--- and I don’t mean the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car.

I’m sorry Judge Perry, but I think you made a mistake by admitting the testimony of Dr. Vass into the Casey Anthony trial.

There appears to be absolutely no way for the defense to assess the results of the tests Vass ran and the conclusions Vass reached, because no one other than Vass has access to the database he uses in his research, including the defense. That means the defense can’t even hire an expert to express an opinion about his conclusions.

Worse yet, Vass’s tests were qualitative rather than quantitative, but nonetheless he expressed opinions about the quantity of certain chemicals in the air sample as compared to other chemicals.

Until I heard the Vass believes in divining rods, the biggest shock in the cross-examination is learning that Vass isn’t a chemist, even though he is testifying about chemicals. He’s a forensic anthropologist. That’s a scientist who studies human remains. But he didn’t test human remains in this case: he tested the gases that were emanating from some pieces of carpeting.

Yes, you read that correctly: Vass believes in divining rods! That means that I was right—the prosecution is presenting superstition as scientific evidence.