Herbert Leon MacDonell - After Holmes. Dr. MacDonell’s Forensic Casebook

After Holmes

Dr. MacDonells Forensic Casebook

by

Herbert Leon MacDonell

with

Allan Eaglesham

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Table of Contents

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Foreword

When Professor MacDonell asked me to write this foreword, he did not tell me that there was a chapter about me. Once I realized it was there, I had to quickly change my approach. After all, the author will get the last word, which is hardly surprising in the case of Herbert MacDonell. Anyone who has met him knows that he will always get the last word.

MacDonell introduces himself as an expert in criminalistics. It is an odd word to use to describe his business. The word has so many syllables that it can only be properly said in a polite British Oxford accent. It fails to personify its real embraceimages of bloodthirsty (and bloodstaining) criminals leaving behind their unintended clues for the magnifying glass of the likes of MacDonell and Sherlock Holmes.

I met Professor MacDonell because I am a criminal lawyer. A vital part of my job in any criminal case is to be able to reconstruct what actually happened at the time of the crime. As you read this book, you will see chapter after chapter describing how MacDonell managed to reconstruct the events that led up to someones death. He does not and will not rely on what witnesses tell him happened because witnesses may lie. He relies on physical facts and applies physics and, at times, chemistry (but keep your head down) to those physical facts. Herb is, above all, a scientist.

He is also a tremendous human being, outgunned only by his fabulous wife, Phyllis, who provides him with a physical fact, to wit, without her he could not exist. They met when he was thirteen, but he wont tell me how old Phyllis was.

Humble Herb may supply an alliterative pleasure to the ears, but it is an oxymoron to rank with military intelligence and jumbo shrimp. Honest Herb when he is in front of a jury; Haughty Herb when he is confronted with a quack on the other side of a case; Hateful Herb when he is testifying for the opposition; Hospitable Herb when you are at his home; Helpful Herb if your client is really innocent; Hungry Herb when he is chasing you to pay his bill; Happy Herb when you do so; Humorous Herb at all times. But His Highness the Honorable Herb is not for Hubris!

Professor MacDonell gives what we in the profession call demonstrative evidence, and he gives it in a very demonstrative fashion. I once bumped into a juror in a murder case that I had defended and lost despite Herbs valiant testimony on my clients behalf. The juror told me that, as soon as the case ended, she went to the library and borrowed all the books by or about him.

Something that the author does not explain in this book is that a conviction in a case where MacDonell testifies for the defense, or an acquittal in a case where he testifies for the prosecution does not mean that his evidence was rejected. Neither is the converse true, I suppose. I have lost cases in which he has testified for the defense, but I have always concluded that the loss was despite an acceptance of his evidence, not as a result of a rejection of it.

The first time I met Professor MacDonell was when he came to Canada in a case of an indigent client charged with murder. The clients lack of funds resulted in Herb agreeing to stay at my house to save hotel expenses. I left a key out for him at home as I was tied up in court. When I came home, he was sitting at my dining room table surrounded by empty beer bottles and intro-duced himself in heavily slurred speech. My heart sank until I realized that he had set me up with my own accumulated empties. We spent the rest of the evening playing murder and went on to win the case.

Some people are accused of crimes they committed, others of crimes that they did not commit. As Professor MacDonell often says, his job is to determine which is which. It is a testament to his professional skills and his personality that over a long career he has successfully shown so many juries what was what.

James Lockyer

Pinkofsky & Lockyer

Barristers & Solicitors

Toronto, Ontario

Preface

Dozens of interesting books have been written about criminal cases by authors who never actually had any direct involvement. This is not one of them. Except where noted, I worked on every case in this book.

I have investigated thousands of death cases, not tens of thousands as claimed by some forensic scientists. They would have to be over 200 years old to have accomplished so much at their own admitted rates of death cases per year.

Most of my death cases were homicides, some were suicides, a few were accidental, and I am damned if I know how the remaining dead people got that way. Possibly, they were not legally dead?

Many of the cases described here were included in my autobiography, Basement . Upon advice of several friends, I have consolidated them in this book. As a result, the reader does not have to read the nonsense that constitutes my nonprofessional life. The cases are presented in chronological order. Some chapters are short, others fairly long. More could be written about almost every one, but what I have written contains the most significant material.

I do not always agree with the findings of others. Others do not always agree with mine. But I have always felt that I was right and that they must be wrong. They probably felt just the opposite. If they didnt, they should not have offered their opinions in the first place. Forensic science is not an exact science. Opinions sometimes differ. That is why we have juries. They must decide which expert opinion they find the most accurate based upon the experts qualifications, technique, and believability. Its not an easy task.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

Herbert Leon MacDonell

May 2011

PO Box 1111

Corning, NY 14830

forensiclab@stny.rr.com

Quotation

To Herbert MacDonell, an intrepid foe of the guilty and an equally heroic champion of the innocent:

Your expert testimony was the most significant individual factor serving to discredit the quality of the governments evidence. I feel forever fortunate that there are people like you with a broad range of forensic knowledge without the bias that may be found in some police laboratories. Ill never forget the years of freedom that I owe to you.
Ken CallahanFebruary 1989

Dedication

To The Only Critic I Ever Loved

My Late Wife of Over Sixty Years,

PHYLLIS AUSTIN MACDONELL

Acknowledgments

I should like to thank those individualsattorneys, barristers, and otherswho provided me with the opportunity to investigate these cases. Especially, I want to express my gratitude to those who have paid me for my services.

My lovely wife, Phyllis, deserves all the praise I can bestow. She read, reread, and rereread the manuscript making worthwhile, intelligent suggestions and, with tact, pointing out how some of my more creative expressions were inappropriate or offensive garbage. She should not be held responsible for what I kept in, even though she wanted it deleted. Naturally, I cannot remove or change words from direct quotations, so I cannot be blamed for words chosen by others when I think their overall comment is worthwhile.

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