By ERICA ESTEP
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Techniques and tools developed in East Tennessee are playing a key role in the trial of Casey Anthony, the Florida mother accused of killing her two-year-old daughter.
Dr. Bill Bass, the man behind the University of Tennessee's body farm, explains why the science, which now seems to be on trial, is reliable.
"The body farm really is looking at some really important, cutting-edge science. It just isn't every day you get a Caylee Anthony case to apply it to," said Dr. Bass, a forensic anthropologist.
Dr. Bass says the research findings being used in the Anthony trial were developed at the body farm, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientist who testified Monday, Dr. Arpad Vass, is his former student.
"They're trying to make Arpad look dumb and like this is voodoo science or something like that," said Bass. "But if you get rid of all of the 'I'm for this guy and against that one,' and you're looking at it scientifically, it is good research."
Dr. Vass' research has been featured in scientific publications, and it was accepted and deemed admissible by Judge Belvin Perry in the Anthony case.
Vass testified that air samples taken from the trunk of Casey Anthony's car contain chemicals indicating a dead body was there, and Dr. Bass says he believes it.
"Oh absolutely, there was a dead body in that trunk. That's what the science shows him, that's right," Dr. Bass said.D
Dr. Vass testified that something else was present, too. "The chloroform was shockingly high, unusually high. We have never seen chloroform in that level in environmental samples before."
The prosecution alleges Anthony drugged her daughter before putting her in the trunk. The defense claims the science being used to try and prove that, isn't reliable.
Dr. Bass disagrees. "DNA had to start somewhere, yeah. Fingerprints, fingerprints had to start somewhere, and Arpad's research is one of those that's cutting-edge research. You're looking at the beginning of a field that has great potential," he said.
When asked if he thinks Judge Perry should allow jurors to smell the canisters containing the air samples, Dr. Bass said, "Oh I don't think that's a very good idea to be honest with you. I mean, they don't know what they're smelling. That's a very gross approach to the problem."
Dr. Bass says they are continuing the ORNL research on air samples, using five bodies currently at the body farm.
He says he believes the science being introduced for the first time in the Anthony trial will one day be accepted as common evidence in murder trials.
"DNA had to start somewhere, yeah. Fingerprints, fingerprints had to start somewhere, and Arpad's research is one of those that's cutting-edge research," Dr. Bill Bass said.
