Accused-strangler playboy Nicholas Brooks watched in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday as the prosecutor looking to get him locked away for life picked apart the only man who could possibly save him — a $4,000-a-day expert pathologist.
At a daylong pretrial hearing, pathologist Charles Wetli, of TWA Flight 800 fame, was vigorously cross-examined on his theory that tragic swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay may have drugged herself to the point of accidentally falling semi-clothed into a bathtub at the Soho House three years ago.
The pathologist downplayed the broken blood vessels in the 33-year-old beauty’s eyes and the fingerprint-sized bruises on her neck. “There are probably a million scenarios” to explain why the top of her head suffered a massive bruise, he said, while the rest of her head showed no external trauma.
“Doctor, isn’t it true that, short of her falling on her head as a result of a skydiving accident,” lead prosecutor Joel Seidemann began asking.
“Objection!” defense lawyer Jeffrey Hoffman interrupted. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bonnie Wittner sustained the objection., and
So Seidemann rephrased: “Would you agree that she would have to be hitting an object headfirst without getting injuries to her face?”
“Yes,” answered Wetli, who said he makes $500,000 a year as an expert forensic witness. The case is on again May 24 for further arguments on the admissibility of Wetli’s testimony and on incriminating e-mails, texts and testimony prosecutors hope to show jurors when the case goes to trial later this year.
The former coroner conceded that he only personally performed one autopsy last year and said he couldn’t remember the last time he’d autopsied a strangulation victim — though he did know it was prior to his retirement.