The People vs. #DanaRivers, 11-8-22 (week 2 day 2): first witness is Dr. Tom Rogers, who did the autopsies on Reed and Diambu in the coroner’s office. He goes through the various injuries found on Reed, with graphic images of them. He says there were blunt force injuries, stab 1/
wounds, and 2 gunshot wounds. The gunshot wounds had “stippling,” or marks from gunpowder that are present when the gun is fired close to the victim. Also, they both had hemorrhaging, meaning Reed was still alive when shot both times. 2/
Reed had over 40 stab/incise wounds. Some of them had hemorrhaging, and others didn’t, meaning that the assailant stabbed Reed while she was still alive and continued to stab her after she died. 3/
Some stab wounds were consistent with a single edged blade, others with a double edged blade, and others indeterminable. There were 28 stab/incise wounds to head/neck area, 12 on torso, one on right arm, and some on both hands. 4/
One of the hand wounds is consistent with Reed employing self defense, tho of course Dr. Rogers cannot be sure. (This is relevant as it may be the source of Rivers’ hand injury and torn glove.) 5/
There were also “blunt force” injuries on Reed, such as bruises on finger, thighs, and front of abdomen. This is consistent with a scenario where Reed is pinned down, but, once again, Dr. Rogers cannot be sure what happened. 6/
Dr. Rogers’ verdict is that Reed died via gunshot and incise/stab wounds. Attention then turns to his a autopsy on Diambu’s body, which had gunshot wounds and blunt force injuries. All but one blunt force injury lacked scabbing, meaning they occurred no more than three days 7/
before Diambu died. There also were two gunshot wounds. One appeared to be a “grazing” wound that did not penetrate the flesh. The other entered his heart and was ruled to be the cause of his death. 8/
Dr. Rogers then summarizes the report of Dr. Paul Herman, who did the autopsy on Wright but couldn’t testify due to health issues. Wright had two “pairs” of gunshot wounds, meaning two wounds where a bullet entered, and two where a bullet exited. 9/
She also had a few stab wounds. He agrees with Dr. Herman’s conclusion that stab and bullet wounds killed Wright. Defense in cross-x emphasizes uncertainty in the scenarios. Defense also mentions toxicology reports, which reports some drugs in both Reed and Wright’s blood. 10/
However, in the Prosecution’s cross-x, it’s clarified that these are generally prescription drugs rather than “street” drugs. That’s it for witness Dr. Rogers. 11/
The next (and final) witness for the day is criminalist Lilliam Lau from the Oakland Police Department. She is the ballistics expert who analyzed the bullets and two guns (one revolver, one colt 1911 45-caliber pistol) at the scene of the crime. 12/
She says the colt 1911 malfunctioned when she tested it. It still could fire, but the barrel of the gun was binding to the slide, making it hard to pull back the slide (or something like that? Sorry, I had a hard time following the technical details here.) 13/
This pistol has many “add ons.” Suspiciously, rivers has a tattoo of the same model of gun with many of the same distinctive features and add-ons, including new trigger, grip with finger grooves, 2 notches, distinctive frame, and laser. 14/
This pistol also had a suppressor/silencer, which was broken and perhaps contributed to damaging the gun (tho the gun was dysfunctional with or without it). However, this gun could still fire, as she confirms it’s the source of the bullet that killed Diambu. 15/
Attention then turns to the 38 caliber revolver. She confirms this gun is the source of the bullets that killed Reed. The bullet fragment found in Wright was too damaged to compare. That’s a wrap for today. Defense will cross-x this witness tomorrow. 16/
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