Enclosed please find a marked up copy of Dr. Roy’s deposition; it shows exactly what I propose to delete. ... You will notice that I have excised everything to do with the gasoline on the body issue. I am not including that in my direct examination.
Further, I will not offer Bill Ricker’s opinion on this issue. I am not going to offer any expert testimony to the effect that gasoline was poured on the body. Given this, it seems to be a non-issue in this case. ... I would, once again, object to your questioning on the gasoline on the body issue.”
What a joke—telling Defense Attorney Glazier that he objected to him cross-examining Dr. Roy on the gas issue. Glazier would be more than happy to stay away from Ricker’s opinion that gas was poured on Mike.
Attorney Popkin hadn't informed me of how he intended to delete nearly all of Dr. Roy’s deposition testimony. I had no knowledge of what Popkin was doing. But while talking on the phone one day Popkin did tell me that he was not going to use Ricker’s testimony of gas being poured on Mike. We had a heated disagreement over it. I couldn’t believe that he actually planned on deleting Ricker’s expert opinion that gas had been poured on Mike. As soon as we hung up, I called the firm owner, Mr. Jed Davis. I was still crying when I reached Mr. Davis. When I told him about my conversation with Popkin he assured me that Ricker’s expert opinion would be used—that it would not be excluded. But it was. I didn’t know at that time that Popkin had already had Dr. Roy’s video deposition edited so that there was no mention of gas being poured on Mike.
Only Attorney Popkin's altered video was played for the jury. There was no mention of gas on Mike in either Roy's video testimony or Ricker's court testimony but in Roy's video deposition testimony that the jury heard Roy said there was no evidence of trauma, no stab wounds and no gunshot wounds to Mike's body that was burned beyond recognition.
This was not supposed to happen according to the contract I signed at Attorney Davis’ office: “You should never hesitate to ask questions or to object to anything we do. We will try to keep you informed of every aspect of the work we are doing for you.”
I had actually suffered mentally and physically when Inspector Ricker testified during his deposition in January of 1990 that gas had been poured on my son. From the lab report along with Dr. Ryan’s July 1981 letter, I knew that my son was still alive and breathing when the gas was poured on him. And Attorney Popkin was destroying my lawsuit for emotional distress.