. He asked that I should do that, yeah.

289 MS. CLARK:

And you were asked to analyze certain substances removed from the body of a decedent to determine whether there was present in those substances oleandrin, a poison?

290 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes. Aut--fresh autopsy specimens by Dr. Lovell, who was the pathologist, who did the autopsy.

291 MS. CLARK:

And you recall conducting certain tests on those tissues, correct?

292 DR. RIEDERS:

Sure. Yes.

293 MS. CLARK:

And as a result of your findings and based on your findings, isn't it true that you determined that there was oleandrin present?

294 DR. RIEDERS:

Oleandrin and oleandrigenen (sic) both were present.

295 MS. CLARK:

And you reported those results to the District Attorney, correct?

296 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

297 MS. CLARK:

And you appeared in court to testify concerning your finding that there was evidence of oleandrin or oleander poisoning as a cause of death, correct?

298 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes. By the best then available methods, which were pretty good I thought.

299 MS. CLARK:

And those methods that you refer to, sir, were the tests of thin layer chromatography?

300 DR. RIEDERS:

Correct.

301 MS. CLARK:

Fluorescent spectrophotometry?

302 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

303 MS. CLARK:

And radioimmunoassay, correct?

304 DR. RIEDERS:

That's correct.

305 MS. CLARK:

And as a result of all of that, you testified at the preliminary hearing for murder in that case that the thin layer chromatography test gave you results that were consistent with and corroborative of the results obtained by another, Dr. Basil, who you referred to here, which showed the presence of a substance with all the characteristics of oleandrin and not the characteristics of many, many other substances. Do you recall giving such testimony, sir?

306 DR. RIEDERS:

The words, no. But the content, yes.

307 MS. CLARK:

And if I were to read those words to you from the transcript, sir, would it refresh your memory as to whether or not those were the words you used?

308 DR. RIEDERS:

More so than just a quote from them, yes.

309 THE COURT:

Miss Clark, do you want to give Mr. Blasier a reference?

310 MS. CLARK:

Yes, I do.

311 (Discussion held off the record between the Deputy District Attorney and Defense counsel.)
312 MS. CLARK:

Sir, I'm showing you page 828 of the preliminary hearing and ask you to read to yourself and tell us whether the words that I've just read are in fact the words you stated on your testimony under oath in Ventura County.

313 DR. RIEDERS:

Well, Miss Clark, I don't remember the words you said, but if you allow me to read it out loud, then I'll agree that that is what I said and is in the transcript.

314 MS. CLARK:

Please do.

315 DR. RIEDERS:

That--all right.

316 MS. CLARK:

That's fine.

317 DR. RIEDERS:

"Consistent with the thin layer chromatography, gave results which were consistent with and corroborative of the results that Dr. Basil had obtained showing the presence of a substance with all the characteristics of oleandrin and not the characteristics of many, many other substances." That's what it says and that's--I said that, yes. I agree that those are my words.

318 MS. CLARK:

In essence, doctor, then what that test gave you is that the result it gave you, as you've testified, was a pattern or result showing all the characteristics in your opinion of oleandrin, correct?

319 DR. RIEDERS:

In the thin layer. But this statement deals only with the thin layer. I did other tests as you well know.

320 MS. CLARK:

All right. Yes, I do. But that pattern that you found characteristics for oleandrin could have been shared by many, many other compounds, correct?

321 DR. RIEDERS:

I don't think so. May I explain?

322 MS. CLARK:

Why don't we ask another question, sir.

323 MR. BLASIER:

Objection.

324 THE COURT:

I don't think so. That sounds like a complete answer.

325 MR. BLASIER:

He said, "May I explain?"

326 THE COURT:

Please.

327 DR. RIEDERS:

Thin layer chromatography is a separation--

328 MS. CLARK:

I thought, your Honor, the--

329 THE COURT:

No. I'm allowing him to explain his answer.

