Opinion ID: 75958
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Testimony of Medical Examiner

Text: 23 The State also called Dr. Robert McConaghie, the medical examiner for St. Johns County, Florida. McConaghie described the results of his autopsy of St. George, as follows: 24 She was 5 and a-half feet tall, weighed approximately 125 pounds, was a young adult, white woman, about 30, 31 years of age.... 25 She received two gunshot wounds to her face, one of which was in the — entered in the left cheek, traveled into the bottom of the skull through the mid-brain and ended up on the right side of the back of her head. 26 The second bullet entered the left side of her forehead, went backwards into the right and also ended up in the back of the right side of the head. 27 There was extensive hemorrhage inside the skull. There was a bullet track going through both sides of the main lobes of the brain, the cerebral hemispheres and the middle portion of the brain, the medulla, had been penetrated twice, once by each bullet. 28 McConaghie further testified that St. George died as a result of severe brain injuries inflicted by the gunshot wounds. Other than a scratch over her thumb and the two gunshot wounds, there was no other significant injury to her body. McConaghie also saw no markings of any kind or indentations or injuries to her wrists, her hands, or her arms. While McConaghie did not notice any bruising around St. George's vaginal area, his examination did reveal that spermatozoa were present, and that [r]ecent sexual intercourse had taken place. 29 As to which bullet wound Robinson inflicted first, McConaghie had the impression ... that the bullet in the left cheek was the initial shot and the one in the forehead was the second shot. 5 Although St. George would have been rendered immediately unconscious after either bullet went into her head, McConaghie believed that [d]eath from either of the shots would not have been instantaneous. It would have taken at least several seconds, perhaps up to a minute before death to occur. St. George was probably still breathing after the first shot because [t]here was blood found in her lungs that had to come from the back of the mouth, from the blood — from inside of the head. So she had to have breathed in that blood at least one breath and possibly more. 30 McConaghie also testified about the distance at which the gun was held each time St. George was shot. With regard to her left cheek, McConaghie testified that it was a tight contact wound, explaining that the gun was pressed to the cheek and pressed into the cheek. 6 That testimony was consistent with Fields's testimony that Robinson put the gun up against St. George's cheek. Robinson's counsel, however, posited another cause for the contact wound, which McConaghie could not rule out, as follows: 31 DEFENSE: [W]e see a contact wound there and I think that is beyond question. However, what was moving to cause the pressure; that is to say, was the gun muzzle pushed forcefully toward her or was she moving toward the muzzle ... Could she have been moving toward the gun ..., rather than the person holding the gun pushing it against her face? 32 McCONAGHIE: I have no way of knowing whether the gun was being pushed in or she was pushing toward the gun. 33 With regard to the bullet wound in St. George's forehead, McConaghie believed that the gun was held one to two feet away.