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The defense based its case on a single vital point: that Mrs. Lamson's death could have been caused by an accidental fall. Two doctors, one of whom was Blake Wilbur, testified that the wounds on her head might have resulted from a blow against the bathtub rim and faucets. Since the evidence against Lamson was purely circumstantial this point loomed important as the basis for "reasonable doubt." Desperately the prosecution sought to combat it. It called Dr. Arthur William Meyer, head of the Stanford anatomy department, who testified that Mrs. Lamson's scalp indicated that she had been seized and yanked forward. Pathologist Proescher claimed he had conducted a personal experiment to disprove the accident theory. He had undressed, got into the Lamson bathtub, deliberately permitted himself to slip and hit his head against the bathtub rim and faucets. "I was not even hurt," he testified.
Late last week it was rumored that the defense would call Brother Theodore Hoover as a character witness for Lamson.