Analysis of FBI Chemist Dr. Rickenbachs Testimony at the Casey Anthony Trial on June 7, 2011.

The reference used is a transcription that I did on September 20th, 21st, and 22nd and an be found at the following URL - http://www.scribd.com/doc/65945894/Rick-en-Bach-Testimony PROSECUTION DIRECT - pages 1 to 5. There is nothing earth shattering in Rickenbach's testimony on direct. Rickenbach offers the court his qualifications and is accepted by the court as an expert in forensic chemistry without any objections from the defense. He testifies that he found residues of chloroform on 4 pieces of the spare tire cover from the trunk of Anthony's Sunbird and a chemical consistent with chloroform on 2 pieces of carpet taken from the left and right sides of the trunk carpet. DEFENSE CROSS - pages 5 to 9 After questioning Rickenbach about the sensitivity of the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, Baez questions him about two different types of test that can be performed with the instrument. 2 Baez: Okay, Dr. Rickenbach, when you do a, uh, run a sample through the GCMS, whuhdoes the item 3 tell you how much chloroform is present? 4 Rickenbach: In a quantitative amount, telling you exactly how much, no it does not. 5 Baez: Okay. And theres a difference between what is called a quantitative analysis and a qualitative 6 analysis, isnt that correct? 7 Rickenbach: Yes, that is correct. 8 Baez: Can you tell the ladies and gentleman of the jury what the difference is? 9 Rickenbach: A qualitative analysis is a type of analysis where youre just trying to identify, or detect, the 10 substance that youre analyzing, in this case, just chloroform, youre not gonna be giving any 11 information in, uh, your final report as to how much is there. If you were going to give, ah., a 12 report as to how much, uh, of a substance is in a certain sample, that would be both a qualitative 13 identifying the component and then also giving an, uh, a nunumeric amount which would be a 14 quantitative. 15 Baez: So to break it down, qualitative tells you its thereyes? 16 Rickenbach: Yes, thats correct.

17 Baez: And qualitative tells you.and quantitative tells you how much. 18 Rickenbach: Thatthats correct. 22 Baez: Okay. And in fact, looking at it that way without running whats called a standard is not a very 23 good way ofor a scientific way of doing this, correct? Of finding out aa, uh, quantitative amount. 24 Rickenbach: If you were going to report out an actual amount, just dodoing an analysis without aa 25 standard or without the appropriate, uh, technique for quantitative analysis would not be a good 26 way Baez then asks Rickenbach if he had an internal standard he used to find levels of chloroform in the trunk, not a standard, as Rickenbach had testified to is required for a quantitative test. 27 Baez. Correct. Now thewhen you analyzed these samples, you had an internal standard. Is that correct? 28 Rickenbach: I reI re I analyzed the samples, uh, in doin dual mode, if you will, uh, I analyzed them twice. I 29 took one cutting that was without an internal standard and then another cutting that had an 30 internal standard and ran them together at the same time. 31 Baez: And thats how you were able to determine that they were at very, very, very low amounts. 32 Rickenbach: Not with the internal standard, no. Rickenbach tells Baez that he cannot use an internal standard to detect amounts. Baez concludes his examination of Rickenbach with this exchange. 28 Baez: Doctor, I just want to conclude with these levels, uh, I guess, residue levels, of chloroform that 29 were found and tested are equal to what you might find in a common cleaning product, is it not, 30 sir? 31 Rickenbach: Yes, from my experience, those levels have been detected in substances that havethat have 32 been used for cleaning products, yes. Now, if such "very, very low levels", (a Baez quote) are typical of cleaning products, as Baez continually suggests, then the shockingly high levels of chloroform found by Wise in the trunk carpet are due to something other than cleaning products, something more than just cleaning products. Baez spent a lot of time in cross examination questioning Rickenbach about the low levels of chloroform and how these levels could be associated with such things as cleaning products, pool water, and other

