Posted this morning on yesterday's thread is my evaluation of the prosecution's "star witness," Dog Handler Volunteer and Amateur Part-time Search & Rescue Sleuth Frazee:
Re: Cadaver dogs. here's what I gleaned from Frazee's cross-exam yesterday:
Cielo showed no interest in MH, according to police report. Frazee originally told a police officer that Cielo showed no interest in MH.
"You were telling the truth then, weren't you?"
"To the best of my ability."
When was the first time you told anybody that Cielo had "alerted"?
"I don't recall."
"You told the police that your dog DID NOT alert, didn't you?"
"I don't recall."
Handler bias: handler directs dog to make an alert. Taking dog to wherever HE (handler) thinks what the dog should be looking for may be found. Dogs can feel handler's emotions and will sometimes "perform" to please handler. Search dog should not have been on leash and should search on his own for cadaver scent. Cielo was on leash and directed to sniff in specific areas, several times.
Frazee admits to guiding Cielo to find something because MH was in impound lot and DW was suspect. He led Cielo to the MH to search rather than letting the dog look and search on his own.
LE was standing all around, watching, as dogs searched. Told LE dogs did not make any hits. Police report states dogs did not make any hits. The first time he told anyone Cielo made an alert on the motorhome was WEEKS later. (Says his lieutenant was watching and she had to have observed the "alert," thus he did not feel it necessary to notify LE himself. Again, LE told dogs did NOT hit on anything, which was what they put in official report.)
Only person he told was dog's breeder in New Mexico ("I thought she would be proud."), weeks later, in an email. Email has not been provided.
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Question: Did he testify that since taking the course on search & rescue this was his first "successful" hit?
Professionals undergo 960 hours of training...he underwent a single course. I wonder why they've pinned this case on an amateur volunteer's very first "cadaver alert," which he did not portray to observing law enforcement personnel at the time?
You'd think if his dog made a bonafide hit that he would be excited and telling everybody around that Cielo had made an alert in the storage compartment, not keep it a secret. He had taken a course, the dog had undergone some training for just this purpose. I find it hard to believe he would pass off his very first success as no big deal.
I admit, when he was under direct examination Frazee's testimony sounded damning. I hopped down from the fence and thought, "That's it. There can be no other explanation for a trained professional cadaver dog finding the scent of a cadaver unless a body had been in that motorhome's storage area." Then the cross-examination began, and Frazee's story began to unravel. And I'm back on the fence once more.
The prosecution has been so sloppy that the defense with experts can refute almost everything IMHO..
The ONLY thing is the blood on the jacket..all the rest is poorly documented.
Nothing wrong with her thinking...she sounds like some of us :~)
sw
See the article Kim posted at #23 which contains the following:
In court documents filed several months ago, prosecutors attached a police report stating that on Feb. 6 a police detective at the impound lot told other officers that "search dogs had alerted on a storage area located on the exterior of the motor home near the main entrance on the passenger side."
I would think the prosecution will be giving that report to the jury. The witness yesterday wouldn't have been able to testify to a report he had no hand in writing, I would think. The defense speaks Clintonese, as defense attorneys are wont to do.