IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF KANSAS
No. 90,532
STATE OF KANSAS,
Appellee,
v.
ROBERT HENRY LACKEY II,
Appellant.
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT
1. The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him or her. This constitutional provision does not preclude the admission of all out-of-court statements. In determining the admissibility of hearsay exceptions, the court must also consider the requirements of the Confrontation Clause of the United States Constitution. The Confrontation Clause can operate to bar the admission of evidence that would otherwise be admissible under an exception to the hearsay rule if confrontation requirements are not met.
2. Where nontestimonial hearsay is at issue, it is wholly consistent with the framers' constitutional design to afford the States flexibility in their development of hearsay law as does Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 65 L. Ed. 2d 597, 100 S. Ct. 2531 (1980) (requiring adequate indicia of reliability and particularized guarantees of trustworthiness), and an approach that exempts such statements from Confrontation Clause scrutiny altogether. Where testimonial evidence is at issue, however, the Sixth Amendment demands what the common law required--unavailability and a prior opportunity for cross-examination.
3. Violation of the Confrontation Clause is subject to a harmless error analysis. The correct inquiry is whether, assuming that the damaging potential of the cross-examination was fully realized, a reviewing court might nonetheless say that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Factors to be considered include the importance of the witness' testimony in the prosecution's case, whether the testimony was cumulative, the presence or absence of evidence corroborating or contradicting the testimony of the witness on material points, the extent of cross-examination otherwise permitted, and the overall strength of the prosecution's case.
4. An appellate court's first consideration when examining a challenge to a district court's admission of evidence is relevance. Once relevance is established, evidentiary rules governing admission and exclusion may be applied either as a matter of law or in the exercise of the district judge's discretion, depending on the contours of the rule in question. Relevancy established, an appellate court reviews the district court's decision to admit or exclude hearsay evidence under the abuse of discretion standard of review.
5. Factual, routine, descriptive, and nonanalytical findings made in an autopsy report are nontestimonial and may be admitted without the testimony of the medical examiner. In contrast, contested opinions, speculations, and conclusions drawn from the objective findings in the report are testimonial and are subject to the Sixth Amendment right of cross-examination set forth in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 158 L. Ed. 2d 177, 124 S. Ct. 1354 (2004). Such conclusions should be redacted in the event the medical examiner is unavailable.
6. If the witness is testifying as an expert, testimony of the witness in the form of opinions or inferences is limited to such opinions as the judge finds are (1) based on facts or data perceived by or personally known or made known to the witness at the hearing and (2) within the scope of the special knowledge, skill, experience, or training possessed by the witness. Knowledge made known to the witness refers to facts admitted into evidence.
7. When a continuance is requested during the trial of a case in order to secure attendance of a witness, the district judge must weigh the factors involved--the possible prejudice to the defendant, the diligence or lack thereof disclosed in attempting to secure the attendance of the witness, the materiality and importance of the probable testimony, and the probability of the witness' appearance at a later date if a continuance is granted.
8. In a prosecution for sex offenses, when addressing whether prior sexual conduct of a complaining witness is relevant to the issues of consent and credibility, factors to be considered include: (1) whether there was prior sexual conduct by complainant with the defendant; (2) whether the prior sexual conduct rebuts medical evidence on proof of origin of semen, venereal disease, or pregnancy; (3) whether distinctive sexual patterns so closely resemble the defendant's version of the alleged encounter so as to tend to prove consent or to diminish the complainant's credibility on the questioned occasion; (4) whether prior sexual conduct by the complainant with others, known to the defendant, tends to prove he or she believed the complainant was consenting to his or her sexual advances; (5) whether sexual conduct tends to prove the complainant's motive to fabricate the charge; (6) whether evidence tends to rebut proof by the prosecution regarding the complainant's past sexual conduct; (7) whether evidence of sexual conduct is offered as the basis of expert psychological or psychiatric opinion that the complainant fantasized or invented the act charged; and (8) whether the prior sexual conduct and the charged act of the defendant are proximate in time.
