Opinion ID: 2111189
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: introduction

Text: At approximately 6 p.m. on December 10, 1996, Tom Brown was found dead at the bottom of a roadside ditch in rural Buffalo County, northwest of Kearney, Nebraska. The body was dressed in jeans over blue sweat pants, a yellow pullover shirt, and gray socks. The victim was situated on his back, partially under a barbed wire fence, with his right arm extended over his head, which was lower than his legs because of the slope of the ditch. Dried blood extended from his nose to the lateral corner of his right eye. Brown's shirt was pulled up and twisted, and his jeans and sweat pants were pulled down. There were no shoes or coat on the body. Brown's glasses and several spots of blood were found near the edge of the ditch. Dr. Jerry Jones performed an autopsy and determined that Brown died as the result of three .22-caliber gunshot wounds, one in the right side of the neck and two in the chest. Jones was unable to state a precise opinion as to the time of Brown's death, but testified that it could have been as early as Thanksgiving Day, which fell on November 28, 1996. Jones opined that based upon the absence of lividity in the body, Brown did not die at the site where his body was found, but, rather, died elsewhere and was subsequently moved. Dr. Robert Bux, a pathologist who testified on behalf of Castor, stated that in his opinion Brown was killed at the site where his body was found and his death could have occurred up to 3 days after Thanksgiving Day.