Expert Witness Convicted of Obstruction of Justice

Embellishing qualifications can backfire on expert witnesses; lying can get one jail time. Just ask “Doctor” Byrd.

Milton Leroy Byrd testified as an expert witness for Dr. Monroe Gordon Piland at his trial for several drug-related crimes, including trafficking in marijuna and opium.

Dr. Piland had been a long-time advocate of using marijuana for medical purposes when he was prosecuted in 1981 for illegally growing 111 marijuana plants. After he was convicted, the North Carolina Board of Medical Examiners revoked his license.

Then in 2015 Dr. Piland was found with 7.4 pounds of marijuana, 58 grams of poppies, morphine sulphate, mushrooms, marijuana candies and marijuana oils.

Charged with, among other things, drug trafficking, Dr. Piland represented himself at trial, with assistance from several attorneys, including Rod Kight, who specializes in marijuana activism. Before trial, Kight wrote the court that Dr. Piland was “one of the most out of touch with reality clients I have ever represented.”

Dr. Piland put forward Byrd as one of his expert witnesses. A former Fletcher Town Council member, Byrd claimed in his CV to have doctoral degrees in philosophy, divinity, metaphysics and respiratory medicine — and to be a Shaman, which apparently qualified him to be an expert witness in alternative medicine.

Byrd's testimony included the submission of a letter to the court saying that he had known Piland for seven years and “his activism is of note and is of intent to establish his regard for human rights.” Byrd cited the Declaration of Independence and the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights as support for Piland.

Piland was convicted on the drug trafficking charges and sent to prison for more than 18 years.

During discovery in the case, the assistant district attorney prosecuting Piland had noticed Byrd's CV as the name of Byrd's supposed medical school was misspelled: “Prisker School of Medicine” at the University of Chicago rather than “Pritzker School of Medicine.” The prosecutor contacted the medical school which could find no record of Byrd graduating, and the school offered no degree in respiratory medicine.

The district attorney's office turned the information over to the county sheriff's office, which investigated Byrd and then charged him with felony common law obstruction of justice.

A jury found Byrd guilty of felony obstruction of justice, and he was sentenced to three years of probation. Byrd is appealing his conviction.

Attorneys rarely give intense scrutiny to expert witness CVs, unless a red flag pops up (eg: claiming to be a Shaman), but embellishing a CV is risky. Everyone expert wants to stand out in court, but not in jail.