9. An appellate court reviews the district court's decision regarding the suppression of a confession using a dual standard. The factual findings are reviewed using a substantial competent evidence standard. An appellate court will not reweigh the evidence and will give deference to the district court's factual findings. The ultimate legal conclusion drawn from the district court's factual findings is a question of law which is reviewed de novo. An appellate court accepts as true the evidence and all inferences drawn therefrom that support the district court's findings.
10. Miranda warnings come into play whenever a person in custody is subjected to either express questioning or its functional equivalent. An objective standard is used to judge whether an interrogation was custodial. The proper analysis is how a reasonable person in the suspect's position would have understood the situation.
11. Cumulative trial errors may require reversal of a defendant's conviction if the totality of the circumstances shows the errors substantially prejudiced the defendant and denied him or her a fair trial. No prejudicial error may be found upon this cumulative effect rule, however, if the evidence is overwhelming against the defendant.
12. Under the Habitual Criminal Act (HCA), a certified or attested copy of a journal entry of conviction is sufficient proof of a prior offense unless the defendant denies he or she is the same person named in the prior felony journal entry. Due process requires that the State prove the existence of prior convictions in every essential particular, unless admitted by the defendant, before the prior convictions can be used to enhance a sentence.
13. The use of prior convictions under the HCA is not unconstitutional under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000).
Appeal from Saline district court, DAN D. BOYER, judge. Opinion filed September 30, 2005. Convictions affirmed, sentence vacated, and case remanded with directions.
Patrick H. Dunn, assistant appellate defender, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellant.
John K. Bork, assistant attorney general, argued the cause, and Kristafer R. Ailslieger, assistant attorney general, and Phill Kline, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
DAVIS, J.: Robert Henry Lackey, II, was convicted by a jury of one count of premeditated first-degree murder in violation of K.S.A. 21-3401(a) (Ensley 1981) and one count of rape in violation of K.S.A. 21-3502 (Ensley 1981), for crimes committed in December 1982. Pursuant to K.S.A. 1982 Supp. 21-4504 of the Habitual Criminal Act (HCA), his sentence was enhanced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment and 45 years to life. He appeals directly to this court pursuant to K.S.A. 22-3601(b)(1).
In 1982, the victim, S.B., was a 22-year-old college student who met the defendant while she was doing volunteer work at the Gospel Mission (Mission) in Salina. The defendant was a transient who was staying at the Mission and working as a cook, and he was known as Bob Moore. S.B. and the defendant developed a friendship which involved socializing outside of the Mission with friends Mark and Dora Foster. In November 1982, the defendant indicated to Mark that he wanted to date the victim, but she had rebuffed his sexual advances indicating that she only wanted to be friends. This upset the defendant and made him angry.
In December 1982, S.B. was living in a trailer park in Salina. She had been dating Jay Czarnowski exclusively for about a year, and he had a key to her residence. They had been having problems and had an understanding that they could date outside of their relationship; however, Czarnowski did not know that S.B. had done so. On Thursday, December 9, 1982, Czarnowski and S.B. got into an argument at her residence about his plans to go home for the weekend. They made up that evening and had unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse. Czarnowski went home to Lincolnville on Friday, December 10, 1982.
On that day, S.B. spoke with her mother and sister on the telephone regarding their plans to visit S.B. for Christmas. S.B.'s mother then tried to call S.B. several times throughout the next week, but S.B. did not answer. At S.B.'s parents' request, the trailer park landlord checked S.B.'s mobile home the following Thursday but did not find her.
On December 11, 1982, Pamela Chavez (now Bishop) went to work around 4 p.m. at a local tavern as a bartender. The defendant was drinking and playing pool, and he introduced himself to Chavez. She served him two pitchers of beer before he asked her to call him a cab between 6 and 7 p.m. He told Chavez that he was drunk, and he left a note for his friend Dora Foster who worked at the tavern saying that he was "messed up."
Wenda Huehl (now Plunkett) arrived at the tavern between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. to visit Chavez. Huehl saw Chavez playing pool with the defendant and remembered that the defendant later asked Chavez to call him a cab to the trailer park where S.B. lived. Huehl specifically recalled the name of the trailer park because she lived across the street from it and had considered offering the defendant a ride, but the cab had already been called.
