Susan Polk's Expert Witness Flees

The murder trial of Susan Polk took another bizarre twist this week when an expert witness for the defense, who testified under direct examination last week, left town and refused to return to court to undergo cross-examination by prosecutors and produce letters written to him by the defendant.

Dr. John Cooper, a retired Texas forensic pathologist, sent an email to Judge Laurel Brady saying that he was not only not going to return to testify, but he would be traveling this week and unavailable via telephone.

"In all the years that I've been doing this ... I have never heard of anything like this before or even something close to it," Judge Brady said during a hearing outside the presence of the jury. "I've never had an expert witness take on the role of an advocate and then indicate he has chosen not to come back — that is just not an option."

Dr. Cooper testified last week that Susan Polk's husband did not die of blunt force trauma or the 27 stab wounds reported in his autopsy, but died of a heart attack while attacking his wife.

Cooper said he drew his opinion from the autopsy report, crime scene photos and letters that Polk wrote to him describing the incident, including a diagram of the scene. When Judge Brady ordered Cooper to produce the letters Polk had written, he offered a series of reasons why he didn't have them.

Judge Brady ordered Cooper to show up in court Monday with the letters.

"The only thing he didn't say was that the dog ate the defendant's letters," Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira told Court TV. "I find his letter and his explanations completely outrageous."

Meanwhile, Susan Polk, acting as her own attorney, made another motion for a mistrial, accusing the judge of judicial misconduct. Judge Brady denied the motion as she has done dozens of times since the trial began.

See Also:
Polk's Expert Witness Refuses to Return to Court Amid Judge's Exasperation
Witness Tells of Polk's Teenage Affair With Husband
Polk Gets Son's Foster Mother Declared Hostile Witness

Background:
Susan Polk: Murder or Self-Defense?
Wife of Attorney Daniel Horowitz Found Dead

Forum:
Discuss This Case