TUCSON, Ariz. — A doctor testifying in the trial of an ophthalmologist accused of killing his rival admitted Tuesday that he made errors during previous testimony, throwing into question the prosecution's tight timeline of the night the killing took place.

David Winston of the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office was recalled to the stand by lawyers for first-degree murder defendant Bradley Schwartz after bringing on their own medical examiner to challenge the prosecution's timeline on the night of Brian Stidham's murder.

Several weeks ago, Winston testified that when he observed Stidham's body at the scene of the crime at about 4 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2004, he estimated the victim's time of death to be within the previous 12 hours.

Winston said he based that estimate on the lividity — the settling of the blood to the lowest points of a body after a person has died — he observed in Stidham's body.

Story continues

advertisement

But when he was questioned again on Tuesday by defense attorney Brick Storts, Winston admitted he misread his notes and said that the actual time he made his observation was at about 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2004.

Prosecutors say that Stidham was murdered by Ronald "Bruce" Bigger on Oct. 5 between 7:26 p.m., when the doctor turned on a security system at his office, and 7:46 p.m., when Bigger made a phone call from a Denny's restaurant about six miles away.

They claim that Schwartz, convinced that Stidham was responsible for the downfall of his ophthalmology practice, hired Bigger, his former patient, to kill the doctor.

Bigger's movements are accounted for after the 7:46 p.m. call by phone records, surveillance video and several prosecution witnesses, who said he took a cab to meet Schwartz and a woman at a Thai restaurant and then later checked into a hotel paid for by the doctor.

A masseuse with an office in Stidham's medical complex discovered his body at about 10:30 p.m. on the night of Oct. 5. The doctor had been stabbed more than 15 times, and his 1992 Lexus was found near the Denny's where Bigger made the phone call.

By Winston's own previous statements, his observations on the morning of Oct. 6 would put Stidham's time of death at about 8:30 p.m. on the night of Oct. 5.

A visibly upset Winston told Storts he realized the problem after thinking about his previous testimony and realizing that he misread his own handwritten notes.

"When I testified, I made an error," Winston said.

But Winston said he still believed Stidham could have died at about 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 5.

"You are saying that the liver mortis is still not fixed some 13 hours after death?" Storts asked.

"Yes," Winston said, adding, "My opinion of his time of death has not changed."

Another timeline

Winston's testimony took another dramatic turn when he admitted that he had alerted prosecutor Sylvia Lafferty about his mistake.

Storts immediately objected and later called for yet another mistrial — his sixth request so far — because prosecutors failed to inform him of Winston's error.

Judge Nanette Warner denied the motion after stating that Winston's testimony effectively rendered his opinions useless for the prosecution. Lafferty took the judge's observation one step further in her arguments against the mistrial.

"I think Dr. Winston now looks like a boob, and one who was not candid with the court ... and Mr. Storts scored big with him," Lafferty said.

The testimony of Philip Keen, a legendary figure in Arizona law enforcement who has been a medical examiner for more than 30 years, stood in stark contrast to Winston's.

Keen said that, in his experience, lividity usually sets in within four to seven hours after death. Given that Winston initially observed that lividity had not set in at 4 a.m., he estimated Stidham's time of death to be between 9 and 10 p.m. on Oct. 5.

In another setback for the prosecution, Lafferty told Judge Warner that the calculations of a prosecution DNA expert were incorrect.

Curtis Reinbold testified that the chances of finding another person with Bigger's same genetic profile who could have left a DNA sample on the radio knob of Stidham's stolen Lexus was about one in 20 million. Lafferty said that the figure was miscalculated, though she did not provide a new number.

Both Schwartz and Bigger are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, though the two are being tried separately.

Court TV Extra is streaming the trial live.