Baby Kate Trial: Testimony of Plant Professor Frank W. Telewski (pt. 2) w/ Analysis

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The first part of Professor Telewski's testimony is here, this is the second, and continues with his testimony on April 24, 2012 at Sean Phillips' trial for the secret confinement of 'Baby Kate' Phillips.  Up to this point the testimony is fairly solid and interesting, but starting with page 109, prior to cross-examination, he does begin to expose some reasonable doubt in the prosecution's use of this evidence to show that Sean went into the wilderness to conceal Baby Kate, and the defense attorney does capitalize on some of that later on. 

 

Previous inaccuracies in his 'expert' testimony and his field trips into areas of Mason County that the police believe Baby Kate may have been left, could make a reasonable person assume that the intent of the prosecution with this witness was to prejudice the jury into the serious consideration that Sean Phillips went somewhere marshy that day between the unaccounted-for two hours that afternoon that has been perhaps the biggest mystery in this case of big mysteries. 

 

If one believes that the shoes worn to the hospital were the only shoes that Sean had with him on his trip into town that day, the real question is where are these shoes, and what evidence, or lack thereof, have been on these shoes?  If these are dirtless and seedless (no pun intended on the brand name of the dirty shoes), would not that point to Sean not getting rid of his infant daughter in some marshy area, and make an exchange more likely?    As in part one, we will double check the sites that the good professor examined, and come to some pertinent conclusions.

 

 

The professor first talks about the area around Sean Phillips' house (at the orange star) which looks much like this (roughly, the orange boundary), although Sean's dad does own the building immediately to the right (east) too:

 

Prof. Telewski makes some surprising statements.  He says that the entrance to the area is primarily on paved surfaces (p109, lines 16-17), whereas Millerton is unpaved, the Phillips' driveway is unpaved, and the only pavement in the area right next to the house could not likely be seen without going up the sandy-dirt driveway, which he admits to not doing.  This could not be mistaken for a paved driveway (p109, lines 8-9). 

In fact it seems through his testimony as if Prof. Telewski's observation of this area was done through a car window in passing; which is why he cannot be sure of the existence of mosses, ferns, sedges, because this requires a more cursory inspection.  In this most likely of spots, why did Detective Wells not allow the professor a more close inspection-- because there is plenty of moss, ferns, and two-needled pines on their 20 acre lot, and plenty of sedge grass in the back end of their lot near the pond that the defense brings to his attention.  The only thing missing is the white cedar, which I haven't found in that general area yet.

This makes his evaluation of this site highly suspect, since he rates it 'very low', even though he never really investigated it, and was oblivious to the marshy characteristics of the backyard.  One should wonder why Det. Wells was unable to allow the perusal of even the road's right of way to the good professor.  One should also wonder why the professor was able to rank it very low at a glance and be comfortable in that assessment. 

The next spot mentioned, further to the west on Millerton Road, past the turn off to North Forest Lane  is very much like the Phillips' property, if they would have taken a look.  I have looked in this area fairly extensively, and have yet found a white cedar, but hard two-needled pines are not rare to the area by any means nor are the other items, and once again I would question his low rating.

Consider: let's assume like the prosecution does, that Sean was wearing the muddy shoes when he went to Wendy's.  Accordingly, he could have picked up some white cedar in his shoes at that point, from the ornamental shrubs they have there.  Later on, he is in the vicinity of Millerton Road and picks up the rest of the material.  Low probability becomes high probability-- that is, if you accept the almost-certainly-mistaken belief that the muddy shoes were worn that afternoon until he came home, and switched.  And you believe that all the plant material on the shoes ended up there in the space of two hours. 

Sean Phillips could have used the "moist" shoes found in his bedroom in his neighborhood at an earlier time and picked up the material hiking through the neighborhood doing non-criminal activities, or even while he was at Grayling.   The numerous photos of these shoes do not show what one would call moist shoes, just a couple of grease spots or 'moisture spots'.

Phillips' attorney, Annette Smedley, deftly nullified to irrelevance the 'science' behind most of what Professor Telewski brought to the table, but he and his colleagues testimony. relevant or not, debunked or not, pointed to something which witnesses and other real evidence never confirmed.  A trip into some marshy, mucky area to do who knows what.  Who does that without a purpose? 

 

 

In closing, let me comment on the one place where a very devoted search was made by the local authorities but never looked at by the good professor, the "school forest" in Ludington, where a search was made in earnest nearly two weeks after Baby Kate went missing.   I've looked through the area myself, and have seen the pines and ferns, but the rest are either missing or very rare (such as moss), so it would have been classified low. 

The red star shows Ariel's residence at Birch Lake Apartments.  Unless Phillips backtracked, the timeline available at that time shows that he would have been unable to place Baby Kate therein (to be developed later), so was the well-planned search, planned more than a week after the disappearance, a nod by law enforcement to the possibility that Ariel Courtland, Baby Kate's mother, may have had a hand in the disappearance?  Recall, she has never been considered a suspect since day one, according to the police agency of record. 

But does anyone think Sean would have drove off with Kate, went to Wendy's (driving past the school forest), and then came back later to place Kate in the school forest?  Without later trying to implicate Ariel Courtland?  At least back then, the police had a shred of doubt in Ariel's innocence, at least enough to initiate an ambitious search in her 'backyard'.  A fact they wanted to forget at the trial of Sean Phillips.

NEXT UP:  The testimony of Telewski protégé, Peter Carrington, with illustrations.