Doctor, if you could invite your attention to the photograph, exhibit 353 that is on the overhead. Doctor, does this photograph fairly and accurately depict the demonstration that you performed yesterday afternoon regarding your opinion as to the manner in which that major stab/incise wound was inflicted to the neck of Nicole Brown Simpson?
It catches one moment of the beginning of the description of the fatal stab/incise wound I described yesterday.
And doctor, given how you appear in this exhibit, is it your opinion that the perpetrator of that stab/incise wound used his or her right hand to inflict that injury?
And is it your opinion that the perpetrator used his or her left hand to pull the hair of Nicole Brown Simpson and thus reflect the neck in a hyperextended fashion as shown in this photograph?
Doctor, if you could step down, I'm going to put back--take the pointer with you, please.
All right. Mr. Kelberg, if you would just wait for opposing counsel and their experts to position themselves.
Absolutely. And your Honor, as we discussed with Mr. Cochran, we are going to have some easels up and there is going to have to be some movement to allow everybody to see everything and at the same time have certain exhibits prepped for the jury's observation.
Doctor, I want to go back to the photographs B-13 and B-16 regarding the blood flow that you would expect from such a stab/incise wound. Are you familiar with the term called "Aspiration of blood"?
"Aspiration" means that you aspirate the blood into the airways or the respiratory tract.
"Aspirated" in essence means swallowing it, instead of down the esophagus, down your windpipe?
Is aspiration of blood of any significance in evaluating a sharp force injury such as the one seen in these two photographs, B-13 and B-16?
When you have an injury of such a nature to the neck, especially slicing the large thyrohyoid radia, you would expect some bleeding and aspiration of blood into the respiratory tract, and none was found here.
You have reviewed Dr. Golden's report concerning an examination of the trachea and the lungs?
And does he make a specific reference with respect to whether or not any such aspiration of blood was found?
He makes a reference about the lungs and bronchi, but he doesn't discuss any aspiration.
Have you examined them from the standpoint of looking for evidence of aspirated blood?
I made findings, but there is no aspiration which I could see in the sections which I examined.
And that would be consistent with the absence of a finding of aspirated blood in the trachea?
Now, doctor, assuming that there was no blood aspirated by Nicole Brown Simpson, what, if any, significance does that have to you in forming any opinion as to the circumstances under which this wound was inflicted and she subsequently died?
As I opined yesterday, she was most likely face down when the final fatal stab/incise wound was inflicted, and I also opined that the neck was hyperextended, and when this incision took place all the bleeding, the blood flow, went to the ground. And also the injury you are discussing endures nearly all the four major blood vessels, both the jugular veins and the carotid artery and this would lead sometimes as to immediate death or death within a very few minutes. And since there is bleeding there, she was definitely having blood pressure for at least a short time, which would cause her death, and also because of the position, I'm not surprised if she didn't aspirate because the blood flowed out to the ground and there was no evidence of aspiration seen.
Doctor, you have had an opportunity to review photographs taken by the police department at the Bundy scene when the bodies were found; is that correct?
Your Honor, I have another board of photographs that I would ask to be--that I would ask to be marked as exhibit 354, entitled "Blood from sharp force injuries to the neck of ms. Brown."
Doctor, I invite your attention on this new exhibit--354 I believe I would ask to have the Court marked as.
Inviting your attention to a photograph that is marked cS-11, does that photograph have some significance to you on the subject about which you were just testifying?
Ms. Brown Simpson is lying semi-prone here on her left side, and if you can see the left forearm and hand, the knuckles are opposing the ground.
