Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Faith Hedgepeth’s Horrific Cause of Death Revealed

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Faith Hedgepeth’s Horrific Cause of Death Revealed · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Imagine trying to read this incredibly dense, tragic novel backward.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Right, starting at the very end.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Exactly. You start on the very last page, staring at
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: this definitive, brutal ending. And your job is to meticulously
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: piece together all the previous chapters.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Using nothing but shattered bone and pooled blood.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and microscopic skin cells. You aren't a detective in
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: this scenario. You are a forensic pathologist. And today we
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: are bypassing the glossy, perfectly paced Hollywood true crime scripts.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: The CSI stuff, yeah.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Right. We are looking at the raw, unfiltered reality of
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: an autopsy. So, welcome to the Deep Dive.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: It's good to be here.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: We are jumping straight into an actual court transcript from
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Court TV today. Specifically, the forensic testimony of Dr.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Scott. She's the forensic pathologist on this case.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Right. She performed the autopsy of Danielle Hedgepeth, who went
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: by Faith. This was on September 8th, 2012, at the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: UNC Chapel Hill campus.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: A very tragic, highly publicized case.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: It really was. And if you're listening to this and
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: you've ever watched a police procedural, you probably think you
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: know how this works, right?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Oh, everybody thinks we're an expert from watching TV.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Exactly. But our mission today for you, the listener, is
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: to strip away all that fiction. We want to understand
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: how a medical examiner actually translates catastrophic physical trauma into
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: a factual scientific narrative.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: A narrative that a jury can actually use to determine
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: legal reality.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Because it's not like the movies at all, is it?
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Not even close. I mean, it requires a complete detachment
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: from emotion. You're relying entirely on protocol, observation, and just, well,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: established medical principles.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: It sounds incredibly clinical.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: It has to be. When a forensic pathologist steps into
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: a courtroom, they are essentially acting as a translator.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Translating the body, basically. Right.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: They are looking at the canvas of the human body
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: and translating biological evidence, cellular damage, the structural failures of
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: bone and tissue, into a language that 12 jurors can comprehend.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Which is a huge responsibility. It is.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: If you truly want to understand how the justice system operates,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: you really have to understand the cold, hard science of pathology.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: And its limitations, right?
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. Perhaps more importantly... You have to understand the
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: inherent rigid limitations of that science.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Which is fascinating. And that scientific process, it begins before
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: the pathologist even picks up a scalpel, right?
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Long before. The preservation of the body is the very
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: first step.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so looking at the very beginning of the transcript,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: the prosecution's first move is to establish a baseline. They
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: introduce Exhibits 68 and 69.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Which are the intake photographs.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Right. Photographs of Faith's body exactly as it was received
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: at the medical examiner's office. And the visual described is
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: highly specific.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: They note the exact state of her clothing.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the upper half of her body was clothed, but
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: the lower half was entirely unclothed.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Which immediately sets the parameters for the exam.
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  Speaker 1: The body itself is essentially a fragile, undisturbed crime scene
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: at this point.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: That's exactly how you have to treat it. Because, you know,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the moment a person dies, a biological clock starts ticking.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Everything starts degrading.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Right. Evidence immediately begins to degrade or it becomes incredibly
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: vulnerable to contamination.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: So they can't just dive in?
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: No, not at all. When the medical examiner receives the body,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: their primary mandate is preservation. They cannot simply start looking
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: for internal trauma.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Because they might destroy something on the surface.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Doing so could destroy trace evidence resting on the skin.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Those initial photographs serve as this immutable record of the
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: state of the body prior to any medical manipulation.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: It establishes the chain of custody.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yes. The fact that she was received partially clothed dictates
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: the exact parameters of how the documentation process will begin.
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  Speaker 2: Every piece of clothing, every speck of debris, it all
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: has to be recorded exactly where it sits.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Which brings up a detail in the documentation process that
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: might feel, I don't know, a bit clinical to anyone
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: outside the field.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: You mean the autopsy identifier?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. The transcript notes that in every single photograph
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: taken during this autopsy, there is a piece of paper
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: or a sticker placed on her stomach or right next
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to the injury.