Yellow Cab radio logs indicated that cab driver Harvey McIntyre picked up a fare at 6:17 p.m. on December 11, 1982, from the tavern and took the fair to a convenience store about a block and a half from S.B.'s residence. McIntyre described the fare at trial as a white, slender male, in his twenties with dark hair, a little taller than himself, wearing a ball cap. The logs also indicated that a fare was picked up by cab driver William Letterman from the convenience store at 10:50 p.m. and the fare was taken to the Mission. At the time of the November 2002 trial, Letterman was deceased and his statements were admitted over objection through the testimony of a retired Salina police officer.
Although also deceased at the time of trial, Reverend George Knight told investigating officers in 1982 that he recalled that the defendant had returned to the Mission around 10 or 11 p.m. on December 11, 1982. Knight smelled alcohol on his breath but did not say anything. Knight went home and assumed the defendant was going to bed. When Knight arrived the next morning at 7:30, he was surprised to discover the defendant and his personal belongings were gone. A pair of men's underwear was subsequently found underneath the defendant's bed at the Mission.
Czarnowski returned to Salina either on the following Sunday or Monday, December 12 or 13, 1982. He recalled stopping by S.B.'s residence to see her, but she was not home. He could not recall if he went inside. Czarnowski returned to the residence the next several days looking for S.B., spoke with her neighbors, and looked for her at the Mission and several taverns. He spoke with Mark Foster indicating he was worried that she might have gone somewhere with the defendant because he would be able to take her out of the state. Czarnowski spent several nights at the trailer during the week, but he did not remember doing any housekeeping or picking up or opening of S.B.'s mail during this time. He did not go into the back bedroom that was used for storage.
By Friday, December 17, 1982, Czarnowski concluded that S.B. had left, and he decided that he was going to move his belongings out of her mobile home. He spent that night in the front bedroom and his friend Duane Newirth slept in the living room. While moving his belongings the next morning, Czarnowski discovered S.B.'s body in the closet of the back bedroom when he was looking for a stereo speaker. Czarnowski and his friend called the police.
At 12:55 p.m. on December 18, 1982, Salina police officers responded to the scene and discovered S.B.'s body in the closet of the back bedroom. S.B. was wearing socks and underwear and her jeans were pulled down around her ankles. She had noticeable bruising around her neck. Several items were blocking the closet doors where she was found.
Dr. Erik Mitchell and Officer Joseph Garman testified that the higher the temperature, the faster the decaying of a body process occurs. Although the thermostat was set at 80 degrees in the mobile home, Officer Garman did not smell the odor of a decaying body. However, there was a cold air return vent in the floor of the closet where the body was found. Officer Garman turned the thermostat down to 68 degrees to prevent the body from decaying.
Saline County Coroner Dr. David Clark arrived at the scene and made arrangements for an autopsy. Based on his observations at the scene, Dr. Clark opined that S.B. had died of strangulation and had been dead 6 to 8 days. Dr. William Eckert, who was deceased at the time of trial, performed the autopsy on December 20, 1982, and prepared a report. The State's expert, Dr. Mitchell, reviewed Dr. Eckert's report in conjunction with other evidence from the scene and over a hearsay objection testified that the cause of death was strangulation and that the death had occurred at least 1 or 2 days prior to the body's discovery, but the maximum time could have been considerably longer.
Officers found two pieces of paper on the kitchen wall which contained the names Bob Walston and Jim Hemmy (her landlord) and the telephone numbers for the tavern and a cab company. Several other papers and letters were collected from the scene, including an empty envelope addressed to S.B. and postmarked December 13, 1982, from Lincolnville. A small unopened envelope was also found in the residence which was postmarked "Fort Scott, Kansas, December 16, p.m., 1982." Salina Deputy Police Chief Barry Plunkett testified that letters found at the scene would routinely be opened during an investigation, but he could not recall whether the mail was opened in this case.
