Opinion ID: 1735417
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pathology Report.

Text: ś 26. An autopsy was performed on Richardson's body. The pathologist testified that he found fourteen stab wounds, with most penetrating approximately four inches deep. The pathologist also testified that Richardson was slashed eleven times. He determined that Richardson suffered two injuries, either of which could have been fatal â one to the neck and another to the abdomen. ś 27. He testified that Richardson received stab and/or slash wounds to his head, neck, face, temple, ear, nose, cheeks, arms, chest, scalp, hand, abdomen, back, chin and lip. Richardson received three stab wounds and seven slash wounds to his head, with the slashes averaging four to five inches in length. Richardson was stabbed four times in his face. The pathologist opined that Richardson also suffered a defensive wound to the left hand by placing his hand between the knife and his body. ś 28. He also testified to the rather obvious, it would be highly painful to receive these types of stab and slash injuries. He stated: It would be painful, and it would be excessive in infliction of the pain. ś 29. Although Walker confessed to disposing of the knife he used to kill Richardson, he drew a picture of the knife for the police. The pathologist agreed that Richardson's wounds were consistent with being caused by this type of weapon when he stated: Certainly a sharp-edged weapon such as this could produce the injuries that I saw. The knife Walker used was of such size that it could cause injuries larger and deeper than the ones inflicted on Richardson. However, he noted that there were no knife guard contusions on Richardson's body, which indicates that the knife used was not fully driven into Richardson's body. He agreed that a bigger knife â like the one Walker stated was the murder weapon â could have been used to inflict the injuries to Richardson. ś 30. The pathologist ruled the cause of Richardson's death to be homicide, resulting from a stab wound to his neck, with an additional cause of death resulting from a stab wound to the abdomen. ś 31. Richardson's corpse also incurred postmortem insult as a result of the fire Walker started to destroy the evidence of the murder. Although the fire itself did not contact Richardson's body, reflective heat caused insult. According to the pathologist, Richardson had postmortem burns on his left flank, back and left forearm caused from reflective heat ranging between three and four hundred degrees.