Pathologist Takes Court On A Grisly Tour
SANTA MONICA, Nov. 8 (Noon) -- The plaintiffs' pathology expert Dr. Werner Spitz Friday morning walked jurors through 14 grisly autopsy photos, showing stab wounds, bruises, and abrasions on the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Both victims died from loss of blood, Spitz said, and their struggle with the assailant was very brief.
Spitz, a forensic pathologist from Michigan, is still testifying on direct examination in the O.J. Simpson civil trial. He is the only scheduled witness for the day.
Spitz's testimony mixed the graphic with folksy. He compared a brain to a bowl of Jello, a wound in Goldman's aorta to a garden hose, and told jurors that epidermis was the same as snake skin. The white-haired doctor had the complete attention of the jury and the packed courtroom. Most of the jurors took copious notes, leaned forward in their chairs, and appeared more studious than disturbed by the photographs. However, one alternate juror was crying and two jurors grimaced repeatedly.
Before the jurors were brought in, the attorneys haggled about how many of the autopsy photos the jury would be allowed to see. Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki eventually allowed 14 -- one less than the plaintiffs asked for this morning, after they pared down their request from 35. Although the pictures were turned away from the courtroom spectators, they still caused a stir. Frederic Goldman and his daughter Kim cried throughout Spitz's testimony about Ron's wounds; Fred eventually left the courtroom. Simpson, who left the proceedings suddenly Thursday because he was not feeling well, was not in court this morning. Judge Fujisaki also threatened to clear the first row of seats near the jury box because jurors complained they could hear people making comments.
In his testimony, Spitz said that Nicole died from loss of blood after her throat was cut. "There is a slash across the neck, running from left to right, which is the devastating wound," Spitz said, "severing part of the voice box, in other words, cutting the voice box in two, entering the bone of the vertebrae column, and going through the tube from which we swallow -- the so-called esophagus."
Spitz demonstrated on plaintiff attorney Edward Medvene how the assailant delivered the wound -- standing behind Nicole and holding her head back with the left hand somewhere in the middle of her face. Because the assailant was behind Nicole, the assailant would not have been covered in blood. Later, Spitz said the assailant could have held back Nicole's head by pulling on her hair. The attack, Spitz said, was very brief.
"The slashing of the throat was the terminal event and I think the entire scenario of Miss Brown's altercation from the first wound to the last was 15 seconds," Spitz said.
Spitz testified that Ron Goldman was killed by a stab wound to his left flank, which put two holes in his aorta. Goldman also had a cut in his thigh, wounds on his neck, two wounds in the chest, and defensive wounds on his left hand. He, too, died quickly from loss of blood.
"This wound [in the left flank] would have killed Ronald Goldman in short order," Spitz said.
-Robert SchmidtFind out about Court TV's coverage of the civil trial, and take a look at the witness lists provided by both sides.
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