It is recorded in the ME's testimony which we all viewed during court, and is on youtube. He clearly states he could not verify d/t the brains rapid deterioration and inability to examine, but can only conclude. That is not 100% scientific, examined and proved conclusion. It is an offer of possibility with which the prosecution has banked on for their case. Does it even matter in the big picture?
Jodi Arias Trial Day 3 (Full) - YouTube
@ 1:51 begins
To quote:
Can't be sure if he was alive.
Wound thru head, CAN'T SEE WOUND TRACT thru the brain
So unable to say if he was alive
Right temple shot
No hemorrhage in the brain
Can't say for sure. May have been dead already.
SO.....draw your OWN conclusions.
As far as I am concerned.. 50-50... inconclusive... prosecution has banked on their 50 to prove extreme cold blooded cruelty... to me, doesn't matter gun or knife. DP deserved. I just happen to believe it was gun first.
I am medical and happened to work Neuro for 8 years. Frontal lobe injuries are different in outcomes...hemorrhagic vs. non-hemorragic. The ME could not conclude. Did not see hemorrhagic. He could not conclude that the GSW came first or after death. Quite a range, eh?
I am sure the ME saw clearly that this was a cold-blooded killing and his conclusions offered just that. Take what you will from it. Let's just say he left the door open.
Let's go non-scientist here... aim your finger above your right eyebrow with a trajectory that lands with a bullet in your left cheek and tell me how much of a chance your frontal lobe was hit... for reals? Less than 50-50 in a NON medical guess..
Really ? Where did you hear that? Depending on which way the head is tilted even changes the alignment of the brain within the skull cavity.. it is not flush to the skull, nor attached to the skull.
Defense cross:
http://youtu.be/1tZKYBlfkxI?t=2h35m29s
Q: And we know that people who have had injuries to their brains um, depending on the section of the brain, they're not always incapacitated, isn't that true?
Dr. Horn: Uh, for the most part if you have a bullet pass through the brain, um you're not going to be standing, you're not going to be functioning. Um you're going to fall and like I said earlier on direct, it may not be immediately fatal. In fact it likely wasn't, passing through the frontal area of the brain, especially it's not as vital, they're all vital structures but it's not as vital as the brain stem or the back parts of the brain.
Q: Well just so we're clear you don't actually have any medical evidence of it passing through the brain, right?
Dr. Horn: It had to have passed through the brain
Q: You don't have any medical evidence of that do you?
Dr. Horn: I do, the skull is perforated where the brain is, so it had to have passed through the brain.
Q: Well
Dr. Horn: The brain is there
Q: But you have no idea, you have no medical evidence of how far or what part of the brain exactly it would of hit, right?
Dr. Horn: It would have passed through the right frontal lobe
Q: Uh um
Dr. Horn: I just don't have any evidence of hemorrhage now because of decomposition. But it had to have passed through the brain because the part of the skull that was injured. The brain in a young person especially, is flush against that structure
Q: Um uh
Dr. Horn: The brain occupies the entire skull, so to have a hole in the skull here and exit in here, it has to pass through the brain.
Q: Well the exits, there's no exit.
Dr. Horn: The exit from the skull cavity into the face.
Q: uh ha.. so but but what you're saying though, you have no idea how where that bullet might have hit, it could have just grazed the tip of the brain, right?
Dr. Horn: No, it had to have passed through the right frontal lobe of the brain. Based on where these holes in the skull are
Q: And you're sur
Dr. Horn: There's no way it could have avoided the brain.
Q: Ok, and you're sure of that?
Dr. Horn: Yes!
Q: Um ... what I was talking about earlier was that with brain injuries. I'm mean we've all heard the stories of people, the person who had the arrow stuck through went through his skull and hit his brain. Or the person who had um a, I don't know if it was an arrow or what but goes through the brain and these people are coming to the ER.
Dr. Horn: Right
Q: You've heard those stories, right?
Dr. Horn: Those are different.
Q: Ok.. but those are people who have had brain injuries, right?