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  Speaker 2: Bearing the number B12-2820.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Right. It sounds dehumanizing, honestly, but in the context of
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: a courtroom, this is like the ultimate anchor for verifiable certainty.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: It's absolutely essential for the legal record.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Because if these photos are shown to a jury years later,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: a defense attorney can't introduce reasonable doubt, right? Right.
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  Speaker 2: They can't suggest a photograph of a bruise might belong
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: to a completely different case file.
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  Speaker 1: That clinical number ensures every single data point is inextricably
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  Speaker 1: linked to Faith Hedgepeth.
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  Speaker 2: It ties the biology to the legal identity.
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  Speaker 1: But looking at the notes on Exhibits 68 and 69,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: another detail stopped me in my tracks. Okay, let's unpack this. Sure.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: The transcript details the physical state of her extremities when
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: she arrived. It notes they put standard paper bags over
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: her hands and feet.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, very standard procedure.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: But my brain immediately went to contamination. Like, why paper?
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Why aren't they using heavy-duty... Sealed biohazard plastic.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: It seems incredibly low-tech, right? Like you'd want the best
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: plastic available for preserving crucial DNA.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Exactly. It feels like they're just using grocery bags.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Well, it seems low-tech until you look at the microscopic
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: biological processes happening on the skin. You have to remember,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: a human body contains a massive amount of moisture. Okay.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: If you were to place thick, non-porous plastic bags over
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: the hands and feet and then seal them with tape,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: you would basically create a miniature greenhouse effect around those extremities.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow. So as the temperature of the body shifts,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the moisture evaporates.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Right. It evaporates from the skin but gets trapped inside
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the plastic. And that leads to rapid condensation.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: So the hands would essentially be sweating inside a sealed
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: plastic environment.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And that trapped moisture is just a catastrophic environment
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: for forensic evidence. It creates the absolute perfect breeding ground
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: for bacteria.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: And bacteria ruins the DNA.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah. Bacteria produce enzymes called exonucleases, and these actively
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: chew up and degrade DNA.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: That is wild. I had no idea.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Plus, moisture loosens microscopic fibers or gunshot residue or foreign
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: skin cells. It allows them to just wash away or
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: pool uselessly at the bottom of the bag.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: So paper prevents all of that.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, because paper is breathable. It protects the hands from
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: picking up stray hairs or fibers from the morgue table
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: and It catches any trace evidence that might naturally fall off.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: But it lets the air out.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Crucially, yes, because it allows air to circulate. It allows
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the moisture to dissipate. It keeps the microenvironment around the
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  Speaker 2: hands dry and stable.
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  Speaker 1: Halting the bacterial growth. Right.
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  Speaker 2: Preserving the organic integrity of the evidence until it can
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: be collected in the sterile environment of the autopsy suite.
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  Speaker 1: That breathability factor makes complete sense. The simplest solution is
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: actually the most scientifically sound because it respects the biology
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: of the evidence.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: And once those paper bags are carefully removed, Dr. Scott
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: details the collection of that trace evidence.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: She describes the fingernail swabbing.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she describes taking fingernail swabbing by dipping a Q-tip
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  Speaker 1: in saline and running it underneath the nails.
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  Speaker 2: A very meticulous process.
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  Speaker 1: She then packages these swabs, seals them with evidence tape,
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  Speaker 1: signs the seal, and hands them directly to Officer Britt
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  Speaker 1: of the Chapel Hill Police.
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  Speaker 2: Maintaining that unbroken chain of custody.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: But wait, here's something interesting. The prosecution asks if fingerprints
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: were taken during the autopsy, and Dr. Scott says no.
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  Speaker 2: Right, that often surprises people.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. She notes that typically fingerprinting is done by law enforcement,
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  Speaker 1: not the medical examiner.
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  Speaker 2: Which goes against everything you see on TV.
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  Speaker 1: We see bodies rolled into the morgue on television and
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  Speaker 1: the coroner does everything, right? Prints, DNA, the whole works.
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  Speaker 2: But there is a massive jurisdictional wall right in the
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  Speaker 2: middle of the autopsy room.
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  Speaker 1: Really? How so?
