Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchiveDaniel Wolfe - Redirect
87 linesMR. JACKSON: Yes. Can we— Dr. Wolfe, go back to your PowerPoint. Do you have your PowerPoint?
DR. WOLFE: Yes. Set up, your honor.
MR. JACKSON: May I?
JUDGE CANNONE: Yes.
MR. JACKSON: You have that ready?
DR. WOLFE: Yes.
MR. JACKSON: Can you go forward? And I don't have them memorized, so bear with me. Can you go forward to test E?
DR. WOLFE: Okay.
MR. JACKSON: Okay. If you could scroll through, keep going if you'd please to the next slide. The next. The next. Can you— Is this a video or is this a still photograph?
DR. WOLFE: It is a video.
MR. JACKSON: Is this at full speed or is this slow?
DR. WOLFE: This is full speed.
MR. JACKSON: Okay. Okay. Can you go to the next slide? Okay. Go back one. This is a test. At what speed?
DR. WOLFE: This is the Lexus moving in reverse, contacting at 24 miles an hour.
MR. JACKSON: All right. Let's go ahead and play this at full speed if we could. Dr. Wolfe, can you— that's awfully fast. Can you get to a point where you're moving frame by frame just at the point of contact?
DR. WOLFE: Am I able to display my screen without doing the— trying to see how I can get this to work.
MR. JACKSON: If you could just move forward frame by frame, rather than—
DR. WOLFE: I don't know that I can in the—
MR. JACKSON: Oh, I missed it. Okay. It may be more difficult than we thought. Let me ask you a couple of questions.
DR. WOLFE: Sure.
MR. JACKSON: Based on that, did you review that video in slow motion as well as at full speed?
DR. WOLFE: Yes, from a frame-by-frame perspective.
MR. JACKSON: And in terms of a couple of different questions about that particular test— when there's impact with that right arm, what's the speed that the arm gets to upon impact in test E? Right? If the car is going 24 miles an hour, what's the expected speed of the arm?
DR. WOLFE: So the hand got up to a little over 24. The arm got a little over 21 miles per hour.
MR. JACKSON: The debris that comes off of the tail light, the fragments— what speed would they be going at the point of impact when they crack and are released from the tail light? At the impact speed or less? In order to penetrate the sweatshirt and cut the arm across— would the shards have to be going faster or slower than the arm?
DR. WOLFE: They would have to be going faster. If they're moving at a common velocity with the arm, relative to it, they would somehow have to accelerate with more speed to catch up and go beyond the arm essentially.
MR. JACKSON: Is that physically possible?
DR. WOLFE: No.
MR. JACKSON: I also want to ask you about— do you have in your PowerPoint the photographs of the sweatshirt at the full— what you call the full-on impact, test F as in fox?
DR. WOLFE: I don't have any of those in the PowerPoint.
MR. JACKSON: Okay. The photo that you show— if I could ask Miss Gilman to show the same photograph that she showed earlier of the sweatshirt subsequent to test F with the holes in the sleeve. If she can, if she can. Can you do that, Miss Gilman? Very kind. Dr. Wolfe, you're shown just the left arm underneath— whatever you call the dummy, Randy, right?
DR. WOLFE: Yes.
MR. JACKSON: Did Mr. Brennan show you the rest of the sweatshirt?
DR. WOLFE: No.
MR. JACKSON: What did the rest of the sweatshirt look like after this full-on impact when he was launched on the asphalt?
DR. WOLFE: Mangled. So there was not only significant road rash to the clothing all over the torso section, the left arm, the right arm, there were holes in many different locations of various sizes. There was also just on the skin of the dummy, there was road rash— the face had been scraped, the torso had been scraped. So there was significant body damage to the torso as well.
MR. JACKSON: Taking just the sweatshirt, separating that out. What about the bodice of the sweatshirt? The front of the sweatshirt. Were there holes and frays and damage to the front?
DR. WOLFE: It was covered in all of those. Yes.
MR. JACKSON: What about the back of the sweatshirt? That also have damage?
DR. WOLFE: I don't believe the back, because I think he fell onto his stomach.
MR. JACKSON: What about the other arm?
DR. WOLFE: Yes, both arms did.
MR. JACKSON: Were the holes and frays larger than the holes— the puncture holes— that you saw on John O'Keefe's sweatshirt?
DR. WOLFE: They were certainly larger, and again spread out amongst the entirety of the sweatshirt, at least on the front side.
MR. JACKSON: Was the damage to the sweatshirt that you saw in this experiment consistent with the damage or defects that you saw in just the right arm— those nine puncture holes on the right arm of the sweatshirt of John O'Keefe?
DR. WOLFE: No, this is distinctly road rash. There's a clear distinction between the two, looking at this particular set of defects in the arm.
MR. JACKSON: Is that misleading in terms of its comparison to John O'Keefe's sweatshirt?
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained.
MR. JACKSON: Your Honor, I'm going to ask to approach very briefly on an issue we discussed earlier. May I, your honor?