Officer Garman spoke with Czarnowski at the scene. During that conversation, Czarnowski indicated that S.B. had worked with someone named "Bob" at the Mission, who had made it known that he had "the hots" for her. Although an investigation was pursued, the case eventually went inactive until Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) Special Agent Ron Hagen and Salina Police Detective Paul Forrester resumed the investigation in November 1996. They received information from Canadian authorities that a Robert Moore was involved in a 1982 homicide in Salina. Through the use of two social security numbers provided by the Canadian authorities, investigators learned the name Robert Lackey. Czarnowski and Mark Foster later identified a 1979 photograph of Lackey as the person they knew as Robert Moore. DNA testing of the body fluids on the underwear found under the defendant's bed was consistent with the fluids found in the victim's rape kit.
Armed with an arrest warrant, Hagen and Forrester tracked the defendant to Alabama where they interviewed him at the Sumpter County, Alabama, Sheriff's Department. Prior to his Miranda warnings being given, the defendant said that he had never been to Kansas when he was advised that someone named Robert Moore was using his social security number in Kansas. He subsequently said that he did not know S.B. or Robert Moore, but he may have been in Kansas in 1969 or 1970. The defendant's pretrial motion to suppress his statements made before Miranda warnings was denied. In March 2002, the defendant was extradited to Kansas and his blood was drawn for DNA testing purposes.
DNA testing was performed on vaginal, anal, and oral swabs taken from S.B., scrapings from under her fingernails, and a cutting from the underwear found under the defendant's bed at the Mission and compared with known bloodstains of the defendant and Czarnowski. Expert testimony established that the sperm cells found in S.B.'s vagina and on the cutting from the underwear were consistent with the defendant's DNA. The estimated probability of selecting an individual at random from the general unrelated Caucasian population was 1 in 194 billion. Moreover, the defendant could not be excluded as a partial contributor to the DNA profile from the victim's fingernail scrapings, but Czarnowski was eliminated.
The defendant was convicted by a jury of premeditated first-degree murder and rape. Pursuant to the HCA, the defendant's sentence was enhanced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment and 45 years to life. The defendant's posttrial motions for a new trial and judgment of acquittal were denied.
On appeal, the defendant asks this court to reverse his convictions based upon the following claims: (1) The admission of hearsay statements in violation of the Confrontation Clause; (2) the denial of a continuance to obtain an exculpatory witness; (3) the admission of Dr. Mitchell's expert opinion testimony based upon the autopsy performed by Dr. Eckert and the resulting violation of the Confrontation Clause; (4) the exclusion of evidence supporting the defendant's consent defense to the rape charge; (5) the admission of statements in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 15 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602, reh. denied 385 U.S. 890 (1996); (6) the victim's sister's testimony denied the defendant a fair trial; (7) cumulative error; (8) the trial court's error in applying the HCA; and (9) the HCA violates Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000). We affirm the defendant's convictions, vacate the defendant's sentence, and remand the case for resentencing.
Hearsay and Confrontation Clause Violations
a. Statements of Deceased Cab Driver
Prior to trial, the State filed a motion of intent to present evidence of prior statements of unavailable witnesses pursuant to K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 60-460(d)(3). The State sought to admit evidence of a police interview with cab driver Letterman that occurred on December 22, 1982. After a pretrial hearing, the district court found that Letterman (deceased) was unavailable as a witness and the proffered testimony of the officer who interviewed Letterman was admissible hearsay under 60-460(d)(3). Applying Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 65 L. Ed. 2d 597, 100 S. Ct. 2531 (1980), and State v. Bratt, 250 Kan. 264 Syl. ¶ 2, 824 P.2d 983 (1992), the court concluded that the proffered evidence possessed a particularized guarantee of trustworthiness, rendering the hearsay statements of Letterman admissible.
At trial, over the defendant's hearsay objection, retired police officer James Miller testified that he had interviewed Letterman regarding a fare Letterman picked up at the convenience store a block and a half from the victim's residence around 10:50 p.m. on December 11, 1982. Letterman told him the fare was a white male with short brown hair, in his late twenties or early thirties, 5'9'' to 6' tall, medium build, a shadow beard, and his hair was possibly messed up. The man smelled of alcohol, but he did not appear to be intoxicated. The man appeared to be in a hurry because he opened and shut the door fast and spit out the address really fast. The defendant's posttrial motion for a new trial regarding this issue was also denied.
