Opinion ID: 2581123
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: forensic pathologist's testimony

Text: {33} Dr. Greggory Kaufman, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Mitchell, also testified at trial. He described receiving her body in a state of moderate to severe decomposition. She was wearing a pink t-shirt that was inside-out, a white bra, and red jean-style trousers with the zipper pulled apart. She had multiple contusions or abrasions that were scattered over her head and multiple contusions scattered over her neck and upper front chest. She also had a couple of contusions over the abdomen, and abrasions over her trunk, the backs of her hands, and the top of her feet. The abrasions appeared to have occurred in the period when the body was dying or post-mortem, and their vertical orientation suggested that the body had been dragged along the ground. The bruising he found on Mitchell's body occurred while the patient was alive and would have resulted from a beating, not from a fall. The internal examination revealed a fracture at the base of her skull on the right side, which could have resulted either in her death or just being knocked unconscious. The pathologist couldn't be sure about the injuries to her brain because it had decomposed. There was a small amount of alcohol in her system, probably due to the body's decomposition. He did not find any human semen during the autopsy and could not prove whether or not somebody had sexual intercourse with her because of the extensive decomposition. In the pathologist's opinion, the cause of death was blunt trauma to the head, and the death occurred approximately three weeks prior to the autopsy, which was performed on January 31, 1982, although that was a very, very rough estimate on his part. On cross-examination, he confirmed that he did not see blood in her vaginal wall, he did not test her undergarments for semen, and he did not find any puncture wounds.