CNN’s TruTV is currently covering the Brandenton, FL, trial of Thomas Fast, a former mortician. According to commentator Jean Casarez, the judge is pondering whether or not to admit evidence that would reveal to the jury the fact that the defendant is a trained mortician. The reason this is relevant is that the body of the murder victim (his stepmother) was found in pieces. The prosecution would like to let the jury know that the defendant is “anatomically knowledgeable,” so to speak.

As a juror, frankly, the fact that this particular defendant knows something about dead bodies wouldn’t be particularly enlightening, so I don’t think it will make a difference in the ultimate verdict. Other issues are more cogent, such as the fact that the defendant has some mental “issues.”

On the other hand, I can’t see a good reason for hiding any defendant’s profession from a jury. I can’t even remember another trial where the defendant’s profession was kept secret. In the Melanie McGuire trial, the fact that she was a nurse was used against her (her husband’s body was also dismembered). In several other trials of female nurses, their professions were used to subtly imply they knew how to poison people.

• Sidebar: According the New Jersey Star Ledger (June 9), Ms. McGuire’s appellate attorney, Stephen Turano, has found new evidence about the gun used in the murder (ballistics evidence). As I’ve written before, I found much of the forensics evidence in the McGuire trial questionable. If the bullets found in the body did not come from the gun Ms. McGuire was known to have owned, and which played a huge part in the trial, then this is certainly more junk science for my list; other problems were the analysis of plastic garbage bags and the failure to find any blood evidence in McGuire’s bathroom where she was alleged to have dismembered the body. This would be an interesting retrial to watch. (I wish CNN would consider live coverage of retrials, such as this and Raynella Dossett-Leath. I think they missed an opportunity with the retrial of Phil Spector.)

Incidentally, I wondered how many other morticians have been accused of murder. When I Googled “murder mortician” I pulled up this rather interesting search list.