Body Language and Deception Read of Ronni Chasen Murder Mystery

FOX news asked me to give a body language and deception read of Ronni Chasen murder mystery.

The question is, "Does the latest police theory, which suggests Harold Smith acted alone on a bicycle in a "robbery gone wrong" ring true as officals discuss i? Some feel that the Beverly Hills Police is bluffing with this story in an effort to make the real suspect feel safe. Here are the three peoples' statements followed by my read or the paralanguage and body language during the press conference this week.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/12/suicide-gun-matches-weapon-ronni-chasen-murder

I would love to get your expert analysis on the body language of the police chief, detective and Beverly Hills Mayor. It is all bizarre.

So far it seems like he is just being cautious in order to say the correct thing legally and politically rather to do any bluffing. I do note his awkward delivery seems to hesitate on complexity of the word "Preliminary" in Preliminary Ballistics, and Preliminarily."We do believe that Mr. Smith acted alone." Look at his face. He goes back to a closed smile that goes up to his eyes and holds it without stress. His voice does go up at the end of the sentence, but the voice is strong at the beginning and I think it is a true statement. He is a little more nervous as he delivers the statement, "We don't believe it was a professional hit." His head does what I call a facial retreat. But I think it was more due to fearing the Media's response to that statement. His head also goes down to find some security in referring to his notes. But I still think he is speaking the truth, just stressed. In the next set of sentences, he has an odd delivery, first says, "That conclusion, but follows with, "That inclusion very well may be... His response to a journalist's question I couldn't hear was, ”No we don't, we are still investigating it. This is interesting as here his smile DOES get tense and he gulps. That statement doesn't "go down well" for him. What was that question? He does get a bit irritated on the edge of anger as he discusses erroneous statements from people outside the investigation. I am a media coach. I actually think the anger there was OK. There are times when anger can work if you are in a position of power and you are in uniform in a press conference and of course if YOU are not suspect. In this case it made him look strong and confident. But "Only a Man in Uniform" could get away with it. I would have coached him to deliver all the content with strength and a little bit faster without all the vocal pauses to seem more assured.

The middle speaker gave a gracious politically correct set of statements. He prepared the compliment statements, but his manner and delivery became fearful and cautious as he stumbled through answering the questions. At that time he looked ill prepared. He chose to make all his statements come from someone else.

The third speaker was fairly confident and believed everything he said. When he talks about various stories made to form one story... that’s not accurate." He sticks out his tongue at the journalist who is asking him about the ten thousand dollar hit theory. The rest of his body is not overly defensive, I think he is just upset about that statement from the media. He does start doing some swaying back and forth to comfort himself as he talks about this. "...being a robbery gone bad..." But his voice gets strong as he hits the words CRUCICAL. In the sentence, "America's most wanted .was CRUCIAL." He really honors that help. He does begin to get nervous and have trouble responding to further questioning as he makes comments about the shooter, "Being under desperate measures." and the speaker’s swaying becomes more pronounced."


Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://pattiwood.net/. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.