Yes. And you have the--her right hand flexed at the elbow and under her chin area, around the chin area here, (Indicating), this is the pavement here and this is the--
The head here and the pharynx here and the chin is here so the other hand is somewhere in that region, (Indicating). Now, if you look at crime scene photograph 39, you looked at crime scene photograph 11 now, giving you the general position, if you look at crime scene no. 39, the same knuckle, if you look here, (Indicating), the knuckle for the index finger and the knuckle for the middle finger is pale and there is no blood staining there. This would indicate that the hand was in contact because you will have massive blood flow from this neck wound, and this means that this hand was in contact with the ground, this is my opinion, when this neck was hyperextended and incised, so the blood flowed around the hand and left the areas in contact. You can also see the watch area here, (Indicating), and this area which didn't have blood on it because those are the areas in contact, so the blood flows and whatever is in contact with the ground will not have any blood staining and that supports my opinion that she was on the ground face down when this fatal wound took place with the blood flowing around the extremity as I just described.
Doctor, which hand--CS, crime scene 39 photograph, which hand does that photograph depict?
And I ask you to assume for your opinion that that photograph fairly and accurately represents the condition of the hand as the body was observed on June 13th, 1994. Now, doctor, I want to invite your attention--
I think we have a mistake. On the board it says June 13th, 1995. Somebody patched a 5 over our 4, but I will ask, your Honor, that we will remove that patch or put another one on. It is obviously from 1994.
Doctor, I can't quite see that. CS-40 I believe is the photograph in the same row on the opposite side. Is that photograph of any significance to you?
Yes. This also shows that the right hand area, this is the right hand, which I'm looking--which we are looking at, and if you look at the area around the knuckle proximal phalanx, this is the area of the hand. If you read into crime scene photograph 11, it would indicate that this part of the hand is in this region here, (Indicating).
Indicating, your Honor, for the record, the doctor took the back of his right hand and had up against the--
So this--these photographs clearly demonstrate the blood flow pattern and why these photographs support my opinion which I opined yesterday as to the neck stab/incise wound being the last wound which Miss Simpson suffered.
Doctor, in your opinion, the head can be pulled back with the left hand by use of the hair and the neck hyperextended and still have the two hands in contact with the ground, as you have indicated here?
Not--only one hand on the ground. The other one was there after the incision was made and then--
So one hand in contact with the ground, one hand in contact with the chin when the head is pulled back? Is that your opinion?
No. One hand was in contact with the ground. The head was pulled back. The other hand fell in place when the final resting position came in.
All right. And so both hands were on the ground at the time the wound actually was inflicted?
Now, doctor, inviting your attention to what appears to be blood around the head of Nicole Brown Simpson in photograph cS-11, doctor, assuming that that is the blood of Nicole Brown Simpson, is that blood volume that appears in that photograph consistent with the kind of bleeding you would expect from that major stab/incise wound seen in the photographs in exhibit 352?
How long would it take, in your opinion, for that blood to be flowing outside of the body to create what we are seeing in crime scene 11 photograph?
As I described earlier, this is the last wound, in my opinion, and I also discussed loss of blood and--if you lose about--I don't think I discussed that. If you lose--the normal blood volume is 4 to 5.5 liters in an average human being.
Hang on. Before you--can we move it into a system that most of us might understand?
The blood volume because this--I'm talking about the U.S. gallon because the imperial gallon is much higher amount. I think the U.S. gallon is 3.4 or 3.5 liters, if I am right, and the imperial gallon is about 4.4.
Doctor, I didn't even know there was an imperial gallon, so I will be satisfied with the U.S. gallon?
KEY QUOTEAbout one and a half gallons of blood volume and just an approximate maybe. The normal blood volume, as you know, the metric system is 5 to 5.5 liters. If anybody loses 2 to 2.5 liters rapidly they will go into shock and following shock you more or less will die after that without medical treatment because your heart will go into irregular beats and then you will die. Miss Brown had other injuries which also would cause significant bleeding. She had four sharp force injuries to the neck here, (Indicating). She had some sharp force injuries to the head which would also cause bleeding. And those, in my opinion, occurred before this wound, so accounting for some blood loss from those wounds and this, I would say she died within a few minutes, probably much less than a minute or so, because the--she would have gone into rapid shock with this massive injury.
And doctor, is that time frame, minutes to perhaps less than a minute, sufficient for that volume of blood to flow outside of her body?