Dr. Horn: Not with projectiles
Q: ok
Dr. Horn: With firearms, you don't just have an arrow or an object passing through the head, with the firearm you also have gas and you have an expancel cavity, that damages the brain as it goes through it. So you can shoot an arrow through the brain, its a much lower velocity projectile and will not cause a large temporary cavity to open up in the brain tissue, like a projectile would, like a firearm projectile would.
Q: So those don't cause as much damage as a bullet does?
Dr. Horn: That's right
Q: But you didn't see any damage
Dr. Horn: I couldn't
Q: Even in your slices right?
Dr. Horn: Right, I could not document the damage because of the decomposition
Redirect:
http://youtu.be/1tZKYBlfkxI?t=2h48m6s
Q: Sir, in terms of the sequencing of the wounds, do you remember having an interview with this individual, sitting here with the glassed, do you remember having an interview with him?
Dr. Horn: Vaguely, I do remember the defense interview
Q: You were interviewed regards to this case, right?
Dr. Horn: Yes
Q: And you have a copy of that interview, don't you?
Dr. Horn: I do
Q: And you were asked about the sequencing of these injuries, weren't you?
Dr. Horn: Yes
Objection leading
Sustained
Q: Alright did you talk to them about the sequencing of the injuries?
Dr. Horn: Yes
Q: And at anytime did you stop the interview and say no I don't want to talk to you about the sequencing of the injuries?
Dr. Horn: No
Q: And were you asked about the sequencing of the injuries?
Dr. Horn: Yes
Q: And what did you tell them during that interview that you had with them?
Dr. Horn: Uh that I felt that the gunshot wound may have been last but in any event um the gunshot wound and the wounds to the neck would have come after the defensive wounds of the hands.
Q: And is that what you told us today?
Dr. Horn: Yes
http://youtu.be/1tZKYBlfkxI?t=2h56m59s
Q: The issue of the gunshot wound. Did the gunshot wound go to the.. go through the frontal lobe or not?
Dr. Horn: It did
Q: If it goes through the frontal lobe, what does the human body do when a gunshot goes through a frontal lobe?
Dr. Horn: Well there's a shock delivered to the entire brain as a projectile is passing through, so its not just like an arrow or a nail. You've also got expansing expanding gases, you've got a tumbling projectile, so generally you're going to have a shock situation, neurologic shock and those people are incapacitated.
Q: And that gunshot wound that we're talking about, did it go through the mouth or not?
Dr. Horn: It goes above the mouth, thats in the sinus structure, so bleeding out of the mouth is certainly possible.
Q: And it ended up in the left cheek
Dr. Horn: chee
Q: correct?
Dr. Horn: Yes
Q: The distance of the gunshot wound, you said it was in-determined, right?
Dr. Horn: yes
Q: Wha and that's based on the fact that you don't see any stippling there, right?
Dr. Horn: That's right
Q: And in-determined to you in this case, what's the, if its in-determined, I know what the word means, but how far away, can you give us any parameters as soever as to how far or how close the gunshot was?
Dr. Horn: Again I'm not a ballistics expert, but generally speaking from most firearms its going to be a minimum distance of a couple of feet, at least.
Q: Ok and this gunshot wound, was there hemorrhage, hemorrhaging that was associated with it on the path that it traveled?
Dr. Horn: Ah in the scalp and in the cheek area, there is some hemorrhage, there is no hemorrhage detected in the skull itself.
Q: And what does that mean to you, in terms of the sequencing, whether or not the person was alive or not alive, if there is no blood there?
Dr. Horn: If there's less blood, it may mean that the other injuries proceeded that and there was just less bleeding, because there was less blood to come out of the body.
Q: Could this person have been dead at the time that the gunshot wound was inflicted.
Dr. Horn: That's possible, yes
Q: And in terms of what an individual may have said or didn't say, you did indicate that your report does indicate that Detective Flores at the autopsy right?
Dr. Horn: Yes
Q: Does it have an MD at the end of his name, maybe I missed that?
Dr. Horn: No
Q: So in terms of, this individual Detective Flores what he may or may not have said, you have any idea where he gained his knowledge?
Dr. Horn: I don't, no
Q: But your knowledge is based on what you saw when, at the autopsy, your schooling, and anything else that was provided to you, right?
Dr. Horn: Yes
Q: I don't have anything else thank you
