Defense-hired doctor supports Burton's self-defense claims

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Jurors today heard a full day of testimony in Michael Burton's murder trial that was centered primarily on one question: Was the Pasadena firefighter stabbed in the chest by his wife during the incident that ended in her death?

That is what Burton claims, and today a defense-hired doctor supported that assertion with testimony that he believes Burton's chest wound was likely not self-inflicted, as prosecutors believe.

Prosecutors accuse Burton, 48, of murdering his wife -- 35-year-old Otilia Burton -- by stabbing her 11 times with a samurai sword in the couple's Rancho Cucamonga home on July 16, 2006.

The couple of 13 years was in the midst of a bitter divorce.

Immediately following his wife's death, Burton tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrist and slicing his neck several times.

He also suffered a single stab wound to his chest -- a wound that prosecutors say was self-inflicted, and that Burton claims he suffered when his wife stabbed him.

Several members of a SWAT team that entered Burton's house following Otilia Burton's death testified last week that Michael Burton was stabbing himself in the chest when they entered.

Burton is scheduled to testify in his defense Monday when testimony in his murder trial resumes, said his defense attorney, Winston McKesson.

For more than an hour today in West Valley Superior Court, David Posey, the defense-hired medical expert, testified about the implications of Burton's chest wound.

Posey testified that based on his analysis of Burton's medical records, in-person observations of Burton's scars and other information, he believes that Burton's chest wound was "more likely than not" inflicted by another person.

"I wasn't there, so I don't know," Posey testified.

Posey said that the location of the wound and the blade's angle of entry indicate to him that the chest wound was not self-inflicted.

The trial prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Michele Daly, was critical of Posey's analysis, pointing out repeatedly that the doctor did not review statements from SWAT team members who reported seeing Burton stabbing himself in the chest.

The defense attorney apparently didn't provide Posey with the deputies' statements.

"Should I have known it? Yes," Posey testified.

But Posey said it would not change his opinion -- based on all the information taken collectively -- that Burton's wound was likely not self-inflicted.

Burton's 12-year-old son was called to the witness stand briefly this afternoon to reiterate his Wednesday testimony that he saw a cut on his father's chest prior to the entry of the SWAT team.

On Wednesday, a sheriff's detective who interviewed the boy the day of Otilia Burton's death testified that the boy, then 9, told her that he saw a cut on his father's shirt, not on his chest.

In his testimony today, the boy disputed the detective's recollection of their conversation -- he said he told the woman his father was shirtless, and he saw a cut on his father's chest.

McKesson also called Burton's brother to testify this afternoon that he found blood on the inside on the kitchen dishwasher in the Burtons' home the day after Otilia Burton's death.

The testimony of Burnett Burton appeared designed by McKesson to further discredit the SWAT team's testimony about Burton's arrest.

When the SWAT team arrested Burton, they said the dishwasher in the kitchen was up.

If the appliance was actually down -- a possibility that McKesson seems to be implying -- then it's unlikely there would have been enough space in the Burtons' narrow kitchen for the struggle between Burton and the deputies, as described by the deputies, to have taken place.