No dispute exists in this case that Letterman's statements fall under K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 60-460, which in relevant part provides:
"Evidence of a statement which is made other than by a witness while testifying at the hearing, offered to prove the truth of the matter stated, is hearsay evidence and inadmissible except:
. . . .
"(d) Contemporaneous statements and statements admissible on ground of necessity generally. A statement which the judge finds was made . . . (3) if the declarant is unavailable as a witness, by the declarant at a time when the matter had been recently perceived by the declarant and while the declarant's recollection was clear and was made in good faith prior to the commencement of the action and with no incentive to falsify or to distort."
However, the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him or her. This constitutional provision does not preclude the admission of all out-of-court statements. State v. Meeks, 277 Kan. 609, Syl. ¶ 1, 88 P.3d 789 (2004). In determining the admissibility of hearsay exceptions, the court must also consider the requirements of the Confrontation Clause. Barbara, 3 Kansas Law and Practice, Lawyer's Guide to Kansas Evidence, Hearsay § 7.1(B) (3d ed. 2003). The Confrontation Clause can operate to bar admission of evidence that would otherwise be admissible under an exception to the hearsay rule if confrontation requirements (reliability and trustworthiness) are not met. State v. Betts, 272 Kan. 369, 382-83, 33 P.3d 575 (2001).
In this case, the district court admitted the hearsay testimony of Letterman based upon this court's analysis in State v. Bailey, 263 Kan. 685, 692-93, 952 P.2d 1289 (1998) (quoting Bratt, 250 Kan. 264, Syl. ¶ 1), and was in large part based upon Roberts, 448 U.S. 56. In Bailey, we found:
"'The Confrontation Clause operates in two ways when determining the admissibility of hearsay statements. First, the Sixth Amendment establishes a rule of necessity. In the usual case, the prosecution must either produce or demonstrate the unavailability of the declarant whose statement it wishes to use against the defendant. Second, once a witness is shown to be unavailable, the witness' statement is admissible only if it bears adequate indicia of reliability. Reliability can be inferred where the evidence falls within a firmly rooted hearsay exception. If the evidence does not fall within a firmly rooted hearsay exception, the evidence must be excluded absent a showing of particularized guarantees of trustworthiness.'" (Emphasis added.) 263 Kan. at 692-93.
However, after trial, the United States Supreme Court in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 158 L. Ed. 2d 177, 124 S. Ct. 1354 (2004), substantially altered the Confrontation Clause analysis expressed in Bailey and Roberts. See Meeks, 277 Kan. at 613-14. In Crawford, the Court drew distinctions between testimonial and nontestimonial hearsay evidence, holding:
"Where nontestimonial hearsay is at issue, it is wholly consistent with the Framers' [constitutional] design to afford the States flexibility in their development of hearsay law--as does Roberts, and as would an approach that exempted such statements from Confrontation Clause scrutiny altogether. Where testimonial evidence is as issue, however, the Sixth Amendment demands what the common law required: unavailability and a prior opportunity for cross-examination. We leave for another day any effort to spell out a comprehensive definition of 'testimonial.' Whatever else the term covers, it applies at a minimum to prior testimony at a preliminary hearing, before a grand jury, or at a formal trial; and to police interrogations." (Emphasis added.) 541 U.S. at 68.
After Crawford was decided, this court considered in Meeks whether the district court erred in admitting into evidence a shooting victim's response to the investigating officer's question of who had shot him under hearsay exception 60-460(d)(3). We summarized Crawford as holding
"that witnesses' out-of-court statements that are testimonial are barred under the Confrontation Clause unless (1) the witnesses are unavailable and (2) the defendants had prior opportunity to cross-examine those witnesses. In other words, the Roberts standards of admissibility, as used by this court in Bailey, could not apply to testimonial statements, with the possible exception of testimonial dying declarations." Meeks, 277 Kan. at 614 (citing Crawford, 541 U.S. at 56 n.6).
