Only one witness took the stand Wednesday inside Judge Peter Deddah’s courtroom in downtown San Diego, Dr. Adam Kaye.
Kaye is an expert witness with a doctorate in pharmacy and told the court he’d testified in about 60 cases.
Public defender Abe Genser questioned him extensively about the role methamphetamine and alcohol played in the killing of Connie Dadkhah. Not only on what killed her but also those drugs' effects on the man accused of murdering her, Parrish Chambers Jr. He’s pleaded not guilty.
A key point of contention between the prosecution and the defense has been whether Dadkhah was beaten to death and died from a brain bleed, as the San Diego County Medical Examiner reported, or if she passed away from a methamphetamine overdose.
Blood samples taken during her autopsy showed a meth concentration of over 2,000 nanograms per milliliter, which Kaye described as very high.
“I consider it a lot,” Kaye testified. “Most of my cases are under 1,000, about 400 or 200.”
A previous day’s expert also described that as high, but told the court that methamphetamine levels can rise in the body after death in a process called post-mortem redistribution, effectively showing a higher concentration than what a person actually experienced when they were alive. Kaye acknowledged that and also said people can react differently to meth versus alcohol, which is understood better.
“Blood concentrations have nothing to do with whether someone was impaired or the toxicity,” Kaye said. “There are people with incredibly high tolerances to meth.”
Kaye then went on to describe a variety of effects from meth, which he said included brittle bones and brain bleeds.
“So, a person could do more damage to somebody with brittle bones with less force,” Genser asked.
“Absolutely,” Kaye answered. “I didn’t see broken ribs. I didn’t see any evidence in the medical examiner's notes that someone was attacked or beaten.”
But later, during cross-examination from deputy district attorney Trisha Amador, the substance of what Kaye reviewed came into question. Amador pointed out Kaye’s report didn’t have a full list of the investigative reports that he testified that he reviewed. He said that could be due to confusion over the names of reports.
“Sometimes I don’t go back to page one and refer to the page,” Kaye said. “I’m not going to kill myself over this … I write more than 100 reports a year.”
“You’re aware that people rely on the accuracy of the report?” Amador asked.
“I can’t confirm if people rely on them,” Kaye answered. “The reason I'm here and not home is so I can talk about my opinions.”
Amador repeatedly asked Kaye if he’d seen autopsy photos, diagrams of Dadkhah's injuries and specific investigative records. When asked if he wanted to look at the full medical examiner’s report, Kaye declined, stating that it wouldn’t change his conclusions.
When shown the diagram of Dadkhah's wounds, Kaye wouldn’t acknowledge that the notations on the records indicated injuries.
“I do see on the left a few circles,” Kaye said. "On the right, I see a few circles as well. I can’t tell you what they represent specifically because the writing is very small.”
Kaye also testified about Chambers’ alleged alcohol impairment during the killing. Genser walked him through his narrative that Chambers consumed 17 shots of alcohol over the course of three hours. Genser said that would have resulted in a blood alcohol content, or BAC, of .34%.
“Anything above .25 you’re more likely than not blacking out,” Kaye said. “You’re completely intoxicated. You have no higher thinking, higher cognition. Your judgment is poor. You’re prone to accidents and falling, and taking risks.”
He said under that much alcohol, Chambers wouldn’t remember his actions.
“It would be consistent for someone to have amnesia of some events,” Kaye said.
Jurors can find Chambers guilty on a variation of charges
Following Wednesday's testimony, the jury was sent home for the day so attorneys could debate the instructions jurors will be given when deliberating. On the murder charge that Chambers faces, the judge ruled that the jury could find him guilty of 1st-degree murder, 2nd-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter. That’s based on the argument the defense has made that Chambers was voluntarily intoxicated and wasn’t consciously aware of what he was doing, and therefore didn’t have malice during the killing.
In addition to the murder charge, prosecutors charged Chambers with three other crimes where they say Dadkhah was his victim. That includes two counts of battery and one count of false imprisonment. He’s pleaded not guilty to those counts as well.
The jury will also either find him guilty on both simple battery charges or acquit him on both charges. It’s because there aren’t exact dates the prosecution said the batteries happened, and only a range of dates.
The defense tries to get charges tossed out
Finally, the court held a motion hearing from Genser that could have resulted in certain charges being dismissed. Called a 1118.1 motion, it allows the judge to determine if the prosecution has presented enough evidence to prove its case.
“I found there is substantial evidence that the defendant acted with premeditation and deliberation, so I’m going to deny your motion,” Judge Deddah said. “And I’ve considered all the other evidence, and I’m not going to dismiss the charges either.”
Click here to read up on what happened during the other days of the murder trial. You can also watch replays of each day's proceedings the weekday after they happen, starting at 11:30 a.m.
Background on the murder case
On the morning of June 15, 2022, prosecutors say Chambers emerged from Dadkhah's condo, spattered with her blood. They say he flagged down a neighbor to call 911 to report that she was dead inside. He was taken into custody soon after and charged with her murder. He’s pleaded not guilty.
Police dispatch records show around 7 p.m. the night before, Dadkhah's neighbors began calling 911. They begged police to get there quickly, reporting that a belligerent man was trying to break into a woman’s condo. Initially, the call wasn’t prioritized. About an hour later, callers had new information to tell dispatchers: the man had scaled a wall to her second-floor balcony and smashed his way inside through a sliding glass door. While police upgraded the call to a higher priority, it took another 45 minutes for officers to arrive at the complex.
Those same dispatch records, along with court filings from prosecutors, reveal officers tried to make contact with Dadkhah by calling her phone, knocking on her door and using a loudspeaker. But officers left the scene 15 minutes later after failing to make contact with anyone inside. There’s no record of Dadkhah calling the police that night.
Previous coverage:
In defending their decision not to force entry the night before, police told NBC 7 Investigates they had reason to believe that Chambers lived there. That was based on a dispatch record accessed by responding officers. Police also told NBC 7 the decision to force entry into anyone’s home shouldn’t be taken lightly and is among the highest level of legal standards they operate under.
But Chambers didn’t live there, though NBC 7's investigation revealed a history between the two. Court filings show that included an incident in 2020 where Chambers was convicted of vandalism. The judge ordered Chambers to stay away from Dadkhah. That order was still in effect when Dadkhah died.
