By Brian Anderson
Contra Costa Newspapers

April 17, 2002

OAKLAND —Witness testimony in the case of two people accused of kidnapping, raping and killing Pleasanton's Vanessa Lei Samson wrapped up Tuesday, setting the stage for closing arguments to begin later this month.

Ten weeks after opening statements in the trial of James Daveggio, 41, and Michelle Michaud, 43, a prosecutor and four defense attorneys concluded the final day of questions with testimony from a pathologist who examined Samson's body.

Dr. Curtis Rollins told jurors the victim died after being strangled, adding that her injuries were extensive.

"The victim, in my opinion, had some of the worst neck injuries I have ever seen," Rollins said. "She didn't freeze to death."

Dr. Gregory Reiber, director of autopsy services at UC Davis, had suggested last week that Samson might have died of hypothermia after she was dumped in a rural Alpine County snowbank. But Rollins on Tuesday dismissed that conclusion, citing the woman's injuries and crime scene evidence, among other things.

Defense attorneys have tried to attack Rollins' credibility and the results of the Dec. 5, 1997, autopsy he performed on Samson, 22, a day after a passing motorist discovered her body. They pointed to his long battle with an addiction to Demerol, a painkiller he acknowledged taking intravenously during binges.

Relationship troubles, he said, made kicking the habit difficult and resulted in a relapse just weeks after he performed the examination for a publicly contracted private firm. He denied using drugs for the year before and during the autopsy.

"I would take drugs I bought and paid for from the office and use them for myself," he said. "I had no control over when that obsession-compulsion would begin."

Rollins was indicted in Arizona last year on drug charges and later pleaded guilty. He resigned from the medical examiner's post in Coconino County, Ariz., and was sentenced in January to a year's probation.

Last month, the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners ordered Rollins to complete a five-year drug program. He is enrolled in a similar program in California and will have his felony conviction dropped from his record upon successful completion.

He has since returned to the Sacramento area, where he is again working as a pathologist.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin April 29. Alameda County Judge Larry Goodman gave jurors a week-long break to accommodate a panel member's unexpected travel plans.