State can’t pay key out-of-state witness in ex-librarian’s murder case, DA says
Serna: ‘Undetermined’ cause of death could complicate trial, but doctor wants $400 an hour to discuss autopsy findings
A former pathology fellow who trained at the state Office of the Medical Investigator and is now a deputy medical examiner in Texas has refused to return to New Mexico to be interviewed in a pending murder case because the state could not pay her asking price, District Attorney Marco Serna said. Public Defender Jennifer Burrill said the examiner, Dr. Lauren Edelman, is a key witness in the case of Robert Mondrian-Powell, charged with second-degree murder in the death of his longtime girlfriend, Elvira Segura. Segura’s decomposing body was found in the bathroom of her Nambé home in September 2016.
A Texas judge has denied a request by state prosecutors that Edelman be compelled to appear.
“It’s frustrating when you have a doctor who is not even willing to do a Skype interview in a
murder case and just refuses to help out in any way,” Serna said last week.
Edelman worked as a forensic pathology fellow at the state Office of the Medical Investigator from June 2016 to July 2017, according to the office.
While working in New Mexico, Edelman conducted an autopsy on the body of Segura, a former Santa Fe librarian.
Investigators say Mondrian-Powell, her live-in boyfriend, confessed to shooting Segura, 67, in the neck during a domestic dispute.
Mondrian-Powell told police he aimed the gun at Segura and fired, but didn’t see the bullet enter her body. He said he noticed she was bleeding from the back of her neck, then slammed the bathroom door and never looked at her body again, court documents say.
Police suspect Mondrian-Powell, 58, lived in the home with Segura’s body for several days, even holding a yard sale as her body was decomposing inside. He fled in her car to Las Cruces, where he was later apprehended.
Mondrian-Powell is scheduled to stand trial in April. A status conference on his case is scheduled Tuesday.
Defense attorneys say in court filings the murder charge is “absurd” given that Edelman’s autopsy report listed Segura’s cause and manner of death as “undetermined” and noted evidence of two other issues that could have caused her death.
“Although the circumstances of Ms. Segura’s death indicate violence, there is no concrete evidence of this upon physical examination of her remains,” Edelman wrote in her report, dated Jan. 3, 2017. “Even with the statement made by Ms. Segura’s roommate, the absence of a projectile retained within the decedent or discovered at the scene in addition to the lack of physical findings at autopsy produces sufficient uncertainty.”
Edelman also wrote in her report there was evidence Segura might have had heart disease and that she ingested isopropyl [rubbing] alcohol and amphetamine before her death, both of which “can also cause sudden, nontraumatic death.”
But Serna said Edelman also wrote in the report that several vertebrae were missing from Segura’s neck — which, he added, is consistent with the theory she died from being shot in the neck.
Serna said he contacted Edelman about giving a pretrial interview in the case. But the former pathology fellow, who was in training under the supervision of an attending physician when she worked in New Mexico, told prosecutors she needed to be paid $400 per hour plus travel expenses to make herself available.
“We couldn’t afford to meet her demands, essentially,” Serna said. “Not only at pretrial but at trial. Because we don’t have those resources. We asked if she’d be willing to do it by Skype, but she refused.”
Edelman did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment for this story.
Serna said he requested the state of Texas issue a subpoena ordering Edelman to appear to be interviewed in the case, but court documents show 403rd Judicial District Judge Brenda Kennedy of Austin, Texas, denied the request.
In a decision dated Feb. 28, Kennedy did not list specific reasons for the denial but initialed two of three possible reasons such an order can be denied: The request failed to meet the state’s requirements for attendance of an outof-state witness, and issuing the subpoena would create undue hardship.
Kennedy did not respond to a message seeking more specifics on how the request failed to meet requirements.
Serna said Edelman was represented by a Travis County, Texas, attorney on the subpoena issue, but the office did not respond to messages seeking comment.
New Mexico Chief Medical Investigator Dr. Kurt B. Nolte said Friday that as a trainee, Edelman’s work was supervised by an attending pathologist — in this case, Dr. Hannah Kastenbaum — who also takes responsibility for the conclusions listed in Edelman’s report.
Serna said Kastenbaum has been interviewed in the case.
Nolte added it’s customary for pathologists who are asked to testify to charge a fee for their time.
A fee schedule on the website of the state Office of the Medical Investigator lists the cost of having a member of the medical staff testify in a civil proceeding as $551 per hour, but adds the office does not charge a fee when a medical staff member is asked to testify in a criminal proceeding unless the proceeding is in federal court.
In federal court, the charge is half that of testifying in a civil case, according to the website.
Nolte said New Mexico pathologists charge the full fee in out-of-state cases, whether criminal or civil.
A fee schedule on the website for the Travis County Medical Examiner lists the cost of “out of county court testimony” as $121 per hour, including travel time. Its website does not specify a cost for out-of-state testimony.