At the Demjanjuk trial: Prosecution expert to be recalled (12/27/87)

At the Demjanjuk trial

Prosecution expert to be recalled

Special to Svoboda and The Weekly from UNCHAIN observer

JERUSALEM - An anthropologist who testified as a prosecution witness that the person pictured on the Trawniki ID card and John Demjanjuk are one and the same person will he recalled to the stand as a result of the testimony this week of a defense expert, forensic anthropologist Dr. Yaser Mahmed Iscan.

Last week the defense's anthropologist called into question Dr. Patricia Smith's method of superimposition of photos of the defendant plus the photo from the Trawniki ID card on a still from a videotape of the defendant.

Dr. Iscan said the method was worthless because of the blending effect it created, and he cited the opinion of another expert, Dr. Don Ordner, who had expressed reservations about this methodology and stated that Dr. Smith was aware of Dr. Ordner's criticisms.

Dr. Smith, formerly of England, has been a resident of Israel since 1962. She will take the stand on Monday, December 28.

The week's sessions began with Dr. Iscan concluding his testimony and reiterating his previous statements about Dr. Smith's superimposition technique. Cross-examination began that morning Monday, December 21, with prosecutor Michael Shaked attempting to question the credentials of the defense witness.

The next day, cross-examination continued with Mr. Shaked challenging the forensic anthropologist on the selection of photos used in his demonstration and once again trying to make it appear as if the witness is not the expert he presents himself to be.

Mr. Shaked also pointed to a couple of scholarly works on photo identification in which the superimposition technique was used.

Finally he asked the witness: If there are two photos in which the principles of anthroposcopy, anthropometry and superimposition are properly applied, and all evidence points to the two photos being of the same person, can one not assume that it is one and the same person? Dr. Iscan replied that in the hypothetical case described by the prosecutor, this could be true, but here at this trial we are not speaking about theory but about actual living persons.

During the final session of this week, the judges finally ruled that as a result of the unresolved matter of a negative opinion of Dr. Smith's superimposition technique, Dr. Smith will be asked to take the stand during the next court session. Also to be introduced into evidence will be an FBI report on the Trawniki card and Dr. Smith's analysis of the ID photo.

In other developments, defense attorney Paul Chumak's intercession with the court regarding the judges' questioning of defense witnesses which, he said, created a feeling of double cross-examination, was rejected.

Also, Polish authorities will not permit defense counsel John Gill to enter Poland in order to obtain a document containing a statement by Treblinka survivor Elijahu Rosenberg given to the Red Army.

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