Wrongful Death Suit filed Nov. 13, 2013 in California, #2

[LuckyLucy2]

True, MaybeNotToday. The California Attoney General's office looked into it twice - once at the request of Jonah Shacknai, and once at the request of Anne Bremner - and they found signs of police malpractice, so did not reinvestigate.

 

[Ausgirl]

Dr. Cyril Wecht, who performed the new autopsy, said that it was unlikely Zahau died of hanging, as her neck was not fractured. In addition, he discovered evidence of blunt trauma to her head.

Wecht recommended changing the cause of death from "suicide" to "undetermined," though the coroner did not change the cause of death.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/max-shacknai-murdered-jonah-shacknai-report_n_1757919.html

Nothing "entertaining" about it. He found evidence which contradicted the findings of the original coroner, and made the appropriate recommendation. And really -- it is not spurious to conclude that a "suicide" with both multiple head trauma and a throat injury that is THE biggest red flag for homicide might NOT be a suicide after all.

Wecht -- let us note *ONCE AGAIN* -- was NOT HIRED to examine Rebeca's body. WAS NOT HIRED . He volunteered his expertise, pro bono.

Claims of bias are therefore unfounded, and wholly conflict with reality.

 

[LuckyLucy2]

Wecht did not discover evidence of blunt force trama. Those were found by Lucas, in the original autopsy, and were extremely small, and he determined they were too small to cause unconciousness, and that Rebecca was alive when she went over the balcony, and that she probably got the small bumps from hitting the trees that were there or the balcony as she went over.

 

[Ausgirl]

Didn't Lucas also determine that the rest of her superficial injuries were caused by impact with the plants as well -- including those injuries in places that were UNDER her bound arms and could not have come into contact with the plants, unless her arms were not, indeed, bound behind her back at the time?

Didn't he also fail to mention or consider the *exceeding rarity* (0.003%) of cricoid fracture in suicidal hangings? And its near-exclusivity to homicidal throttling?

Yeah.. I'll take Wecht's word over that guy's, any day.

 

[LuckyLucy2]

This case is a classic case of confirmation bias by the investigation. From the moment Adam "found" Rebecca, former DA and rumored friend of JS, Paul Pfingst, was on the scene and behind the tapes. Who better to put the meme of suicide in the ear of investigators than Pfingst. JS had a company that was close to being acquired and he couldn't have this scandal. And the lauded investigator Angela Tsuida who originally headed up the case is suddenly absent? From day one, confirmation bias took hold and real evidence was not only passed over but ignored. It is a travesty and doesn't give me confidence in our criminal justice system - especially SDSO.

The "fact" that Detective Angela Tusida was taken off the case is incorrect. She worked on the case until its conclusion.

From page 269 of Ann Rules story on the deaths:

"Detective Angela Tsuida and dozens of other investigators from both the Coronado Police Department worked countless hours on the case of the death of Rebecca Zahau.

Tsuida ended her report with "All indications are that there was no foul play".

 

[screecher]

^you do realize Ann Rule's book is a "novella", correct?

 

[LuckyLucy2]

^ It is also a "story". I have referred to it in other posts as a "novella". IMO, the words are interchangable.

But with so much to argue about, you really want to debate the word "story"? I'm not going there.

 

[screecher]

BBM

^no·vel·la
noun \nō-ˈve-lə\

: a short novel : a story that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel
plural novellas or no·vel·le
Full Definition of NOVELLA
1
plural novelle : a story with a compact and pointed plot
2
plural usually novellas : a work of fiction intermediate in length and complexity between a short story and a novel


fiction as opposed to fact.

why in the world would you quote someone who writes a 'story', a 'novella' as if the 'story', 'novella' is absolute fact?

 

[bourne]

This has had its own levels of review as well. They were all exhausted and that's why it's in a civil court.

Cite source where an inquest was made.

Ausgirl, you're correct. WDS can elevate the case to the inquest level.

 

[bourne]

I've yet to find any evidence that the twins held exceeding jealousy for Rebecca's looks, though if course it's a theory to consider.

In my mind, it looks more like sheer punishment. Compounded, as stated previously, by the police leaving her body lying there all day. It was actually smart of them to not remove any bindings prior to proper examination by an ME, that's good practice in suspicious deaths. But failing to locate ANY other ME in the entire state (or nation for that matter...) for 13 hours, and failing to erect some sort of covering to protect evidence and dignity is --and should be! - a permanent stain on that department's reputation. Gods, imagine if that was your sister. Your daughter.

It's amazing, isn't it, how many local professional and official parties seem to have behaved in exceedingly strange ways, surrounding this exceedingly strange death. We have the police dept doing all of the above, and also failing to test possibly crucial pieces of information, among other problems. Like allowing a Shacknai lawyer past the tape... We have Max's doctor filing a CPS report against a dead woman, 4 days after Max is injured, with the search warrant on the mansion sealed by police "in case" the "perpetrators" messed with the evidence... wut. Yet, as a CPS report *was* lodged, one has to wonder whether this taken into account over that "17 days" of investigation, and the process of deciding this crime should be ruled a suicide.