Yes, because as I told you, these are large vessels in the neck, the carotid artery. The carotid artery roughly pumps about 200 cc's a minute on both sides. And you also have the jugular veins which are large venus channels but also all the smaller vessels are getting cut at the same time. I'm not discussing the smaller vessels rest else.
Blood pressure goes to zero. And the blood pressure goes to zero when you lose about 25 percent to 35 percent of your blood volume.
Doctor, when you testified yesterday about this stab/incise wound, you talked about in your opinion how it is deeper on the left side and shallower on the right side. Was there also something about the angulation of the wound which was of any significance to you?
Yes. It angulates from the mid-portion of the left neck upwards to the right side of the neck below the ear. The wound ends just below the right ear.
How is the angulation of any significance to you, if it is, in forming your opinion as to the sequence or circumstances of how the wound was in fact inflicted, as shown in the demonstration yesterday afternoon?
That will support my opinion in the manner that when the head is hyperextended and a right-handed person inflicts this injury, at least a person who used his right hand to inflict this injury, the upward angle will fit the scenario which I just opined.
Now, doctor, you said a right-handed person and then you talked about a person using his right hand. How do you distinguish those two concepts?
Because some people may be strong in both the hands, and some people are, so there could be equal dexterity in both extremities.
If you keep your voice up, it would really help the reporter because she is behind you and it is very difficult, so--doctor, before I move to another photograph that you briefly talked about, B-18, I just want to talk briefly about an area on B-13 that appears on the left side of the face of Nicole Brown Simpson and what appears to be some kind of discoloration. Do you see that in the photograph?
Yes. That is the discoloration caused by postmortem lividity which is also known as livor mortis.
And we touched on that I think on Friday when we were looking at those forms that Claudine Ratcliffe filled out. Can you point out the area, first of all, in the photograph?
I know the Court can't see it. My representation would be that the doctor pointed to the area just above the left side of the chin.
And again we are going to get into a much more detailed discussion of lividity, but for purpose of our discussion, doctor, what is it and how does it have significance, if any, to you?
Lividity is the draining of blood, after the circulation has ceased, to the dependent parts of the body by the action of gravity causing discoloration in areas which are not under pressure, so--
Let me--if I could, could I have our exhibit 354 board, if you will just slide it this way--don't. Thank you, doctor. Because you have used some terms, dependent part of the body and so forth. Can you use photographs cS-11--
Yes. In cS-11 you see the left side of the face of Miss Nicole Brown Simpson is the most dependent part of the body touching the ground, and almost touching the ground except for the interspersed right hand I discussed earlier. So the discoloration which I showed you in B-13 is the draining of blood to that area, because of this position she ultimately came to rest after death, (Indicating).
Doctor, when you are talking about dependent part of the body, in essence are you saying the lowest part of the body?
But in this particular photograph cS-11, with respect to the face, the dependent part of the face is which side?
And then is the appearance of lividity that you have identified in B-13 consistent with what you would expect to see from a body that had been in that position?
Doctor, is there anything--I'm sorry. Umm, you mentioned on B-16 I think the thyrohyoid area; is that correct?
And in your testimony, as I recall, you used the term a cornu, C-O-R-N-U; is that correct?
It is approximately shown here on the right side here, (Indicating). This is the thyroid cartilage I am pointing to in B-16 and the cornu, C-O-R-N-U, are also known as horns, H-O-R-N-S, thyroid horns. They are situated at the back of the upper part of the thyroid cartilage on both sides. And this right cornu was also incised by the same wound as it was traversing from left to right.
You talked about lines of Langer or Langers lines. Do those lines come into play in this issue of the gaping--
In this situation the neck has almost been sliced half from front to back, so it is more than this line of Langer. All the structures here have been cut so that the wound--the neck is not as stable as it should be because the spine has also been cut. So you have--and also the positioning of the body when you take a photograph--
--when you take a photograph of the front wound, because of the gaping wound, you see more gaping.
Now, doctor, did you find that in Dr. Golden's original protocol he described this major stab/incise wound that we have seen in the photographs B-13, B-16 and the small portion in B-18?
Did Dr. Golden also diagram, in one or more of the forms that you have previously identified, that same injury?
