Doctor denies David had MS

By SCOTT NORTH

Herald Writer

It was traumatic injuries to the brain, not a progressive disease such as multiple sclerosis, that put Linda David in a wheelchair, slurred her speech and robbed her of her eyesight, one of the region’s top neurologists testified Tuesday.

Dr. Craig H. Smith, director of the regional Multiple Sclerosis Center at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, told a Snohomish County jury Linda David has a "shrunken brain," and that the medical evidence shows she likely received repeated traumatic injuries, starting as early as the late 1970s.

But the doctor was not allowed to testify about how he believed Linda David was hurt or whether he believed the trauma was somehow intentionally inflicted.

Smith testified as a prosecution witness in the second-degree assault trial of Victor David, 60, of Marysville. He’s charged with hiding his wife, Linda David, 52, away on a filthy sailboat where he allegedly battered her for years at waterfront locations from Tacoma to Everett.

Victor David was paid about $500 a month by the state Department of Social and Health Services to provide in-home care and chore services to his wife. He claimed she suffered from multiple sclerosis, a neurological condition in which the body’s immune system repeatedly attacks parts of the central nervous system, causing progressive damage.

But Smith said a thorough review of medical reports dating back to 1979 show no evidence that Linda David had ever been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, although some doctors included it as a possible explanation for some of her symptoms.

Moreover, he showed jurors brain scans of Linda David and a woman of similar age who has been diagnosed with MS. The woman with MS had distinct dots in her brain, which looked like bullet holes, which Smith explained were places where inflammation had left permanent damage.

Linda David’s brain, by contrast, had none of the dot-shaped damage.

"What I’m showing you now is somebody who has no evidence of MS," Smith testified. Instead, he said the scan showed somebody with "a shrunken brain that has been traumatized and beaten around."

That prompted an angry objection from Victor David’s attorney, Bryan Hershman of Tacoma. Twice on Tuesday he asked Judge Thomas Wynne to declare a mistrial, in part because of an earlier ruling in the day restricting Smith’s testimony regarding trauma.

Wynne had forbidden the doctor from discussing his opinions about how Linda David received the trauma he found. The judge’s ruling came after prosecutors failed to provide Hershman with sufficient documentation about Smith’s anticipated testimony.

Wynne declined to grant a mistrial, but he did instruct jurors to ignore the doctor’s comment about the cause of Linda David’s trauma.

The only exception the judge allowed was when Smith testified about hemorrhages found in Linda David’s eyes after she was removed from the sailboat in 1997. Jurors on Tuesday heard Smith and another doctor say that the injuries were only months old and were consistent with those seen when somebody has been punched in the eye.

Jurors have heard several witnesses describe how Linda David was emaciated, barely able to move and covered with filth and scars when she was removed from the sailboat. She testified Monday that her husband hit her and pushed her down, but that she still loved him.

The trial is expected to last into next week.

Talk to us

More in Local News

Members of South County Fire practice onboarding and offboarding a hovering Huey helicopter during an interagency disaster response training exercise at Arlington Municipal Airport on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, in Arlington, Washington. The crews learned about and practiced safe entry and exit protocols with crew from Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue before begin given a chance to do a live training. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Snohomish, King counties train together for region’s next disaster

Dozens of agencies worked with aviators Tuesday to coordinate a response to a simulated earthquake or tsunami.

Police stand along Linden Street next to orange cones marking pullet casings in a crime scene of a police involved shooting on Friday, May 19, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lake Stevens man identified in Everett manhunt, deadly police shooting

Travis Hammons, 34, was killed by officers following a search for an armed wanted man in a north Everett neighborhood.

Ciscoe Morris, a longtime horticulturist and gardening expert, will speak at Sorticulture. (Photo provided by Sorticulture)
Get your Sorticulture on: Garden festival returns to downtown Everett

It’s a chance to shop, dance, get gardening tips, throw an axe and look through a big kaleidoscope. Admission is free.

Funko mascots Freddy Funko roll past on a conveyor belt in the Pop! Factory of the company's new flagship store on Aug. 18, 2017.  (Dan Bates / The Herald)
Lawsuit: Funko misled investors about Arizona move

A shareholder claims Funko’s decision to relocate its distribution center from Everett to Arizona was “disastrous.”

Lynnwood
1 stabbed at apartment in Lynnwood

The man, 26, was taken to an Everett hospital with “serious injuries.”

A firefighting helicopter carries a bucket of water from a nearby river to the Bolt Creek Fire on Saturday, Sep. 10, 2022, on U.S. Highway 2 near Index, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Red flag fire warning issued west of Cascades

There are “critical fire weather” conditions due to humidity and wind in the Cascades, according to the National Weather Service.

A house fire damaged two homes around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 6, 2023 in Marysville, Washington. (Photo provided by Marysville Fire District)
Fire burns 2 homes in Marysville, killing 2 dogs

Firefighters responded to a report of a fire north of Lakewood Crossing early Tuesday, finding two houses engulfed in flames.

Dolly Hunnicutt holds onto a metal raccoon cutout while looking through metal wildflowers at the Freeborn Metal Art booth during the first day of Sorticulture on Friday, June 9, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Sorticulture brings gardening galore, fun by the bushel at 130 booths

“Every year there’s something different to see,” one attendee said at the opening of the three-day festival in downtown Everett.

Alex Dold lived with his mother and grandmother, Ruby Virtue, near Echo Lake. His sisters, Vanessa and Jen Dold, often would visit to play board games and watch soccer on television.
Troubled deputies at center of $1.5M settlement in Maltby man’s death

In 2017, Bryson McGee and Cody McCoy killed Alex Dold with their Tasers. Neither of them work for the sheriff’s office anymore.

Most Read