Opinion ID: 1941054
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defense Objection to the Testimony of Dr. Cyril Wecht

Text: Appellant claims that the trial court erred in overruling his objection to the testimony of Dr. Wecht on the grounds that the Commonwealth had not laid a proper foundation for its questions regarding the basis for Dr. Wecht's opinion that the manner of death was homicide, and that the testimony was hearsay. Specifically, he argues in a single sentence that Dr. Wecht testified to information received from some source in the Fayette County Coroner's Office. Appellant's Brief at 19. Appellant contends that expert opinions may be based upon the reports of others only if the proper foundation is laid regarding where and from whom the information is gathered and that this information is customarily relied upon in the practice of the expert's profession, citing Commonwealth v. Thomas, 444 Pa. 436, 282 A.2d 693 (1971). The Commonwealth replies in a single paragraph that a proper foundation was laid for Dr. Wecht's testimony. According to the Commonwealth, Dr. Wecht testified that the attending coroner discussed his findings with Dr. Wecht as per the usual framework of medically-related cases and that the information he received from the attending coroner is the type of information that a pathologist relies upon in the practice of his profession to aid in rendering an opinion on the cause and manner of death. The trial court noted that Dr. Wecht testified that his opinion was based upon information he received from Dr. Phillip Reilly, the Coroner of Fayette County, which he then incorporated into his overall analysis of the case. The court noted that an expert witness is permitted to express an opinion on medical matters based, in part, upon reports of others where the expert customarily relies upon such reports in the practice of his profession. Dr. Wecht testified that the information supplied by Dr. Reilly in this case is the type of information he regularly relies upon in his profession. Therefore, the trial court concluded, the contested testimony was properly admitted. Questions regarding the admissibility of evidence rest within the trial judge's discretion, and an appellate court will reverse the judge's decision only for an abuse of discretion. Commonwealth v. Brown, 592 Pa. 376, 925 A.2d 147, 154 (2007) (citing Commonwealth v. Spotz, 562 Pa. 498, 756 A.2d 1139, 1151, 1163 (2000), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 932, 121 S.Ct. 1381, 149 L.Ed.2d 307 (2001)). We have reviewed the testimony of Dr. Wecht in its entirety and, based upon the testimony, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's ruling. Dr. Wecht testified that on the morning of July 8, 2004, he himself performed an autopsy on Michelle Cable at the request of Dr. Reilly. N.T., 2/8/07, at 237. He found that some of her organs and tissues had been removed post-mortem for organ donor purposes but that none of the tissues or organs were of any consequence to his review. He testified that he found a gunshot wound on the left side of Michelle's head at the bottom of the left ear and slightly behind the left ear lobe. Id. at 237-38. The wound had been sutured by doctors at the hospital where she had been a patient for the two days following the gunshot wound. Id. at 238. Dr. Wecht described how he removed the sutures and examined the wound, explaining his detailed findings regarding the wound and its effect on her brain. Id. at 238-40. He noted that the edges of the wound were blackened from the gun powder, which is an indication that the shot was fired at close range, and that there was no stippling, meaning that the gun's muzzle was no farther than an inch or so from Michelle's head when the shot was fired. Id. at 240. Dr. Wecht testified that the head is a vital part of the body because the brain is the most important organ because it runs the show, and that the cause of death in this instance was anoxic and cephalopathy due to the gunshot wound of the head with damage to the skull and brain. Id. at 241. Regarding the manner of Michelle's death, Dr. Wecht testified that when he sees a near contact wound of the head, there are three possibilities: homicide, accident and suicide. Id. at 245. A pathologist looking at such a wound cannot determine, without more information, which of the three possibilities occurred. This additional information is generally gleaned from the police investigationwhose gun was used, was the gun found near the decedent's body, is there any reason to believe the decedent was cleaning the gun or fooling around, making it an accident? If there are no indications of accident or suicide, then the conclusion is that it is a homicide. Dr. Wecht testified that in this instance, he received information from the State Police and from Dr. Reilly's office, at which point defense counsel objected that his testimony was based on hearsay, and the trial judge questioned Dr. Wecht. The court asked Dr. Wecht if he received a report from Dr. Reilly or discussed the matter with him. Dr. Wecht responded that he discussed the case with Dr. Reilly, which is what is always done, and that the discussion is analogous to the hospital records he would get when someone dies in a hospital and provides information that he utilizes in his overall analysis of a case. The trial judge overruled the objection to the extent that the information Dr. Wecht relied upon came from Dr. Reilly but stated he would sustain the objection as to information gleaned from any other source. Dr. Wecht then rendered his opinion that the manner of death was homicide. Id. at 246-47. In Commonwealth v. Smith, 480 Pa. 524, 391 A.2d 1009 (1978), this Court was presented with a similar scenario. There, the expert pathologist testified as to the cause and manner of death based in part upon information provided to him by the deputy county coroner. [4] The Smith Court allowed the testimony, noting that, in Commonwealth v. Thomas, 444 Pa. 436, 282 A.2d 693 (1971), this Court adopted the rule that a medical witness may express opinion testimony on medical matters based, in part, upon reports of others which are not in evidence, but which the expert customarily relies upon in the practice of his profession. The trial court here cited to Smith in its opinion as support for allowing the testimony. Dr. Wecht clearly testified that he customarily uses information received from the coroner or hospital records in rendering his opinions regarding cause and/or manner of death. He also stated that, in a case involving a close-range gunshot wound, this information typically includes whose gun was used, whether the gun was found near the body, and whether there was any indication of an accident. Based upon this testimony, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing Dr. Wecht to testify as to the manner of death based, in part, upon the information he received from Dr. Reilly. Furthermore, even assuming that the trial court erred, any error was harmless in light of the substantial evidence buttressing Dr. Wecht's conclusions regarding the manner of death. Indeed, the manner of Michelle's death was undisputed at trial. Four eyewitnesses testified to having seen appellant shoot Michelle in the head. Appellant admitted to police that he had killed Michelle. The bullet recovered from Michelle's head by Dr. Wecht was fired from the gun found in appellant's possession when he was apprehended. All of this evidence amply demonstrated that the manner of Michelle's death was neither accident nor suicide.