Did he in his original protocol or his original diagrams identify the injury to the right cornu?
Is it a mistake of his not to have diagrammed that in one or more of the diagram forms available?
And doctor, have you considered those mistakes--those are two mistakes then; is that correct?
Have you considered those mistakes as to their significance on all these issues you have been asked about?
In your opinion does that mistake of failing to identify it in the protocol and the mistake of failing to diagram it have any significance on any of the issues that you have addressed?
Because that is an ear injury in a massive injury to the neck, and most importantly, the neck organ was saved and is available for review and that is how I saw it. And to me it has no significance as far as the cause of death goes or in explaining what I just explained regarding aspiration and other issues, and it is a mistake, but it is not of significance for any of the issues as far as the cause of death, bleeding patterns and evaluating the injury.
Does it have any significance in your ability to assess the class of knife or classes of knives which could be responsible for inflicting that major stab/incise wound?
No, because the--the cornu has been incised so it could be both a single-edged or a double-edged knife. Anybody with a sharp edge could have caused that transection of the cornu.
So this is one of the sharp force injuries that you are not able to distinguish by the appearance of the injury itself, whether it is a single-edge or a double-edge?
But it is a sharp force injury that is consistent with a six-inch long single-edged knife blade?
Yes, but I would favor it being a single-edged because there is one area, which if you look at B-18, the wound started as an incise wound, but then there is a bridge here, (Indicating), following that, which I would favor a single-edged knife, but because a double-edged knife would not leave a bridge there, because a single-edge knife, when you start using the sharp portion of the knife to make the cut and then you do the penetrating part, the blunt edge will leave a bridge there. And that is why this photograph is important, (Indicating), that this wound, even though I can't say with full certainty that it is only a single-edged knife, I would favor a single-edged knife, but a double-edged knife could do--can create a wound of similar nature.
I think you may be seeing with the magnifying glass, but I'm afraid the jurors probably can't see it from where they are seated, but for the record, doctor, you were pointing to an area on B-18 that is two--it is the left side of the neck area and it is the area that is immediately adjacent to where there appears to be that side of this major stab/incise wound; is that correct?
Doctor, is there anything else of significance to you with respect to these three photographs, with particularity on this stab/incise wound, that we have not discussed?
Before we move to the more detailed description of the other stab wounds, if we could have just a moment to set up the easels and maybe ask all counsel to help us out a bit to give us a little room.
Given our problems, here, counsel why don't you step to the well and you are welcome to do so.
Dr. Lakshmanan, we have up on the left side the blow-up of what is exhibit 349, the protocol?
What page or pages in this protocol reflects Dr. Golden's identification of this major stab/incise wound?
Doctor, on this page, where, if at all, do you see the start of any description regarding that injury?
It is page 3 in the bottom of the page. It says, "Description of incise wound of neck and evidence of injury" and then it starts the description of the wound and then continues to page 4.
All right. Before we flip to page 4, your Honor, for the record, I'm going to mark "B-13, 16, 18" along the left margin of page 3 by the description where Dr. Lakshmanan has identified.
Page 4 continues the description of what I just discussed. It also discusses the injury to the carotid artery, the jugular vein. And what I would like to point out as the description of the right jugular vein where there is only a quarter-inch cut whereas the internal jugular vein on the left side is almost transected which again would support my opinion that the left side was a deeper part of the wound than the right side which was shallower.
And doctor, does this entire page cover aspects of the description and opinion from Dr. Golden regarding that same injury?
Your Honor, so I may also mark similar along the left side "B-13, B-16, B-18" of that series.
Now, doctor we have to the left of Mr. Lynch a blow-up of another one of the exhibits from 349 and it is smaller version in the 348 series. Is this one of the diagrams that was used by Dr. Golden with respect to drawing in observations made during the course of the autopsy?
Does this diagram contain any reference to this stab/incise wound that we have been discussing over the last few minutes?
It shows the wound in the left neck going up the mid-portion of the left neck up to the lower right ear. It is a diagrammatic representation.
