Opinion ID: 6107999
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Day of the Murder, Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Text: Phone records indicate that on Tuesday, December 3, at 7:57 a.m., an outgoing call from Patricia's phone was made to her friend Ken Caldwell. The call lasted one minute and fifty-two seconds. 3 Shortly thereafter, at around 8:00 a.m., neighbors heard five or six gunshots coming from the direction of Patricia's house. At 8:55 a.m., Barbara sent Patricia a message, stating, Did she show up on your porch again today? Patricia did not respond. Phyllis testified that Virginia came to her house at around 10:00 a.m. that morning. Phyllis said that she chewed [Virginia] out for returning to the Club the night before and told her that she had to stop harassing Patricia. Phyllis said that Virginia told her, You and [Patricia] are my only friends. Phyllis responded, [W]hat are you talking about ... you have been accusing her of being with your husband for four days and now you want  to tell me she's your friend ... I said that ain't going to get it. I said and if you don't quit going out there harassing her, I knew you was on that porch, she'd never said a word to me the morning before. A few minutes later, Phyllis noticed that Virginia was smiling. Phyllis said that Virginia hadn't smiled in four days and hadn't quit whimpering in four days, where's my James, where's my James. That day, however, Virginia did not mention his name. Phyllis said that she did not know what had happened but she knew something was different because Virginia was grinning from ear to ear. At 10:06 a.m., Phyllis texted Patricia, Just text if u r ok virginia is very unstable n I am worried. After Patricia failed to return missed phone calls and text messages for the rest of the day, Barbara and Phyllis went to check on Patricia at her house. Around 5:30 p.m., Barbara found Patricia-she had been shot to death on the porch of her home. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Stephen Erickson testified that Patricia had died of multiple gunshot wounds and that the manner of death was homicide. Specifically, Dr. Erickson testified that an examination of Patricia's body revealed five gunshot wounds. One wound was located on the right chest, just below the clavicle. Erickson stated that this wound struck both lung lobes and would have been fatal in and of itself. A second wound was discovered on the right breast. This wound also went through both lung lobes and would have been fatal in and of itself. A third wound was discovered in the fold of Patricia's armpit. Erickson stated that this wound struck the lungs, devastated the heart, and would have been rapidly fatal. He stated that the three woundsproduce[d] an almost immediate loss of blood pressure throughout the body. Patricia would have collapsed in about fifteen to twenty seconds. Two other wounds were found-one on the upper back and one on the right forearm. Erickson testified that neither wound would have been independently fatal. He further testified that stippling 4 on Patricia's lips, chin, and nose indicated that at least one of the shots was fired from as close as three feet.