When you stand back and look at it all, it's plain that something's not right at all with any of this.

It's cases like this (or at least, as full of "unusual" and "inexplicable" things as this..) which in Australia tend to be the subject of Federal level inquests - sometimes multiple inquests, especially where LE or medical impropriety is a possible factor in why the case is not resolved (or is plainly 'resolved' in an improper way). They can be pretty merciless.. and don't always resolve things fully, but they surely do help some if not all of the truth to come to light.

Is there no avenue for such an inquest, in California?

Anyway, this "bigger picture" has certainly helped me understand a few things, despite obscuring others. The pity of it is, most of what went on in the underbelly of this crime is very difficult to prove in court.

Ausgirl, if the murderers were not jealous of Rebecca's looks, why does the anti-Zahau website (which we can infer is linked to Dina as she and her "doctor" friend cited the website in their "legal" case against Rebecca and her teen sis) contain so much derogatory graphic descriptions about Rebecca's body, e.g., claims about Rebecca being "anorexic", slant-eyes, wearing bikini, wearing blue eyeshadow, etc.? What purpose do all these physical descriptions about Rebecca's looks serve if the murderers were *not* jealous of Rebecca's looks?

 

[LuckyLucy2]

BBM

^no·vel·la
noun \nō-ˈve-lə\

: a short novel : a story that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel
plural novellas or no·vel·le
Full Definition of NOVELLA
1
plural novelle : a story with a compact and pointed plot
2
plural usually novellas : a work of fiction intermediate in length and complexity between a short story and a novel


fiction as opposed to fact.

why in the world would you quote someone who writes a 'story', a 'novella' as if the 'story', 'novella' is absolute fact?

Ann Rules "stories" are non-fiction, not fiction. Why would I quote her? Because she wrote the "novella" while working with Anne Bremner and the Zahaus. She has had more access to the investigative files than anyone else. That's why.


non·fic·tion noun \-ˈfik-shən\
: writing that is about facts or real events : all writing that is not fiction

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonfiction

 

[justice be served]

Ann Rules "stories" are non-fiction, not fiction. Why would I quote her? Because she wrote the "novella" while working with Anne Bremner and the Zahaus. She has had more access to the investigative files than anyone else. That's why.


non·fic·tion noun \-ˈfik-shən\
: writing that is about facts or real events : all writing that is not fiction

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonfiction

BBM

"More access to investigative files than anyone else" is only one part of nothing because the investigation was so poorly undertaken and who the heck knows what Ann Rule really received. Frankly, until full depositions have taken place of the accused, their families/friends that were in San Diego during this time, doctors and nurses, the SDSO investigators (Angela Tsuida included) and the ME, witnesses that evening, Paul Pfingst, etc, and discovery on cell phone records, computer hard drives and the like - no one including the Zahaus yet have all of the detail and pertinent information. The whole point of this civil trial is to discover all of the missing information and investigative work that was not done. Then, and only then, can we rely on the crucial truth.

 

[screecher]

LuLu, i'm not dismissing her book, as it brought renewed attention to Max and Rebecca's case. but to quote her writing as absolute fact is ludicrous, imo, as there was much misinformation in her story/novella as you have described her writing.

i know what non fiction is...happy you checked out Merriam Webster lol did you also check out the definition for 'novella' and 'story' lol?

 

[Ausgirl]

Ausgirl, if the murderers were not jealous of Rebecca's looks, why does the anti-Zahau website (which we can infer is linked to Dina as she and her "doctor" friend cited the website in their "legal" case against Rebecca and her teen sis) contain so much derogatory graphic descriptions about Rebecca's body, e.g., claims about Rebecca being "anorexic", slant-eyes, wearing bikini, wearing blue eyeshadow, etc.? What purpose do all these physical descriptions about Rebecca's looks serve if the murderers were *not* jealous of Rebecca's looks?

I think that sort of puerile nastiness comes from a place somewhere other than jealousy. More like festering bitterness, and the desire to tear somebody down to make oneself look more credible. Which really has the opposite effect.. but that's people for ya.

 

[bourne]

I think that sort of puerile nastiness comes from a place somewhere other than jealousy. More like festering bitterness, and the desire to tear somebody down to make oneself look more credible. Which really has the opposite effect.. but that's people for ya.

I think when there is intense, unrelenting focus from a woman towards another woman's physical attributes, it as certain as the sun rises in the sky that the first woman is jealous of the second.

 

[Ausgirl]

Not in every instance, I think. But we can agree to disagree, because we're big people. :highfive:

 

[bourne]

Not in every instance, I think. But we can agree to disagree, because we're big people. :highfive:

I don't want to belabor this point but here's an example:

If a woman is jealous of another woman's intellect, the first things she attack and continues to attack about the other woman is that other woman's intellect.

Same thing here. Dina and Nina (and the anti-Zahaus who appear to be one and the same, IMO), are extraordinarily jealous of Rebecca's looks, so much so they devoted an entire website to slander -- not Rebecca's intellect or skills as a caretaker even though that's presumably how Max ended up in accident -- but Rebecca's physical appearance! Does that not scream out that the twins are jealous of her looks?