And doctor, does there appear to be any description or writing made by Dr. Golden reflecting his observations of that wound?
Yes. This particular handwriting here refers to this wound, (Indicating), and it--you can also--starts with "Edges smooth" and continues up to here, (Indicating).
When you say the words "Edges smooth," is that consistent with your examination of the margins of that stab/incise wound?
I discussed that it is a single cut and in my opinion there was not any resistance offered.
KEY QUOTEYour Honor, where Dr. Golden has--I'm sorry, Dr. Lakshmanan has testified regarding the entries by Dr. Golden on this form, may the record reflect I have encircled the area in red and on the big diagram form 22 and I am writing out at the edge "B-13, B-16, B18."
Now, doctor, I'm going to ask Mr. Lynch, if he would, to take down 22 and put up another form--by the way, that was on board 3B and I can't tell the number--I think that is 0B, the protocol, the original protocol, but I will verify that when we get it down. It is on the other side.
Doctor, is this a form 20 that is used by Dr. Golden in the course of the autopsy?
And is there an entry by Dr. Golden on this form with respect to that same neck injury?
Yes. You can see it on the neck going from the left side of the mid-part of the neck to the upper right neck below the ear, (Indicating).
And is there any writing that you attribute from Dr. Golden to that particular injury?
When it says "Trans" here that means transfers and going up here, this part here, (Indicating).
And your Honor, where Dr. Lakshmanan has testified regarding the diagram by Dr. Golden on form 20, I'm circling it in red and out at the side writing "B-13, B-16, B-18." Now, I'm going to ask Mr. Lynch to put up a copy of the addendum report--I'm sorry, before he does so, if I may just have a moment to get a different diagram.
This is another one of the forms used by Dr. Golden in the course of the autopsy?
And is there any entry or markings on this form that reflect upon this same injury we have been discussing?
Yes. Here is showing the injury to the thyrohyoid here, (Indicating), and given this description, so this and this whole area and this whole area would reflect the--internal description of the injury to the neck which I just opined on.
Now, doctor, does this form depict in a diagrammatic fashion the cornu or horn area that you talked about earlier this morning?
Yes, because there is a lot of writing here. He used this part. This is the thyroid cartilage, the side view. This is the cornu area of the thyroid cartilage and you can see it here, too, it may be difficult to see, but you can see on it both sides. This is the thyroid cartilage area, (Indicating).
Doctor, if you could stay there for just a moment, if I write in "Thyroid cartilage," and would you point out again the horns.
All right. I will circle that area, doctor. And where is it on the other side, doctor?
In that area, doctor, I will circle in red and write "Horns" to represent what you've identified. And all of the writing in this upper right quadrant of form 24?
Yes, and also this side, (Indicating), because there is the description of the thyroid area but here he describes the left palm and carotid artery transectioned. LIJV is left internal jugular vein, "Subtotal jugular transection thin strand" which is the portion of the vein which is left there, and on the right side it says, "Right internal jugular vein only nick, right palm and carotid artery transected," so this all would belong to the injury we described.
Almost transectioned with only a small bridge of the vein wall left in the back.
Your Honor, where the doctor has indicated there has been an entry by Dr. Golden on this diagram, I have encircled it with a red pen and I will write in the upper left-hand corner, "B-13, B-16, B-18."
By the way, doctor, there is a stamp that appears in the upper right corner of that diagram. Do you see that?
We have a blue card just like your credit card. We make a credit card for every case we have in our office and you just take the card and you imprint any form or diagram you want to use so you have the number, the name, and you can see we also have the crypt number that we discussed yesterday.
So if I circle this, "No. 4," and I will write in "Crypt number" on the diagram, that is what her crypt number was as assigned?
Incidentally, doctor, is it--with respect to either the right upper quadrant or the right lower quadrant of this diagram that you would have expected Dr. Golden to have made an entry regarding the cornu?
Well, he has drawn a number of lines in the thyrohyoid area, but he has not specifically addressed that the right cornu was incised.
Is that where you would have expected to him do so, in the upper right quadrant diagram?