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: There's a very strict functional and legal boundary between the
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  Speaker 2: medical examiner and law enforcement. The medical examiner is a physician, right?
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  Speaker 2: Their sole jurisdiction is the medical biology of the body.
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  Speaker 2: They are there to determine the cause and manner of
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  Speaker 2: death through tissue, fluid, and trauma analysis.
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  Speaker 1: And fingerprints don't fall under that?
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  Speaker 2: No, fingerprinting is not a medical procedure at all. It
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  Speaker 2: doesn't yield any pathological data about how a person died.
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  Speaker 2: It is purely a tool for identification and criminal investigation.
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  Speaker 1: Which is the police's job.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, which falls squarely under the purview of law enforcement.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Law enforcement owns the databases, like APHIS, to process those prints.
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  Speaker 1: So if the police need prints from a body, what
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: do they do?
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  Speaker 2: They must handle the ink or digital scanning themselves, or
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: they have to explicitly direct the medical examiner's staff to
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  Speaker 2: do it on their behalf.
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  Speaker 1: Ah, I see. So the pathologist focuses strictly on the
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: biological collection.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Right, like using that saline for the swabs. Saline is
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: a saltwater solution that matches the body's natural fluids.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Why not just use normal water?
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Well, if there are dried skin cells from an attacker
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  Speaker 2: trapped under the victim's nails... Plain water might cause those
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: cells to absorb too much fluid.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: And then what, they burst?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, they can burst, which destroys the DNA inside. Saline
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: rehydrates the cellular material gently, allowing it to adhere to
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: the cotton swab while preserving that genetic blueprint.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. So the pathologist is focused strictly on the biology
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  Speaker 1: of the trauma, treating the body as this interactive map.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: An interactive map is a great way to describe it.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: And there is a chilling example of that map in
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  Speaker 1: Exhibit 68. The prosecution points out a visible amount of
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: blood on Faith's left forearm.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: I remember this part of the testimony.
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  Speaker 1: But then they ask Dr. Scott if there was a
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  Speaker 1: corresponding injury on that forearm. And she says, no, her
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  Speaker 1: left arm was entirely uninjured.
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  Speaker 2: Which is a huge clue.
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  Speaker 1: Right. That means the blood on her arm came from
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  Speaker 1: somewhere else. It either dripped from another wound on her
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: own body, or it was transferred from a bleeding perpetrator.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: He proves movement, you know, dynamic action.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Because it's not just the static scene. Right.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: If blood is found on an intact area of skin,
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  Speaker 2: it forces investigators to reconstruct the proximity of the struggle.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Like, did she raise her arm to her own bleeding head,
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  Speaker 1: transferring the blood?
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  Speaker 2: Or did a wounded attacker grab her arm? The medical
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: examiner just notes the presence of the fluid, preserves it
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: via swabbing, and then leaves it to the detectives.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: To synthesize that finding with the spatial dynamics of the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: actual crime scene.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Exactly. They just provide the biological data point.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: And as we move from the external trace evidence to
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the physical damage of the skin itself, the transcript forces
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: us to confront the actual mechanisms of blunt force trauma.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: This is where the terminology becomes very specific. Yeah.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Exhibits 71, 72, and 73 are close-up photographs of Faith's
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: face and scalp. Dr. Scott details multiple lacerations on the
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: central forehead, the right forehead, and the left scalp.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: The injuries were so severe.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and obscured by hair. They actually had to shave
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: her scalp just to document the wounds properly.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Which is standard when dealing with massive head trauma.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Now, I have to pause here because the terminology Dr.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Scott uses completely contradicts how most of us speak every day.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: How so?
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Well, if I hear the word laceration, I immediately picture
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: a cut. You know, I picture a clean line caused
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: by a knife or a piece of Sharp glass just
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: slicing across the skin.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: It's a very common misconception.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Right, but Dr. Scott testifies that a laceration is specifically
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a blunt force injury. That makes no sense to me.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: The precision of language in forensic pathology is paramount because
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: the terminology actually dictates the weapon and the mechanism of
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: the injury.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, so what is a cut, then?