I can see in the course of the twins criticizing Rebecca's skills as a caretaker, they then mention one line or two about Rebecca's looks. Then that'd mean Rebecca's looks weren't all that important to the twins. But the fact that they STARTED off ABOUT Rebecca's *looks* and nothing else shouts out to me that they find her looks critically significant and that they are *jealous* of her.

E.g., why should it matter if Rebecca is wearing a bikini and riding her bike? It's hot in Coronado and tons of other females do the very same thing. Undoubtedly it's about Rebecca's physical attractiveness that gets the twins the most incensed and we all know that men are primarily attracted to a woman based on her looks first and foremost. Because Jonah was so *taken* with Rebecca's looks, he fell for her and abandoned Dina, Dina apparently had an extremely hard time accepting that fact. In fact, she couldn't. Hence, Dina and her sister Nina's attacks on Rebecca's *Asian* looks. What is this called? It's called the *green eye monster* aka *Jealousy*.

"MVEO!" (My Very Educated Opinion). Let's just leave it at that. LOL

 

[bourne]

BBM

"More access to investigative files than anyone else" is only one part of nothing because the investigation was so poorly undertaken and who the heck knows what Ann Rule really received. Frankly, until full depositions have taken place of the accused, their families/friends that were in San Diego during this time, doctors and nurses, the SDSO investigators (Angela Tsuida included) and the ME, witnesses that evening, Paul Pfingst, etc, and discovery on cell phone records, computer hard drives and the like - no one including the Zahaus yet have all of the detail and pertinent information. The whole point of this civil trial is to discover all of the missing information and investigative work that was not done. Then, and only then, can we rely on the crucial truth.

Very true! The crux of the WDS is to bring out the Truth & obtain Justice for Rebecca. That's all the Zahau family wants. Nothing wrong with that.

The "investigation" if one can even call it that, was so skewed as you said with confirmation bias towards suicide, that anything which pointed towards murder was automatically excluded and intentionally done so. This makes the entire investigation into Rebecca's "violent, suspicious death" a *joke*.

I hope Judge Brenner will help expose the sordid truth about Rebecca's murderers and that they will be brought to justice. Bless the Zahaus for their continual fight for what is right and true in the eyes of the law and under God's vigilant eyes.

 

[K_Z]

Early Neutral Evaluation conference scheduled today in California, at 2:30, with Magistrate Judge Nita Stormes. Judge Stormes appears to be very experienced, and there are some very encouraging comments about her on at least one attorney website. I hope it's a very productive meeting for all parties. Adam is the only one who will not be appearing in person; he was granted permission to appear telephonically, with his attorney/s attending in person.

Some information on Judge Stormes:

http://judgepedia.org/Nita_Stormes

http://blogs.uls.org/LiggettLife/20...lumna-u-s-magistrate-judge-nita-l-stormes-72/

http://www.therobingroom.com/Judge.aspx?ID=284

https://www.casd.uscourts.gov/SitePages/Judges.aspx

https://www.casd.uscourts.gov/Rules/Lists/Rules/Attachments/23/Stormes Civil Case Procedures.pdf

Judge Stormes Civil Case Procedures for attorneys and parties:

The reports the attorneys were directed to file with Judge Stormes by Dec 5 could be no more than 5 pages in length. (Smart judge! Keep it simple-- get right to the point with no obfuscation.)

Early Neutral Evaluation (“ENE”) Conference and Mandatory Settlement Conference (“MSC”)

No later than three court days before the ENE, the parties shall lodge confidential statements
of five pages or less directly with the chambers of Magistrate Judge Stormes outlining the nature
of the claims and defenses and their settlement position.

Nice that she has a "courtesy" section:

Courtesy

Be courteous and respectful at all times, in all settings. Counsel may expect such from the
Court, and the Court expects such from counsel. Please be familiar with and abide by Civil
Local Rule 83.4.

As a side note, I'm curious to see if any local MSM will pick up this story of the parties meeting in person, or show up outside the courthouse to try to interview any of the parties or attorneys.

 

[MaybeNotToday]

BBM

"More access to investigative files than anyone else" is only one part of nothing because the investigation was so poorly undertaken and who the heck knows what Ann Rule really received. Frankly, until full depositions have taken place of the accused, their families/friends that were in San Diego during this time, doctors and nurses, the SDSO investigators (Angela Tsuida included) and the ME, witnesses that evening, Paul Pfingst, etc, and discovery on cell phone records, computer hard drives and the like - no one including the Zahaus yet have all of the detail and pertinent information. The whole point of this civil trial is to discover all of the missing information and investigative work that was not done. Then, and only then, can we rely on the crucial truth.

I am almost 100% convinced that if all said things were done in order to discover "crucial truth", and it's not the desired outcome- everyone will be called liars and calling for perjury charges. Mark this page - it is my official prediction!

Just like Ann Rule's book- we all know how that text would be treated if it supported exactly what hoped. It would be the holy grail of all written word on this subject. And the backup to prove its veracity? Ann Rule had more access to the investigative files and the Zahaus than anyone.