JUDGE CANNONE: Yes.
MR. JACKSON: You were asked on cross-examination about some of the work that ARCCA does on behalf of private lawyers, even insurance companies. Correct?
DR. WOLFE: Correct.
MR. JACKSON: You were not hired by an insurance company. That's not who hired you on behalf of Miss Read— or anything like that in the initial?
DR. WOLFE: Correct. Correct. It was not an insurance company.
MR. JACKSON: Thank you. Couple more questions if it's okay with the court, your honor, before we break. Thank you. You were asked several questions about the glass and whether or not the glass weighed in on your analysis of the damage to the rear tail light. Correct?
DR. WOLFE: Correct.
MR. JACKSON: Did you consider that the glass on the rear bumper did not match the cocktail glass that was found close to John O'Keefe's body, or were you aware of that?
DR. WOLFE: I don't— I don't think initially I was aware that there was a difference between the glass cup that was found and the glass on the bumper.
MR. JACKSON: You were asked a lot of questions about the difference in the weight of the arm— and I may have— I'm going by memory— 11.8 pounds statistically, as it relates to Mr. O'Keefe, versus 9.4 lbs. Have I got that right?
DR. WOLFE: Approximately. Yes.
MR. JACKSON: Okay. Are you aware that anybody has ever measured the weight of just John O'Keefe's right arm?
DR. WOLFE: I'm not aware of that. No.
MR. JACKSON: When you were asked questions about whether or not his arm weighed 11.8 pounds, are you ever aware of anybody ever weighing just his arm?
DR. WOLFE: No.
MR. JACKSON: Is that what— is that based on 11.8? Where did that come from?
DR. WOLFE: I don't know.
MR. JACKSON: You mentioned the word statistic. Based on the statistics, his arm would weigh that much? Height, weight, etc.?
DR. WOLFE: Correct.
MR. JACKSON: Does a statistic determine the actual weight of an arm?
DR. WOLFE: No. Not conclusive to what Mr. O'Keefe's arm weighed.
MR. JACKSON: No. As you sit here, do you know whether his arm— John O'Keefe's right arm— if weighed by itself accurately, because pounds and apparently half-pounds matter— if it weighed 11.8 lbs or if it weighed 9.4 lbs, do you know?
DR. WOLFE: I don't know. No.
MR. JACKSON: Do you believe that your testing, the totality of your testing, was dependent upon those 2.5 lbs based on the weight of the Hybrid III— or at least the arm, Hybrid III— and the statistic of 11.8?
MR. BRENNAN: Objection.
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained.
MR. JACKSON: In what way does that differentiation of 2.5 lbs— or approximately 2.5 lbs— in what way does that make a difference in terms of your testing?
DR. WOLFE: It doesn't. And that's part of the reason why we increased the speeds to almost 30 mph to look at— again, when you're bringing that much more kinetic energy from the vehicle, that's going to overcome any mass that that arm has. If, like I said, if it's a pound difference, 2 lb difference, the momentum of that vehicle moving at 30 mph versus 24 mph. Again, kinetic energy is equal to 1/2 times the mass times the velocity squared. So even if you go up a few miles per hour, you're exponentially increasing that amount of kinetic energy from the vehicle.
MR. JACKSON: You were also asked a series of questions about reducing the speed of the testing by a certain percentage. You remember those questions?
DR. WOLFE: Yes.
MR. JACKSON: Did that make any sense to you mathematically?
MR. BRENNAN: Objection.
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained in that form.
MR. JACKSON: What effect would you tell us? Well, let me ask it this way. Is the speed of the testing vehicle tethered in some way to the difference of that 2.5 lb that Mr. Brennan was asking you about?
DR. WOLFE: No. And again, as you saw throughout the PowerPoint, when that vehicle is coming in at 24 mph, 29 mph, at those speeds, that arm when it makes contact is going to get accelerated up to that velocity. It's just going to reach that common velocity. It's not going to — you're not going to somehow affect the vehicle speed due to that — you know, the fact that the arm weighing 10 lbs roughly and you've got 6,000 lbs. It's not going to somehow scrub off speed of the vehicle.
MR. JACKSON: Thank you, your honor. At this point, I would be going through a couple of photographs and videos. It might be a good place to —
JUDGE CANNONE: Okay. Yeah. I understand. So, we'll stop today. All right. Jurors, one question I have for you. So, I know a long time ago we told you that Thursday would be a half a day. I'm told that we're nearing the end of this case. So, I'd like you to think about whether you're able to stay all day next Thursday. Think about it over the weekend if you've made appointments or anything like that. I'm not asking anything, but think about it. And on Monday, if you let Tony or Paul, whoever's with you Monday, if you have an issue with it, just let us know and we'll do that. All right? So, please do not discuss this case with anyone. Don't do any independent research or investigation into this case. If you happen to see, hear, or read anything about this case, please disregard it. Let us know.
JUDGE CANNONE: Again, be very careful with your social media use. Have a great weekend.