Dr. David Brian Stidham died during a "blitz attack" that was so quick he didn't even have a chance to fight back, a forensics expert testified Thursday.
Tom Bevel, owner of an Oklahoma forensic-consulting company, spent two hours on the stand Thursday, the third day in the first-degree murder trial of Dr. Bradley Schwartz.
Schwartz, 41, is accused of orchestrating Stidham's Oct. 5, 2004, death. Prosecutors believe Schwartz blamed his former medical associate for a variety of woes that befell him once his prescription-drug addiction was discovered.
They say Schwartz hired Ronald Bruce Bigger, 40, to kill Stidham and steal his car so it would look like a carjacking.
Defense attorney Brick Storts told jurors during opening statements Tuesday that not only did Bigger not have enough time to kill Stidham, but no one saw so much as a drop of blood on him that night, indicating he couldn't have done it.
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But Bevel, who was called to the stand by prosecutor Sylvia Lafferty to tell jurors about carjackings, contract killers and blood evidence, said that isn't necessarily true.
He said knives are often wiped clean when withdrawn from wounds. In addition, attackers can avoid getting blood splashed on them if they don't drive the weapon all the way in or touch the victim's body.
Stidham, 37, was found slain outside his office, and an autopsy revealed he'd been stabbed 15 times. His car was found the next day.
Schwartz has denied any involvement in Stidham's death, and his attorney is expected to argue Stidham really was killed by a carjacker.
Using such terms as cast-off, low-velocity and spatter, Bevel, a retired Oklahoma City Police Department commander, described what blood does in different circumstances.
After studying photos of the crime scene and Stidham's 1992 Lexus, Bevel said he concluded that Stidham was attacked outside his car and didn't have a chance to defend himself.
Had Stidham been wrestling with his attacker, there would have been bloody smears on the ground and the car, Bevel said.
Lafferty asked Bevel how long it would have taken to inflict Stidham's wounds.
"Looking at the number of wounds, the location, the blood trail, the cast-off and the spatter, in my opinion it would've been in a range of a minimum of 30 seconds up to a minute and a half," Bevel said.
In response to a question from Lafferty, he said that wouldn't necessarily result in the killer's being covered in blood.
Storts will begin his cross-examination of Bevel this morning.