things besides chloroform. And Rickenbach agrees that this is a possibility even though he stated that his test was not done to detect levels or amounts. REMEMBER THIS! PROSECUTION REDIRECT - pages 9 to 13. Ashton begins his redirect by questioning Rickenbach about the packaging of the trunk liner. 26 Ashton: Yeah, the trunk liner. How was it packaged? 27 Rickenbach: That was packfound inside a box. 28 Ashton: Alright, inside a cardboard box like the one we have in front of us here. 29 Rickenbach: Thats correct. 30 Ashton: What effect would that packaging have on the levels of a volatile substance like chloroform on an 31 object like this? 34 Rickenbach: Basedbased on the properties of chloroform, it would allow chloroform to leak out. Its not an 35 airtight container. 36 Ashton: Were you, in fact, surprised that you got any chloroform off of this object? 37 Rickenbach: Yes, I was. 40 Ashton: And explain to the jury why you were surprised that you got anything off that. 41 Rickenbach: When I was initially tasked with doing this type of analysis, chloroform isis a relativisis a 42 volatile substance, and it doesnt stay around very oftvery long under normal conditions 43 thatthat I use. Ummmhaving aaan object come in, uh, likethats packaged like that to 44 detect for chloroform, I wasI was very surprised to even get anaa result, um, for chloroform. Rickenbach states that he was surprised to find any chloroform on the trunk liner due to the packaging as well as the properties of chloroform. In rebuttal to Baez's questioning Rickenbach about the amounts of chloroform he found in his analysis of the samples, Ashton questions Rickenbach along that line 6 Rickenbach: The numbers, uh, that you can u...you can, uh, compare to are the numbers of the intensity of the 7 peak thatthatthat on the graph whenwhen you get a peak. The height or the area of the peak

8 you can compare my positive control with the know amount of chloroform that I added to one 9 sample versus the amount of chloroform that you would have detected on another object. 10 Ashton: And that is basically what you were referring to as not a completely quantitative analysis but 11 towards an idea of how much is there based on that comparison, is that correct? 12 Rickenbach: Yes, it would not be appropriate to say that would be a quantitative analysis, but itsyou can get 13 an idea, Rickenbach explains here that he is comparing the levels of chloroform he found in the sample to his positive control sample, and that this is not an appropriate quantitative analysis of the samples by which he can speak to specific amounts in the samples he tested. He continues to tell Ashton that he does not feel comfortable giving amounts based on the test he did. 45 Rickenbach: I would be hesitant to put a number or percent, um, Im more comfortable with just saying that its 1 sigcompared the height of the peaks, or the area of the peak, compared to my positive control is 2 significantly less. 3 Ashton: But you did prepare a rough percentage, did you not? 4 Rickenbach: When asked in future conversations about cancan I give some idea ofof percentages, its not 5 the appropriate way to do it ininin forensic science, but I did give a percentage. Rickenbach tells Ashton that he was asked to give percentages, and he did so even though the test he did was not the appropriate test for doing so. RECROSS- pages 13 to 14 Amazingly, after extensively questioning Rickenbach on his initial cross about levels of chloroform, Baez starts his recross with this exchange. 42 Baez: Doctor, you testified that doing an (inaudible) and trying to determine the quantity of chloroform 43 is not appropriate in forensic science, is that correct? 44 Rickenbach: Yes, toto give a formal amounts of, uh, a compound doing it this way is not the correct way to do 45 it. 1 Baez: And thats because you dont want to attempt to give anything that would mislead a jury.

4 Rickenbach: No, II would not want to give, uh, an impression of amounts, specific amounts, within these 5 samples because its not appropriate to even give specific amounts based on the techniques that I 6 used. 7 Baez: Because as a scientist, you want to be precise. 8 Rickenbach: Yes, thats true Huh? After all those questions he asked and insinuating that only "very, very low levels" of chloroform were found, he is now saying that asking about amounts of chloroform are an attempt to mislead others, ie. the jury? Baez then concludes with this. 25 Baez: WellIImaybe I misII posed the question poorly. But to give a qualitative, Im sorry, a 26 quantitative amount, and to estimate quantitatively as to how much, that would be speculation. 27 Rickenbach: Yes After asking Rickenbach extensively about amounts of chloroform in his cross examination, Baez is now saying that all that was just speculation. REREDIRECT - page 15 Ashton also appears to be flabbergasted by Baez's 180 on amounts of chloroform. 31 Ashton: III want to understand. Ifif no legitimate information can be obtained about the quantity of 32 chloroform, how is it possible to answer defense counsels question that its similar to whats in 33 cleaning products? 38 Rickenbach: That if I, you know, ifif you can detect chloroform inin cleaning products, umm, its, you know, 39 you can detect it inin these items, and its just the amounts are...are compared to ththe 40 positive control. 41 Ashton: Okay, so when you said that its similar to the amounts in cleaning products, you simply meant by 42 that, Its detectable? 43 Rickenbach: Thatsthats correct