330 DR. RIEDERS:

Thin layer chromatography is an analysis on the glass plate that has a thin layer of gypsum or some other material on it. You put the material on the bottom on a square plate and then just as if you had to put a dot on your handkerchief and put the edge into water or some solvent, the solvent goes up by capillary action and in the process, separates substances from each other and forms kind of a ladder thing, starts out with streak, and it moves and it separates them.

331 MR. BLASIER:

Again, your Honor, could we have the chart taken off?

332 THE COURT:

Yes.

333 DR. RIEDERS:

You then spray that with various--look at it under ultraviolet light or florescent--

334 THE COURT:

Doctor, explaining what thin layer chromatography is I don't think is responsive. Next question.

335 MS. CLARK:

Thank you, your Honor.

336 MS. CLARK:

The second test you did was florescent spectrophotometry, correct?

337 DR. RIEDERS:

That's correct.

338 MS. CLARK:

And in that case as well, you testified that the pattern you obtained was consistent with and corroborative of oleandrin, correct?

339 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

340 MS. CLARK:

Now, based on those two tests alone, at the preliminary hearing, you testified that those results were sufficient in conjunction with what you knew of the other facts in the case not related to the science to state that your results were consistent with and corroborative of the presence of oleandrin, correct?

341 DR. RIEDERS:

That's misleading. I said there was another test, and that was the radioimmunoassay test which was done on it.

342 MS. CLARK:

That's correct. But didn't you testify, Dr. Rieders, that those two tests alone were sufficient for you to form your conclusion?

343 DR. RIEDERS:

I don't recall that at all.

344 MS. CLARK:

I'm going to show you page 829, sir, and ask you to read it out loud.

345 MR. BLASIER:

May I?

346 THE COURT:

Let Mr. Blasier see it.

347 MS. CLARK:

I'm sorry. I had one brought down for Mr. Blasier.

348 DR. RIEDERS:

May I go back to read the whole thing?

349 (Brief pause.)
350 MS. CLARK:

And the beginning of that section, sir, begins with what we've already discussed, which was the results you obtained on the thin layer chromatography test, correct?

351 DR. RIEDERS:

That's on this page.

352 MS. CLARK:

Yes. That's just before and then it goes over to page 829, doesn't it?

353 DR. RIEDERS:

Okay. Right.

354 MS. CLARK:

And do you recall--

355 DR. RIEDERS:

No. Let me, please--

356 THE COURT:

Wait, wait, wait. Let him read, counsel.

357 DR. RIEDERS:

Yeah. That's what I said. Let me read it.

358 MS. CLARK:

Please do.

359 DR. RIEDERS:

"And also florescent pattern which were consistent with that and corroborative of oleandrin." So thin layer and fluorescent spectrophotometry. In my opinion--

360 MS. CLARK:

Wait. And you skipped the words, doctor.

361 DR. RIEDERS:

"And these two together--

362 MS. CLARK:

Uh-huh.

363 DR. RIEDERS:

"--in my opinion were really enough in conjunction with the history particularly to corroborate the findings of oleandrin in this case."

364 MS. CLARK:

Then you did so testify as I've already indicated; is that correct?

365 DR. RIEDERS:

I testified that these two findings were really enough in conjunction with the history to call this an oleandrin poisoning case.

366 MS. CLARK:

They were really enough, but would you--you would agree, would you not, sir, that those findings may also have been consistent with other compounds?

367 DR. RIEDERS:

I couldn't think of any. I couldn't find any. The pattern and thin layer and the color reactions are very characteristic of oleandrin and oleandringenen especially since you have both there.

368 MS. CLARK:

All right. And then you did a third test called the radioimmunoassay test, correct?

369 DR. RIEDERS:

That's correct.

370 MS. CLARK:

And you basically corroborated again the presence of oleandrin with that test; is that correct, sir?

371 DR. RIEDERS:

In conjunction with the other tests, yes, and with the history, yes.

372 MS. CLARK:

All right. And in essence then, what you said was that you had patterns with each of these three tests consistent with oleandrin, correct?

373 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

374 MS. CLARK:

And those results caused you to conclude, sir, to a high degree of scientific certainty that this was in fact oleandrin?

