Dr. Michael Thomason, director of trauma services at Carolinas Medical Center, testified at the murder trial of former football player Rae Carruth, the father of Adams baby, that she lost six pints of blood — about 150 percent more the human body has, in the hours following the November 16 shooting.

Thomason and another physician, medical examiner James Sullivan, capped the 11th day of prosecution testimony in the capital case. Their graphic testimony about Adams' wounds was part of a difficult day for the defense. The jury looked on as the victim's family sobbed throughout the emotionally wrenching medical testimony, and earlier in the day, Judge Charles Lamm turned down Carruth's attorneys' request for a hearing into possible police misconduct.

Still, Carruth's attorney, David Rudolf, tried to salvage something from the day's testimony by using the state's witnesses to float defense theories. He got Sullivan, for example, to discuss the conclusions of Henry Lee, the noted criminologist whose testimony will be played for the jury next week.

Most of the testimony, however, was a litany of Adams' substantial injuries. Thomason detailed how blood transfusions kept her alive even as her condition worsened. He said she suffered from internal bleeding in "the seat of the soul," an area where "lots of critical life and death structures" such as the aorta and other vital blood vessels meet. The bullets tore her pancreas in two, "shredded" parts of her small intestines, and created holes in her large intestines, stomach, liver and diaphragm.

The doctor said one of the bullets missed her baby, seven months to term, by "an inch or two." As Thomason demonstrated that point, Adams' pregnant half-sister rose from her front row seat and rushed from the courtroom in tears.

Adams' son was delivered by emergency Caesarean section. Though the infant survived, she died of her injuries nearly a month later.

Thomason described Adams as "awake but lethargic" when she arrived at the hospital.

"She was speaking but not bright and awake like most of us are here today," he said.

The 24-year-old, shot while driving her car following a date with former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth, managed to pull over and call 911. She indicated to 911 operators that she believed Carruth was responsible for the shooting.

Once at the hospital, Adams was medicated with morphine and the sedative Versed, according to Thomason.

With the help of hospital staff, she managed to scribble three pages of notes implicating Carruth.

Rudolf suggested during opening statements that Adams' notes could not be trusted because of the high level of medication coursing through her body. In a preemptive strike against the defense, the doctor said Versed and other similar drugs would not affect her memory of the shooting. He said that, although patients may not remember events that occur while they are on Versed, "it doesn't erase or wipe out memories formed previous to receiving the drug."

But on cross-examination, Rudolf suggested Thomason was out of his depth. The doctor admitted that he had not taken formal courses in neurology and psychology since medical school and had limited knowledge of the way memories are formed.

Rudolf also got Thomason to acknowledge that there were specialists in this area "who have valid things to say." Rudolf likely will call some of those experts during his case.

Medical examiner Sullivan followed Thomason to the stand. After explaining how Adams died from "multiple organ system failure," he concentrated on her body position when she sustained the bullet wounds.

That issue came center stage Wednesday when, out of the presence of the jury, defense expert Lee testified that the angle and position of the bullet holes indicate Adams fell across the passenger car seat after the first three shots were fired. In that position, the defense argument goes, she would have taken her foot off the brake and her car would have drifted forward.

The defense claims that Lee's conclusion is at odds with the prosecution's theory that Carruth pinned Adams' car in by stopping directly in front of her.

But Sullivan said there are other explanations. He said the bullets ranged over her car window both vertically and horizontally. The vertical range, he said, could only be due to the shooter moving his arm since cars cannot move up and down. The horizontal spread could also be due to gun movement or to Adams' vehicle drifting backward.

On cross-examination, Rudolf got Sullivan to spell out Lee's theory for the jury and to admit that Lee might be right about the forward movement of the car.

In another development, Judge Charles Lamm denied a defense motion for a hearing on the possible suppression of exculpatory evidence about a key state witness. The defense alleges that the police sat on information about Michael Kennedy, the admitted "wheelman" in the shooting. Rudolf wanted to put officers on the stand to find out why reports about a 1996 drug arrest were not handed over to the defense. Instead, Lamm told Rudolf he could put the police officers on the stand in front of the jury and question them about the lapse. In addition, Rudolf can recall Kennedy.