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: What you were describing, a clean slice from a sharp-edged
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: object like a razor or a knife, That is clinically
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: defined as an incised wound.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: An incised wound. Right.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: An incised wound has clean, sharp margins because the tissue
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: has been neatly severed.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Okay, so how is a laceration different?
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: A laceration is a completely different biomechanical event. It is
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: caused by an object with absolutely no sharp cutting edge.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Like what?
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Like a heavy flashlight, a baseball bat, or a rock.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: An object like that strikes the body with extreme force.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: But how does a blunt, round object create a wound
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: that looks like a cut?
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: It comes down to the structural limits and the tensile
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: strength of human skin.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Okay, explain that.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Well, the dermis has a remarkable amount of elasticity, right?
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: But it sits on top of subcutaneous fat and eventually
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: hard bone.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Especially on the skull.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Exactly. When a blunt object strikes the skin with overwhelming
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: kinetic energy, it violently compresses the skin against that unyielding
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: bone underneath it.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Ouch.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: The tissue is crushed and stretched so rapidly that it
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: surpasses its maximum tensile strength. The skin simply cannot stretch
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: any further.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: So it fails structurally.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: It fails. And it bursts open. It tears. That splitting
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: is a laceration.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: So it's not cut. It's torn from pressure. Right.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: And because it is a violent tear, not a clean slice,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: if you look at a laceration under magnification, you will
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: see something called tissue bridging.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Tissue bridging? What's that?
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: These are tiny strands of nerves, blood vessels, or connective
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: tissue that stretched during the impact but didn't quite snap.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Like stretching gum? Yes.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: They bridge the gap of the wound. You will also
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: see scraped, abraded margins where the blunt object dragged against
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: the skin right before it split.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: So that tells the pathologist definitively that a knife was
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: not used.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Exactly. This was a heavy, blunt impact.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: The skin literally bursts from being crushed against the skull.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: That distinction paints a much more violent, devastating picture of
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: the attack.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: It really does. It requires immense force.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: And the internal consequences of that blunt force bring us
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to an incredibly grim medical phenomenon documented in Exhibit 76.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: The bruising.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It shows severe bruising surrounding Faith's right ear, extending
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: over to her right eye.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: And Dr.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Scott also notes bruising over both eyes.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: What's fascinating here is how that bruising actually formed.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Right, because in common parlance, we'd look at that and
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: assume she was punched directly in the eyes.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Like a standard black eye.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Exactly. But Dr. Scott testifies that these raccoon eyes likely
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: didn't come from direct strikes to the face.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: No, she is describing a classic forensic presentation known as
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: periorbital ecchymosis.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Periorbital ecchymosis. Right.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: While it is physically possible to sustain bruising from direct punches...
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: The context of Faith's massive head trauma points to a
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: much deeper structural failure.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: So where did the bruising come from?
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: You have to look at the anatomy of the cranial vault.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: The base in front of the skull has a vast
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: network of blood vessels. When the skull sustains massive fractures,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: those bones shatter. This tears the blood vessels and causes
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: significant hemorrhaging inside the head.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: And because blood is a fluid, it obeys gravity.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: So it's less like a black eye from a punch...
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: And more like a leaky pipe in an upstairs bathroom.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: That's a great analogy.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Where the water seeps through the floorboards and eventually creates
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: this massive spreading stain on the drywall of the ceiling
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: below it.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Right. The damage isn't actually on the ceiling.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: The ceiling is just where the fluid ultimately gathered.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And just like that leaky pipe, by the time
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: the pathologist sees the stain, they know the catastrophic damage
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: is actually hidden higher up.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: So the damage was in her skull, but the blood
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: pooled in her face. Yes.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: The human face has loose, soft fascial planes, particularly around
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: the eye sockets.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: So the blood just travels down.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Right. The internal bleeding from the shattered skull seeks the
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: path of least resistance. It seeps through the fracture lines
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: in the bone and drips down into loose tissues around
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: the eyes and behind the ears.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: And that creates the discoloration.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: The pooling of this blood creates deep purple and black
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: discoloration that completely mimics a severe surface bruise. But it
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: is actually an external symptom of profound inflammation. internal cranial destruction. Wow.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: You mentioned the sheer force required to split the skin
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: and shatter the bone, causing that internal bleeding.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: The force is astronomical.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: When we look at what actually happened to the bone
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: beneath those lacerations, the skeletal narrative of this transcript is staggering.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: It's very difficult to read.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Exhibits 82 and 83 are photographs taken after the scalp
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: was pulled back. It shows the actual skull, along with
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: a view of the base of the skull after the
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: brain was removed.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: And the damage is extensive.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Dr. Scott describes a, quote, very large area of fracturing
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: involving nearly the entire right side of her skull.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Nearly the entire right side.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. She states that in some areas there is an
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: actual absence of bone.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: It wasn't just cracked.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: No, the bone was splintered and displaced to the point
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: that soft tissue was exposed. I mean, how does that
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: even happen?