375 DR. RIEDERS:

And oleandringenen, the two components of oleander poisoning. I mean, oleandringenen is really the thing you get when oleandrin breaks down a little bit. Not much, but cracks into two parts.

376 MS. CLARK:

And those results--as you testified at the preliminary hearing, sir, do you recall testifying: "The chances that a substance has all the properties and all three tests in common and is in actuality another substance from experience are so extremely remote that one then has a very high degree of scientific certainty that if one says that this is oleandrin, in fact, it is"?

377 DR. RIEDERS:

That's what I said, yes.

378 MS. CLARK:

"A hundred percent never. For a hundred percent, you go to the seminary because that depends on faith. Science is never a hundred percent. It is statistical and it is reasonably certain the chances are remote. And if you want to go over in the area of--in that area, the hand of almighty God can make anything happen. So possibilities, of course, are there. But it's a high degree of reasonable scientific certainty, and the operative word is `reasonable.' a scientist goes by reason and not by feeling. Do you recall giving that testimony, sir?

KEY QUOTE
379 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

380 MS. CLARK:

Now, doctor, you are familiar with a man by the name of Dr. Jack Henyon, correct?

381 DR. RIEDERS:

Yes.

382 MS. CLARK:

And Dr. Henyon became involved with the sconce case after you testified at the preliminary hearing as I've just indicated, correct?

383 DR. RIEDERS:

I think five years later, yes.

384 MS. CLARK:

It's your testimony that Dr. Henyon became involved with the case five years after you testified?

385 DR. RIEDERS:

It was several years. I think it was five years.

386 MS. CLARK:

Doctor--

387 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. I think that mischaracterizes what he says. Five years after he got involved.

388 THE COURT:

Overruled. He's clarified it.

389 MS. CLARK:

Do you believe that Dr. Henyon got involved five years after you testified or five years after you got involved with the case?

390 DR. RIEDERS:

I know--no. What I was--I'm sorry. What I was referring to is from the time that I performed the analyses.

391 MS. CLARK:

Uh-huh. And Dr. Henyon is a professor of toxicology at Cornell University, correct?

392 DR. RIEDERS:

I don't know whether he is a professor of toxicology or whether he's still at Cornell. He has a private lab now, but he was a professor I think of veterinary toxicology and head of the veterinary toxicology laboratory that dealt along those lines with race horses mainly. Yes, I know him quite well.

393 MS. CLARK:

Now, doctor, you have a Ph.D. in philosophy, correct?

394 DR. RIEDERS:

No, no. I don't have a Ph.D. in philosophy. I have a doctor of philosophy degree, which is a Ph.D., in pharmacology and toxicology with minors in pathology and physiology. I have a bachelor's and a master's degree in chemistry.

395 MS. CLARK:

All right. And Mr.--and Dr. Henyon has a Ph.D. in analytical organic chemistry. Are you aware of that?

396 DR. RIEDERS:

I have no idea what his CV is. I've never looked at it.

397 MS. CLARK:

Now, he obtained a split of the tissue that you tested in the sconce case, correct?

398 DR. RIEDERS:

That is incorrect. If you will check, what Dr. Henyon obtained is, is specimen from the not exhumed body, but from the body of Mr.--of the deceased--I can't think of his name at the moment--that was in a mausoleum exposed--sitting there exposed to the air essentially for several years. I offered specimens which I had received from the autopsy and that were frozen, deep freeze. I showed them to the lawyer and they were rejected. He had the pathologist extern the body, you know, instead of taking it out, and cut a piece of tissue which, of course, by then was kind of dry, five years old and decomposed, and that is what he analyzed. His report says so.

399 MS. CLARK:

So it's your testimony, sir, that he analyzed different tissue than you did. Is that your testimony?

400 DR. RIEDERS:

Totally different. From the same body, but totally different tissue.

401 MS. CLARK:

But the tests that he ran on the same victim that you ran your tests on revealed that the oleandrin you found was not present; isn't that correct?