And that board was 6B, your Honor, 24. And Mr. Lynch is now putting up--is now putting up our blow-up of the addendum report.
Where you have just pointed with the pointer, this is the entry by Dr. Golden to reflect the injury that you observed in the right cornu?
And I think that is pretty self-explanatory, your Honor. All I did was circle the area, item 2 on page 2 and I will write "B-13, B-16, B-18."
Now, doctor, let me--I will ask Mr. Lynch to get that down. I think we are done with this for the moment.
Doctor, let me invite your attention now specifically to the photo on exhibit 352. I think counsel may want to move back. I think we are done with the two easels down there, B-18. And now with respect to these four stab wounds that you identified earlier--and briefly, have they been given arbitrary numbers?
That is they were just given numbers for convenience. They do not--do not reflect sequence of infliction.
So if you have a wound that is injury no. 1 or stab wound no. 1, it doesn't mean that that was the first stab wound that was inflicted; is that accurate?
And in this photograph, how many stab wounds do you see to the left side of the neck of Nicole Brown Simpson?
There are four; 1, 2, 3, 4, and three of them are really stab wounds. One of them is a superficial sharp force injury there.
When you say "Superficial sharp force injury" in defining, as you did yesterday, incise wound as being longer than they are deep and stab wound as being deeper than they are long, how would you define this one?
Well, it could be the tip of the knife barely penetrating the upper part of the skin and soft tissue or it could be a nick from the knife. It is difficult to be specific on it because it is a very superficial wound. There is no depth which was available to analyze it.
Let's start with kind of a collective question. Injuries 1, 3 and 4, from your examination of the appearance of those wounds in this photograph, do you have an opinion as to the class or classes of knives which could inflict each of those wounds?
My opinion is that they were all three caused by a single-edged and each of the wounds have a blunt end and a sharp end.
Start with injury no. 1 and just use the pointer. I don't think we are going to be able--at some point perhaps the injury will have a magnifying glass and an opportunity to look for that, but if you will start by just pointing, which is the blunt end and which is the sharp end of each?
Injury no. 1 you can see the blunt end of the lower part and the sharp end in the upper end.
So as we look at photograph, the blunt end is going to be toward the bottom of the photo?
When you say "Posterior," for our purposes is that to the right side of the photograph?
The blunt end is to the left side of the photograph, the sharp end is to the right side of the photograph.
How about injury no. 2, are you able to form an opinion as to the class or classes of knives which created that sharp force injury?
Injury no. 2 I can't tell. It would be either be a single-edge or double-edged.
In your opinion could all four of these stab wounds be caused by the same single-edged knife blade?
Yes, because as we discussed yesterday, these stab wounds, if you read the description, only have a depth of one and a half to two inches, so you don't have to have necessarily the entire knife penetrate in this area, so you could have a six-inch knife with a tapering blade which would have caused these injuries.
Doctor, does Dr. Golden describe each of these four stab wounds in his original protocol?
Now, doctor, given the area where these stab wounds were received, and given the nature of the major stab/incise wound that you have described earlier in the three photographs, 13, 16 and 18, can you determine, as a forensic pathologist, whether, for example, starting with stab wound no. 1, that stab wound actually punctured or struck in any way either the jugular vein on the left side or the carotid artery on the left side?
Dr. Golden's description is that they may have endured these vessels, but because of the massive transection of the jugular vein of the left side and complete transection of the carotid artery on the left side, he could not see whether there was injury from these four--these three wounds which I have discussed, because in their depth the region of the injury, which they caused by the track in the body was the same area which had already been endured by the major incise/stab wound.
When you say already--you have testified your opinion was that the major stab/incise wound came last; is that correct?
And if in fact that is what occurred and these four stab wounds were already inflicted, would that last stab wound, in essence, create damage over whatever damage to the jugular and/or carotid had been inflicted by one or more of the four stab wounds?
That is the opinion which was given in the report which indicates that the injury, the massive injury to the carotid artery and jugular vein on the left side, precluded him from evaluating injuries from these stab wounds.