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: The human skull is an evolutionary marvel. It's essentially an
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: anatomical arch designed to deflect blows and protect the brain.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: So it's very hard to break.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: It is incredibly resilient. To calculate the force required to
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: cause this level of destruction, you have to think about
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: kinetic energy.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: OK, physics time. Right.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Kinetic energy is half the mass of the object multiplied
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: by the square of its velocity.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: So mass and speed.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Yes. To strike a human skull with a blunt object
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: with enough mass and speed to completely overcome the structural
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: integrity of the bone, to shatter it so violently that
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: fragments are literally missing. implies a horrific transfer of kinetic energy.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: It's not just a bump on the head. No.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: It requires an act of extreme, overwhelming violence. The perpetrator
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: swung that weapon with everything they had.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: And the physical record of that violence isn't confined just
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: to the head.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: We see injuries on her extremities as well.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we see Exhibit 84 showing a chipped left front tooth.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: But then the prosecution asks Dr. Scott to detail the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: bruising found on the extremities.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: This part is crucial for understanding her final moments.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Here's where it gets really interesting. You know, when you
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: hear a pathologist list bruises located specifically on the back
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: of Faith's right arm, the back of her right hand,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the knuckles of her index and middle fingers and both
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: of her knees.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: It paints a very specific, tragic picture.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: It really does. You are no longer just looking at
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: a catalog of damage. You are looking at a timeline
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: of resistance.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: You are looking at the body's hardwired autonomic survival instinct.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: It's permanently recorded in the tissue.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Defensive wounds.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Exactly. In forensic pathology, we analyze injury patterns to reconstruct
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: the posture and the dynamic movement of the victim.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: So what do bruises on the back of the arms
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: tell you?
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Bruising on the back of the forearms and hands are
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: the textbook definition of defensive wounds.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Because she was blocking. Right.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: If a heavy object is being swung at your head,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: your brain doesn't have time to consciously process a defense strategy.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: You just react.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Your reflex arc takes over. Your arms instantly fly up
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: to shield your cranium. You naturally turn the backs of
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: your arms and hands outward to absorb the blow.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Because you're trying to protect your face and head.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: You are sacrificing your extremities to protect your vital organs.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: So the deep bruising on the back of her arm
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: proves she was awake, aware, and actively absorbing blows meant
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: for her head. Yes.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: She was fighting for her life.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: And what about the bruised knuckles?
