Witness rebuts defense idea of wild boar evidence on victims jawbone | News, Sports, Jobs
Forensic pathologist Dr. Kanthi De Alwis shows jurors a cut mark on the lower right jawbone matched to Carly “Charli” Scott while testifying Wednesday in the 2nd Circuit Court murder trial of Scott’s ex-boyfriend Steven Capobianco. The Maui News / LILA FUJIMOTO photo
WAILUKU — Contradicting testimony by a defense witness, a forensic pathologist said she saw no evidence of wild boar or pig activity on the lower right jawbone of a missing pregnant woman.
Dr. Kanthi De Alwis, former chief medical examiner for the City and County of Honolulu, said marks on the jawbone could have been made by a sharp instrument such as a knife.
“In my opinion, these marks are consistent with a sharp cutting instrument having cut through the bone,” De Alwis said.
She testified Wednesday as a prosecution rebuttal witness in the 2nd Circuit Court murder trial of Steven Capobianco.
Capobianco, 27, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend Carly “Charli” Scott and second-degree arson of her vehicle.
Maui police officer Brandon Rodrigues, who has hunted wild boar or pigs more than 100 times, testifies that he saw no signs of wild boar or pig activity in the area at Nuaailua Bay where fragments of Carly “Charli” Scott’s jawbone and other evidence were found. The Maui News / LILA FUJIMOTO photo
She was last seen the night of Feb. 9, 2014, when Capobianco told police she drove him from Haiku to a spot about 3 miles past Keanae to retrieve his truck, which he said had stalled there the night before.
After fixing a loose battery cable on the truck, Capobianco said, he was driving back to Haiku, with Scott following, when he lost sight of her headlights near Twin Falls.
At the time, the 27-year-old Scott was in the fifth month of her pregnancy with a son fathered by Capobianco.
Scott’s 1997 Toyota 4Runner was found burned near the “Jaws” surf spot in Peahi.
Police found the lower jawbone fragments during a search Feb. 14, 2014, in a wooded area at Nuaailua Bay, where Scott’s clothing and green blanket also were found.
De Alwis was called to rebut testimony by Dr. Michael Laufer, a Stanford University emergency room physician and trauma surgeon.
Testifying Nov. 10 as a defense witness, he said the marks on the jawbone were caused by teeth of an animal, possibly a wild boar.
De Alwis said one of four linear marks on the jawbone was consistent with a cut that extended to a tooth, again contradicting Laufer’s testimony.
First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rivera asked if De Alwis saw any marks that could have been left by wild pigs or boars.
“I didn’t see those scoring marks consistent with scavenging by boar or pig on this mandible,” De Alwis said.
After being contacted by the prosecution last week, De Alwis said she reviewed reports by forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Harle and forensic anthropologist Rebecca Taylor, as well as photographs of evidence in the case.
Just before testifying Wednesday, she examined the jawbone and a pair of blood-stained blue jeans found over a guardrail at Mile Marker 9.5 on Hana Highway. The blood on the jeans was matched to Scott.
Laufer testified that it looked like a condom had covered a bloodless area in a blood stain on the front right mid-thigh area of the jeans.
Asked if she saw any area that looked like a condom on the jeans, De Alwis said, “Not in my opinion.”
She said the bloodless area “is consistent with the fold of the fabric.”
“Is it your opinion that someone was wearing these pants when that blood got on it?” defense attorney Jon Apo asked.
“No, I’m not saying that,” De Alwis replied. “All I’m saying is that particular stain, the appearance is consistent with having had a fold in that area where there’s no blood. I’m not saying it was worn at the time or it wasn’t.”
De Alwis said she was board certified in forensic pathology in 1989 after four years of training in pathology and two additional years of training in forensic pathology.
“Is this formal training or is this training by hanging out with friends who might be pathologists?” Rivera asked, referring to Laufer’s testimony that he had no formal training in forensic pathology but had watched forensic pathologists perform their duties.
De Alwis said she had formal training, doing autopsies by herself.
After retiring as Honolulu chief medical examiner in 2009, De Alwis said she had continued doing autopsies until earlier this year and had conducted more than 9,000 autopsies in the past 32 years. She said she has testified about 1,000 times in state and federal courts.
Apo asked if someone with Laufer’s credentials, including being on the faculty at Stanford and Harvard universities and treating hundreds of thousands of patients, could look at photos of marks left by animals on bone and compare them as well as a forensic pathologist could.
“An emergency room physician is a physician who treats patients,” De Alwis said. “I do a scientific examination of bones. Has that emergency room physician seen hundreds and hundreds of cuts on bones? They have to treat the patient to save their life. So I’m sorry, I can’t agree with you.”
Asked if she had ever heard of the American College of Forensic Medicine, which Laufer said he was a charter member of, De Alwis said no.
She said her consulting fee was $375 an hour or $2,400 for a full day.
Laufer testified he was being paid $10,000 for about 40 hours of work.
Another prosecution rebuttal witness, Maui police officer Brandon Rodrigues, said he saw no signs of wild boar or pigs while searching for evidence in the wooded area at Nuaailua Bay on Feb. 15, 2014.
Rodrigues, a nearly 12-year police veteran, said he has hunted wild boar or pigs more than 100 times, going with family members since he was 10 or 11. Along with knives and rifles or handguns, hunters use dogs to track pigs, looking for feeding areas that have signs of plowing, he said.
“It’s kind of like an uprooting,” Rodrigues said. “That specific area is just a mess. The plants are upturned, the soil, the rocks. We find feces, tracks everywhere. You’ll know for sure that this area was trampled by pigs.”
He said the wild boar he has encountered usually feed on fruit or plants.
While he has hunted pigs in the Nuaailua area before, it was on the mountain side of Hana Highway, Rodrigues said. “We’re not allowed to hunt below the road,” he said.
Looking at a photo of markings on a tree in the area where a piece of body jewelry and other evidence was found at Nuaailua Bay, Rodrigues said the markings were “clean cuts” and “definitely different” from marks left by a boar or pig.
He said marks left by boars “are usually scrape marks going up and down or across on the base of the tree.”
He said the markings are erratic. “It’s not uniform at all,” he said.
While searching at Nuaailua Bay, Rodrigues said he didn’t see any pig tracks or plowing.
“As a pig hunter, is that something you would have observed if it had been in that area?” Rivera asked.
“Absolutely,” Rodrigues replied.
The trial is scheduled to resume Monday before Judge Joseph Cardoza.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.
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