Opinion ID: 1671765
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the off-premises investigation

Text: ¶ 27. Dr. Forrest G. Bratley, a forensic pathologist, testified for the State. He performed an autopsy of Medgar Evers in June of 1963 and found that Evers died because of hemorrhaging or loss of blood from a bullet wound of the right side of the chest. At that time he did not recover any bullets or metal fragments from the corpse. He stated that the bullet went through Evers' back and fractured or broke the eighth and ninth ribs of his back. After going through the ribs, the bullet went into the right lower lobe of the lung and then penetrated the fifth rib on the right front and exited the skin just above the right nipple. ¶ 28. Dr. Bratley also testified that he was requested by the District Attorney in 1963, Mr. William Waller, to examine the defendant, Mr. De La Beckwith in jail. His examination was conducted on Sunday, June 23, 1963 and he stated that he examined Mr. Beckwith at a distance, close up, and did see a mark over his right eye. This mark began at the inner edge of the right eyebrow and curved upwards and then downwards to the right, and disappeared into the eyebrow on the outer part of the eyebrow. He stated that the injury had the shape of semi-circle, that is the part of a circle, and it was still a pink color as compared to the surrounding skin, and slightly below the level of the surrounding skin. There were no stitch marks present, suture marks, and the  my impression was that this was a fairly recent injury and I would say it was less than thirty days old and at least ten days old. He stated that the injury he observed was consistent with the diameter of the telescopic scope found on the murder weapon, though he could not say that it was caused by that particular weapon. ¶ 29. Charles Crisco, an investigator for the Hinds County District Attorney's office, testified that he attended an exhumation of the body of Medgar Evers at Arlington National Cemetery on June 3, 1991. He photographed the body and attended a second autopsy on the body of Medgar Evers on June 4, 1991 at the Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York. He took custody of lead fragments removed from the body by Dr. Michael Baden. ¶ 30. Dr. Michael Baden stated that he was a physician and medical examiner and the present Director of Forensic Sciences for the New York State Police. He conducted the 1991 re-autopsy examination. He also x-rayed the body. Dr. Baden stated that the x-rays established that the bullet which went through Evers' body came from a high energy rifle. According to him, a handgun would not have caused the star-burst effect shown by x-rays. He found that, because there were no powder burns on the body, the discharge was more than three or four feet away at the time of firing and that in his professional opinion, the fragments found were consistent with having come from a .30-06 rifle. ¶ 31. Russell G. Davey, a fingerprint specialist with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C., testified that he had examined the latent fingerprint taken from the rifle scope and that he saw nothing on that print to lead him to believe that it had been forged or was a planted fingerprint. He found that the latent fingerprint on the scope was made by one and the same finger as the print on a fingerprint card taken from Byron De La Beckwith, VI in 1991 and a United States Marine Corp card filed in January of 1942. Richard Poppleton testified that he was retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation where he was employed as a Special Agent of the Firearms Identification Division. Poppleton testified that based on his examination of the spent cartridge found in the recovered rifle that it was fired by the gun found at the murder scene. He also stated that he had previously examined the recovered bullet and that the bullet found in the Evers' home was most similar to a .30-06, 180-grain, soft point bullet and was fired by an Enfield rifle, model 1917, .30-06 caliber. ¶ 32. Norman Casey testified as a retired FBI agent who had investigated the Evers murder in 1963. Casey took photographs of the Beckwith home in Greenwood, Mississippi and identified photographs of the home, including a picture of the doorway which had a Masonic emblem on the door facing.