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: The knuckles could indicate the weapon striking her clenched fists
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: as she covered her face.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Or.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Or they could indicate her actively striking out at her attacker.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Punching back.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And the bruising and scrapes on her knees suggest
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: a desperate struggle, likely falling or being knocked to the
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: ground while trying to get away.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: These injuries humanize the autopsy so much.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: They do. They tell the jury that this was a dynamic,
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: terrifying fight for survival. She didn't just passively receive these injuries.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: The brutality of those defensive wounds paints one part of
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the picture. But, you know, because she was found unclothed
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: from the waist down, the protocol demands the medical examiner
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: look for another type of trauma entirely. Right.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: The sexual assault kit.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The autopsy requires a highly specific invasive procedure. the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: post-mortem sexual assault examination.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: It's an incredibly detailed protocol.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Dr. Scott details this extensively. They check the external genitalia
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: for injury. They take a series of swabs, oral, vaginal, anal,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: and the surrounding skin.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Collecting as much biological material as possible.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: They collect samples of scalp hair and pulled pubic hair
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: looking for foreign DNA or transferred fibers.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: They also do an internal exam.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Right. They use a speculum to examine the internal vaginal
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: wall and the cervix. visually searching for microtrauma or tears.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: It is an exhaustive checklist to ensure absolutely no biological
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: evidence of sexual violence is missed.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: But the findings here are going to confuse a lot
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of people.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: They often do.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Dr. Scott states plainly that there were zero injuries observed
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: to Faith's external genitalia or to the internal linings of
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: her vaginal wall or cervix.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: No visible trauma at all.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: She notes the presence of blood, but clarifies it was
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: from the lining of the uterus actively sloughing. meaning she
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: was menstruating.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: So the blood was not from an injury.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Exactly. There was absolutely no physical trauma found. Now, if
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: you are listening to this and putting yourself in the
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: shoes of a juror, your common sense probably tells you
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: that a violent assault must leave physical damage.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: That is a very common assumption.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: If the exam found zero injuries, does that automatically mean
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: no sexual assault took place?
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: It absolutely does not. This is where forensic science has
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: to actively battle against pervasive common sense myths.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Because it seems so logical, force equals damage. Right.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: But the prosecution explicitly asks Dr. Scott if injuries and
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: trauma are always found after a known sexual assault. And
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: her answer is a definitive no.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Why is that?
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: If we connect this to the bigger picture, you have
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: to look at the evolutionary biology of the tissue we
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: are discussing.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: The vaginal tissue. Yes.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: The vaginal tissue is composed of specialized mucosal linings and
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: elastin fibers. that are designed to stretch to an extraordinary degree.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Oh, because of childbirth.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Evolutionarily, this tissue is engineered to accommodate the immense
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: mechanical forces of passing an infant during childbirth. And it's
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: designed to do so while minimizing permanent tearing.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: So because the tissue is biologically engineered to withstand that
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: kind of extreme trauma, it can absorb the blunt force
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: or friction of an assault without failing structurally.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Precisely. It is incredibly robust and compliant tissue. A tremendous
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: amount of mechanical stress can be applied to that area
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: during a sexual assault without causing a laceration or abrasion
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: visible to the naked eye.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: That is awful to think about, but it makes total
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: biological sense.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Furthermore, a sexual assault involves complex dynamics of fear and coercion.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: What do you mean?
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Well, a victim might be unconscious, or paralyzed by terror,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: or physically restrained in a way that minimizes the friction
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: that typically causes tearing.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: So a lack of struggle in that specific area means
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: a lack of visible tearing.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Exactly. This is why Dr. Scott points out they did
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: not use advanced techniques like toluidine blue dye.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: What does that dye do?
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: It's sometimes used to highlight microscopic tears that are invisible
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: to the naked eye. But based on standard visual inspection,
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: there was no trauma.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: But her core message to the jury is vital, right? Yes.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: The absence of physical injury does not equal the absence
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: of an assault. The DNA from the swabs will ultimately
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: tell the story of contact, but the physical tissue itself
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: is often silent. Wow.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: So we've walked through this exhaustive, meticulous physical exam.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Step by step.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: The body has told its story in defensive bruises, shattered bone,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: and preserved DNA. But now Dr. Scott has to take
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: all of this complex biology and synthesize it into a
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: set of conclusions for the court.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: This is where she has to be very careful with
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: her words.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because the state asks her to identify the weapon.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: She reiterates that the cause of death is blunt force
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: trauma to the head.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: The mechanism of death is clear.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: But when pressed on the exact weapon, she says, quote,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: there is no scientific way to say any more than
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: it was a blunt instrument without a sharp cutting edge.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: She won't guess.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Right. The prosecution literally asks if the injuries are consistent
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: with a thick glass bottle.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: Trying to get her to confirm their theory.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And she agrees that it is one type of
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: instrument that fits the profile, but she steadfastly refuses to
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: say it was a glass bottle.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: And that restraint is the absolute hallmark of rigorous science.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: It must be frustrating for the prosecution, though.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, the pressure in a courtroom to deliver a neat,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: definitive narrative is immense. It would be very easy for
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: a pathologist to look at a curved laceration and confidently declare, oh,
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: it was caused by a rum bottle.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: But she doesn't do that. No.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Dr. Scott stays strictly within the boundaries of physics. The
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: structural failure of the skin and bone tells her the
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: weapon had high mass and a blunt surface.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Which a bottle has.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: A thick glass bottle fits that physical profile perfectly. But,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: you know, so does a heavy wooden flashlight or a
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: metal pipe or a rounded rock.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: So by saying it is consistent with, she's playing it safe.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: She allows the prosecution to present their theory. Perhaps they
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: found a broken bottle at the scene. While she maintains
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: her absolute scientific objectivity.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: She applies that exact same scientific restraint when they ask
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: her about the time of death.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Another area where TV ruins everything. Yes.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: She flat out tells the jury, quote, Which is the truth.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: She explicitly calls out television shows for making it seem possible.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: So what does this all mean? We watch these crime
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: dramas where the charismatic medical examiner snaps off their gloves.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: checks the liver temperature, and declares, time of death was
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: exactly 2.15 a.m.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: It's pure Hollywood fiction.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: You're telling me that's entirely made up. What are the
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: biological variables that make a precise timestamp impossible in real life?