Doctor, in your opinion could Dr. Golden have made a more complete or detailed evaluation through dissection of the area to see if there was a way to state with greater certainty whether either the carotid or jugular was actually nicked or hit by any one of these three stab wounds, four stab wounds?
The--there could have been a little more dissection of the carotid vessels on either side of the transection because the vein is difficult to dissect because it will fall apart. It is a very thin wall structured by the carotid artery. Could have been opened on both sides of the transection to see if there were any nicks. And the report doesn't reflect whether that was done or not, but definitely it doesn't indicate that there was additional cuts.
Doctor, if that had been done, would it necessarily have allowed Dr. Golden to see whether any one of those stab wounds did in fact hit the jugular and/or carotid?
Umm, if he had done the dissection he could have said that he did the dissection and he didn't see it, which would support his original opinion wherein he had indicated that he could not evaluate the injury to the structures because of the massive injury caused by the fatal stab wound which was inflicted last.
Doctor, assuming that Dr. Golden failed to do the kind of dissection, more detailed dissection that you have indicated, would that be a mistake, in your opinion, in the manner in which he conducted the autopsy?
Umm, if he had not done the dissection it would be a mistake, but if he had done the dissection and not reported it, it would not be a mistake.
If his evaluation included that he had done the dissection but he had not stated as such, then it would not be a mistake.
Doctor, if Dr. Golden did not do the dissection, in your opinion, would such a failure have any significance to you on any of the issues that you have been talking about?
Including on whether a single single-edged knife could have caused all of these sharp force injuries?
Because we can--the opinion on the nature of the sharp force instrument can be made from the wound patterns on the skin. The bleeding patterns have been described from the vascular injuries which I already discussed, so really it is not significant to the cause of death or the manner of death or the bleeding blood flow patterns.
Doctor, if I could have the board--not the pointer, I'm sorry--the board that has been marked as 354, let's--this is one of the crime scene photographs. Assume for the sake of argument that stab wound no. 1 did not strike either the left carotid artery or the left jugular vein. Would that stab wound, nevertheless, have caused some bleeding?
The term--has got a lot of branches from the arteries and a lot of venous channels, and a wound to this area of the neck, which is one and one-half to two inches deep would cause significant bleeding.
And if in fact either the jugular or the carotid or both had been hit, what kind of bleeding, over and above bleeding without such a nick, would you expect?
Now, doctor, is there a difference between the stab wound, what it can do to the carotid or jugular, and the incise stab wound that you identified as transecting?
Yeah. The--if it just punctures the carotid artery you will have spurting of blood by transection. Also you can have spurting but you will have more bleeding because the whole vessels has been transected and also the person will lose blood pressure much faster and die earlier with the transection than just from a puncture. So the severity for a puncture wound would be longer than a transection.
Doctor, let me invite your attention to another photograph from our exhibit 354 that is marked cS-12 and again I will ask you to assume that this photograph is a fair and accurate representation of the position and condition surrounding Nicole Brown Simpson as her body was found on June 13th, 1994. And now I want to invite your attention specifically to a step that appears immediately above her body in that photograph. Do you see that, doctor?
And do you see what appears to be blood surrounding that--part of the area of that step?
In looking at the quantity of blood, assuming it is the blood of Nicole Brown Simpson, is that amount of blood seen there consistent with what you would expect from the four stab wounds that we are looking at on B-18?
Because as I told you, the area of the neck is quite vascular and whether they struck the jugular vein or carotid artery, or they did not, still combined they would cause significant bleeding which would account for this blood here, (Indicating), if the--Miss Simpson's upper portion of the body had been in contact with that area.
She died within a few minutes, probably much less than a minute or so, because the--she would have gone into rapid shock with this massive injury.
The wound started as an incise wound, but then there is a bridge here, following that, which I would favor a single-edged knife, but because a double-edged knife would not leave a bridge there.
I discussed that it is a single cut and in my opinion there was not any resistance offered.
Doctor, I didn't even know there was an imperial gallon, so I will be satisfied with the U.S. gallon.