402 DR. RIEDERS:

Absolutely that's misleading. No, it was not.

403 MS. CLARK:

Isn't it true, Dr. Rieders, that Dr. Henyon ran tests on the tissue he received from the body of the same victim and that he determined, using his tests that were more sophisticated than yours, that oleandrin was not present? Isn't that true?

404 MR. BLASIER:

Your Honor, I'm going to object. This is not proper impeachment. They're two different tissue samples.

405 THE COURT:

Sustained. Sustained. Also compound question. All right. Counsel, at this point, we're going to take our recess for the afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, please remember all my admonitions to you; don't discuss the case amongst yourselves, don't form any opinions about the case, don't conduct any deliberations until the matter has been submitted to you and don't allow anybody to communicate with you with regard to the case. As far as the jury is concerned, we'll stand in recess until 9 o'clock. Dr. Rieders, you can step down. Let me see counsel at the sidebar with the court reporter, please.

Temperature

tense

Key Quotes (5)

Dr. Fredric Rieders
it's sort of like if you hear hoof beats, it's probably horses and that the most likely source for EDTA in a blood sample when you have a control that is negative is that it was EDTA blood to begin with.
Rieders' central analogy defending his interpretation that EDTA in the evidence stains indicates preserved reference blood was planted — Clark used it to corner him into acknowledging it was not a certainty.
Dr. Fredric Rieders
A hundred percent never. For a hundred percent, you go to the seminary because that depends on faith. Science is never a hundred percent. It is statistical and it is reasonably certain the chances are remote.
Rieders reading his own prior sworn testimony from the Sconce case, which Clark used to parallel how he characterized certainty then vs. now — suggesting he applies different standards depending on which side retained him.
Dr. Fredric Rieders
I give you a scenario how that can happen very easily. May I?
Repeated attempt by Rieders to explain away EDTA in Martz's blood that Clark and the judge repeatedly cut off, highlighting the tension between a witness wanting to qualify answers and a cross-examiner controlling the narrative.
Marcia Clark
your answer to that is, it is absurd and you dismiss it; is that correct?
Clark's sharpest rhetorical summary of Rieders' position on Martz's EDTA result — forcing him to either endorse a weak-sounding dismissal or concede the point.
Dr. Fredric Rieders
These two together in my opinion were really enough in conjunction with the history particularly to corroborate the findings of oleandrin in this case.
Rieders reading his own prior testimony showing he drew a confident conclusion from pattern-matching tests in Sconce — the same type of reasoning Clark argued was flawed in his EDTA analysis here.

Evidence (7)

People's 539
FDA regulation (Title 21) listing food additives permitted for direct addition to human food, including EDTA in carbonated soft drinks, mayonnaise, French dressing, salad dressing, frozen potatoes, and cereals
introduced and discussed to establish EDTA is commonly ingested
People's 540
Printout of chart previously displayed on screen (EDTA test results)
marked for identification
People's 541
Chart showing comparative EDTA levels across evidence samples (K65C dress cloth, K65 dress with Nicole's blood, gate stain, sock, Agent Martz's unpreserved blood) versus reference blood samples from OJ Simpson and Nicole Brown
discussed extensively; Clark used it to show ~100x difference between reference samples and evidence stains
Informal
K65C — swatch of Nicole Brown's dress fabric with no blood, showing background EDTA level
discussed comparatively
Informal
K65 — swatch of Nicole Brown's dress with her blood, showing higher EDTA than the cloth alone
discussed; Rieders cautioned that higher quantity does not prove higher concentration without knowing sample size
Informal
Agent Martz's own unpreserved blood, tested by Martz showing EDTA in parts-per-million range
central point of dispute; Clark argued it undermined Rieders' conclusion, Rieders called the result 'absurd'
+ 1 more

Notable Exchanges (5)

