On Friday, the prosecution will present a key witness, but one that could potentially cause harm to the case: Hennepin County Medical Investigator Dr. Andrew Baker.
Dr. Baker, a prominent figure in the forensic pathology community, found that George Floyd’s death was a homicide caused by ‘law enforcement, self-control and neck compression’.
At first glance, it seems that the conclusion will work a lot in favor of the prosecution. But dr. Baker does not mention asphyxia or oxygen deficiency in the autopsy.
According to a summary of ‘preliminary findings’ written by prosecutors before the Attorney General took over the case,’ the autopsy did not reveal any physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic suffocation or strangulation ‘-‘ a summary that the defense can use to be a guideline it questions, although dr. Baker did not include it in his final report.
Two forensic pathologists appointed by the Floyd family, dr. Michael Baden and dr. Allecia Wilson, says suffocation is the cause of death, and the prosecution makes the same claim.
The lawyers of the state took the unusual step of getting rid of Dr. To distance Baker. They did not use him as their medical witness – it was dr. Martin Tobin, a pulmonologist who has written several books on the lungs and breathing. And in the opening statements, Jerry Blackwell, a prosecutor, said that ‘cardiopulmonary arrest’, made by Dr. Baker listed in the cause of death section in the death certificate only means death. Defense attorney Eric J. Nelson took advantage of this and said in his opening statement: “The state was not satisfied with Dr. Baker’s job is not. ‘
On Thursday, dr. Tobin and another expert witness, dr. William Smock, the police surgeon for the Louisville Metro Police, both cited oxygen deficiency as the cause of death for Mr. Floyd. Both said evidence of it would not have pointed to the autopsy report.
Dr. Tobin said he would not expect to damage the hypopharynx, a narrow section of the airway, by putting pressure on Mr. Floyd’s neck and the reduction in volume in his lungs. The absence of bruises on the neck of Derek Chauvin’s knee was not significant, he said.
“When I go to church, I sit on a hard bench. “I do not get my butt bruised when I leave,” he said. ‘It was a static force, it’s not like anyone ran into it. So you would not expect anything in the way of bruises. ‘
When asked about deaths with low oxygen, dr. Tobin said he would not expect them to leave a “fingerprint” on the autopsy.
“Does that mean the person did not die of low oxygen?” the prosecutor, mr. Blackwell, pressed him.
“No, absolutely not,” he said. “So if you take someone and suffocate them with a pillow and it is very clear to you, you will not see the effects of the oxygen-poor after you have suffocated the person and he died from the pillow.”
Dr Smock also said he teaches students that strangulation may not appear on autopsies. “You can have someone put biceps and forearms on either side of your neck and push, make you unconscious, even kill,” he said. ‘And you’ll never see a bruise on your neck. And the reason is that you apply a broad surface, biceps and forearm, on a wide surface. ”
The first witness Friday, dr. Lindsey C. Thomas, a forensic pathologist who helped Dr. Baker, would be expected to highlight this point and explain that in more than half of the cases when people die from insufficient oxygen, there are no signs of it.