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: That television trope is part of what forensic professionals call
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: the CSI effect, which deeply warps jury expectations.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Because jurors expect absolute certainty.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: Exactly. In reality, determining a post-mortem interval relies on a
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: triad of physical changes. Rigor mortis. Liver mortis and algor mortis.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: The three mortises.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: Right. But all three are wildly unpredictable.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Really? Let's take rigor mortis, the stiffening of the body.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: How is that unpredictable?
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: On a cellular level, your muscles contract because of little
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: molecular ratchets involving proteins called actin and myosin.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, biology 101.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: They need a molecule called ATP to release and relax.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: When you die, your body stops producing ATP, so the
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: muscles just lock up.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Makes sense. So why can't you just measure that?
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Because remember those defensive wounds we just discussed? The violent
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: struggle Faith endured would have severely depleted her cellular ATP
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: before she even died.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Which actually accelerates the onset of rigor mortis.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: So her body would stiffen much faster than someone who
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: died peacefully in their sleep, completely throwing off the timeline.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: Exactly. You can't just use the standard chart.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: What about the other two? Liver mortis?
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Liver mortis is the settling of the blood. When the
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: heart stops pumping, gravity pulls the red blood cells downward.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Eventually they burst the vessels and permanently stain the dependent
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: tissues purple.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Right, like the blood pooling we talked about earlier.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Yes, but this depends on how the body was positioned
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: and if anything was pressing against the skin to block
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: the pooling. Like if she was lying on her arm,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: that patch of skin would be pale, not purple.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: So again, too many variables. And algor mortis.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Algor mortis is the cooling of the body, which follows
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Newtonian physics. But it is entirely dependent on ambient temperature.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Like if the room was hot or cold.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: Right. Or whether the victim had a fever before they died,
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: the insulating effect of their clothing, or even the surface
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: they are lying on. Tile cools a body faster than
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: a mattress.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Because all these biochemical and thermodynamic variables are constantly shifting
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: and interacting, a precise time is just impossible.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: A pathologist can only offer a window, sometimes a window
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: of several hours. A down-to-the-minute timestamp is biologically impossible.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Dr. Katal. Scott manages the jury's expectations beautifully here, forcing
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: them to evaluate the case based on real biology, not
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: television tropes.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: It's vital that she does that.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: And that transition from the raw science to the legal
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: reality is where things get incredibly contentious in this transcript.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: The legal battle over the report.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Yes. The final piece of evidence is Exhibit 85, which
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: is the official autopsy report itself. Dr. Scott concludes the
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: cause of death is blunt force trauma. and the manner
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: of death is homicide.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: The official legal conclusions.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: The state moves to enter the report into evidence. But
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the defense attorney, Mr. Ransford, aggressively objects.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: He fights it hard.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: He doesn't object on medical grounds, though. He objects on
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: constitutional grounds, citing the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: and Rule 403 of the Rules of Evidence.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: This is a fascinating legal maneuver.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Because to an outsider, objecting to an autopsy report in
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: a murder trial seems absurd. It's a medical document. It's
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: the facts. Why would the defense fight so hard to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: keep it out?