Marcia ClarkDr. Fredric Rieders
Clark walked Rieders through the FDA food-additive regulation showing EDTA is permitted in everyday foods at measurable levels, then pressed him to concede that EDTA from diet could plausibly appear in unpreserved blood — Rieders conceded people likely ingest it daily but insisted blood levels would remain 'minute traces only.'
strategic
Marcia ClarkDr. Fredric RiedersLance A. Ito
Clark repeatedly asked the same baseline-study question (acknowledged by Ito: 'I think we asked that question now about five times'), attempting to build a foundation that no study establishes normal EDTA blood levels — demonstrating her methodical, foundation-laying cross style.
procedural
Marcia ClarkDr. Fredric Rieders
Clark presented a hypothetical about Martz deliberately using larger evidence cuttings than reference cuttings to compensate for imprecision, asking if the 100x difference would still be significant. Rieders resisted for several exchanges, not understanding the hypothetical, before finally engaging — and still rejecting the premise because sample blood quantity was unknown.
heated
Marcia ClarkDr. Fredric Rieders
Clark impeached Rieders with the Sconce oleandrin poisoning case, where Rieders had testified with 'high degree of scientific certainty' using pattern-matching tests — the same type of reasoning used in his EDTA analysis. Rieders distinguished the cases by arguing the Sconce tissue later tested by Dr. Henyon was decomposed and different from his frozen samples.
revealing
Robert BlasierLance A. Ito
Blasier objected that impeachment via Henyon's findings was improper because the two experts tested different tissue from the same body. Ito sustained, cutting off Clark's line of attack at the recess.
procedural

Light Moments (4)

Dr. Fredric Rieders
Clark asked whether frozen cut potatoes on the FDA list referred to French fries; Rieders replied 'Do I like French fries?' — a genuine mishearing that briefly broke the tension.
Dr. Fredric Rieders
When Clark asked whether drinking a great deal of alcohol would cause inebriation, Rieders replied 'You will. I won't. I won't drink that much,' then added 'Oh, yes. Eventually if I drank enough.'
Lance A. Ito
Ito interrupted Clark's repetitive questioning with: 'I think we asked that question now about five times.'
Marcia Clark
Clark confused the exhibit number twice in a row, saying '359' when she meant '539'; Ito corrected her and she said 'I keep doing this.'

Credibility Attacks (3)

⚔ Dr. Fredric Rieders
prior inconsistent conduct / parallel case impeachment
Clark used Rieders' prior testimony in the Sconce oleandrin murder case to show he drew confident conclusions from pattern-matching tests (thin layer chromatography, fluorescent spectrophotometry, radioimmunoassay) stating a 'high degree of scientific certainty' — then suggested that a subsequent expert (Dr. Henyon of Cornell) found no oleandrin in the same victim's tissue, implying Rieders had been wrong before. Defense objection sustained on grounds the tissue samples were different.
⚔ Dr. Fredric Rieders
internal inconsistency / dismissiveness
Clark forced Rieders to acknowledge that Agent Martz's own unpreserved blood showed EDTA at levels similar to the evidence stains, then characterized his only response as calling it 'absurd' — suggesting he was dismissing inconvenient data rather than accounting for it scientifically.
⚔ Agent Roger Martz (FBI)
methodological critique
Rieders (on cross) continued to challenge Martz's testing methodology, arguing that without measuring the actual blood quantity in each cutting, no meaningful concentration comparison could be made between evidence stains and reference blood — undermining the prosecution's chart showing a 100x difference.

Witness Demeanor

Rieders repeatedly tried to volunteer explanations and was cut off by Clark and the judge
Rieders expressed genuine confusion during Clark's hypothetical about reference vs. evidence cuttings, saying 'I honestly don't understand what you're saying' multiple times
Rieders read his own prior Sconce testimony aloud from the transcript with apparent comfort, not defensiveness
Rieders was argumentative and resistant to Clark's framing throughout, frequently correcting her word choices

Objections

8 objections (3 sustained, 4 overruled)
Proceeding 7002 • 405 utterances • Defense witness
Criminal Trial
Department 103
⚖️ Start
📂 JUL 24, 1995 📄 Cross-examination of Dr. Fredr
JUL 24, 1995 KRT DvH TD