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Because an autopsy report is often the single most devastating
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: piece of evidence the state possesses.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, but how does the Constitution play into it?
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: The Sixth Amendment guarantees a defendant the right to confront
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: and cross-examine their accuser.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Right, the right to face your accuser in court.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: The profound legal and philosophical debate here is whether an
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: autopsy report is merely a clinical medical record or if
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: it constitutes, quote, testimony prepared specifically for the prosecution.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Oh, I see. Because if it's testimony, the author has
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: to be there to be questioned.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: Exactly. If a different medical examiner had performed the autopsy
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: and then say, retired or passed away, and Dr. Scott
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: was simply reading their old report aloud.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: The defense would argue they can't cross-examine the person who
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: actually saw the body. Right.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: They would argue they're being denied their constitutional right. You
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: cannot cross-examine a piece of paper.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: You need to probe the mind and methods of the
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: person who actually made the physical observations.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Yes. But in this case, since Dr. Scott performed the
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: autopsy herself and is physically on the stand, The judge
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: overrules that specific objection.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: But the defense also cites Rule 403. What is that?
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Rule 403 is about the delicate balance of truth versus
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: visceral horror in a juror's mind.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Visceral horror.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: It states that evidence can be excluded if its probative value,
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: meaning its ability to prove a fact, is substantially outweighed
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: by the danger of unfair prejudice.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: So they're saying the report is just too gruesome.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. The defense is arguing that the autopsy report,
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: with its clinically graphic descriptions of shattered skulls, displaced bone,
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: and massive hemorrhaging, is so inherently emotionally disturbing that it
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: will completely inflame the passions of the jury.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: They think the jury will just see red.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: They argue the jury will be so horrified by the
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: violence that they will be prejudiced against the defendant, blinding
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: them to any legal nuance or reasonable doubt.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: That makes sense from a defense standpoint. It is a
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: desperate maneuver, but a vital one for a defense attorney.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Because once that autopsy report is officially entered into the record,
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: the visceral reality of the homicide is undeniable.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: It is the final page of our backward novel, officially
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: stamped and entered into the record.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: The story is complete.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: We have traced the steps from the initial preservation of
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: a fragile crime scene covered in simple, breathable paper bags.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Through the complex physics of lacerations bursting under pressure.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: To the dynamic biomechanics of defensive wounds. We've tackled the
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: myths surrounding sexual assault tissue elasticity and the thermodynamic impossibilities
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: of pinpointing a.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: Time of death. It's a lot to process.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: It really is. Real forensic science isn't flashy magic, and
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: it isn't always definitive. It is methodical. It is strictly
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: constrained by physical realities, and it requires juries to just
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: set aside their assumptions and listen to the cold, hard biology.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: It demands an objective interpretation of trauma. You have to
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: honor the physical evidence left behind while recognizing the absolute
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: limits of what that evidence can actually tell us. Exactly.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: But before we sign off, I want to leave you,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: the listener, with one final provocative thought to ponder.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's hear it.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Something that builds on that collision of science and law
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: we just discussed with the Sixth Amendment. Consider the defense's
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: objection to the autopsy report on constitutional grounds.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: The idea that it's static testimony.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Right. We are currently living in an era where DNA
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: technology and AI-driven pathology are advancing at lightning speed. Algorithms
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: are actively being trained to spot microscopic anomalies in tissue
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: that a human eye might miss.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: The technology is moving so fast.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: So as we look to the future, how will the
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: justice system handle cold cases? If an autopsy report is
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: just a static medical snapshot taken in 2012 by a
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: human being using a standard speculum and a digital camera,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: will future defense attorneys successfully argue that those old forensic
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: conclusions are entirely obsolete and legally invalid?
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: That's a huge question.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Or will new advanced computational science finally unlock the invisible
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: secrets that have been hiding all these years in the
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: microscopic evidence perfectly preserved underneath those simple, breathable paper bags?
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: It is entirely a question of time, technology, and truth.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on the Deep Dive.