Although the Crawford Court declined to comprehensively define what was meant by "testimonial" statements, it did describe one formulation as "'statements that were made under circumstances which would lead an objective witness reasonably to believe that the statement would be available for use at a later trial.'" 541 U.S. at 51-52. The Court found that "[s]tatements taken by police officers in the course of interrogations are also testimonial under even a narrow standard," stressing that various forms of interrogations exist. It concluded that the defendant's wife's recorded statement, knowingly given in response to structured police questioning, qualified as an interrogation under any conceivable definition. 541 U.S. at 52-53 & n.4.
In Meeks, the first officer to the scene asked the victim who had shot him and the victim responded, "Meeks shot me." Minutes later, the victim fell unconscious and subsequently died. Although we found that we need not determine whether the response was testimonial because Meeks had forfeited his right to confrontation by killing the witness, we did note that the officer "was arguably conducting an interrogation when he asked [the victim] if he knew who shot him, thus making the response testimonial." 277 Kan. at 614.
Applying Crawford and Meeks to this case, Officer Miller's interview with witness Letterman conducted during the police investigation resulted in statements that an objective witness would think would be used for trial and could arguably be construed as a police interrogation. Applying the Crawford test when testimonial evidence is at issue, the Sixth Amendment demands unavailability and prior opportunity for cross-examination. Letterman's death rendered him unavailable, and the defense did not have a prior opportunity to cross-examine him. As such, the district court erred in admitting evidence of Letterman's testimonial hearsay statements made during the police interview through the testimony of Officer Miller.
The State concedes that the admission of the hearsay statements was a violation of the Confrontation Clause in light of Crawford; however, it contends the violation was harmless error. Although the Crawford Court did not perform a harmless error analysis, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has found that Confrontation Clause violations under Crawford are subject to a harmless error analysis. See Brown v. Uphoff, 381 F.3d 1219 (10th Cir. 2004). In State v. Atkinson, 276 Kan. 920, Syl. ¶ 6, 80 P.3d 1143 (2003), this court set forth the following inquiry for violations of the Confrontation Clause:
"Violation of the Confrontation Clause is subject to a [federal] harmless-error analysis. The correct inquiry is whether, assuming that the damaging potential of the cross-examination were fully realized, a reviewing court might nonetheless say that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Factors to be considered include the importance of the witness' testimony in the prosecution's case, whether the testimony was cumulative, the presence or absence of evidence corroborating or contradicting the testimony of the witness on material points, the extent of cross-examination otherwise permitted, and, of course, the overall strength of the prosecution's case."
The State argues the hearsay error was harmless, reasoning: (1) The testimony took up little more than 1 page out of over 400 pages of trial transcript, (2) half of the statements were cumulative because they reiterated the testimony of Edward French and the business records of the cab company establishing that Letterman picked up a fare at the convenience store, (3) the uncorroborated testimony was not particularly important because it referred only to a general description of the man and that he seemed to be in a hurry, and (4) none of the statements directly implicated the defendant.
Applying the Atkinson factors to this case, the testimony was important because it inferred that the cab driver picked up someone who matched the defendant's general description from a convenience store near the victim's home and the man was rushed and disheveled. Part of this testimony was cumulative, however, as the business records established that Letterman had picked up a fare at the convenience store. While the deceased witness was unable to testify, the defense was able to cross-examine Officer Miller about the fact that he did not ask Letterman if the fare had waited inside or outside in the light or shadows, about the number of fares he had driven that evening, how long his shift was or if he had a second job, whether he had been drinking that evening, or whether he wore glasses. In this manner, the defense was able to attack the credibility of the testimony in some manner.
Ultimately, as the State points out, the defendant's convictions relied not upon a few lines of hearsay from a deceased cab driver but upon the overwhelming DNA evidence and the testimonies of live witnesses putting the defendant in the right places at the right times. The admission of a few hearsay statements from the police interview with Letterman, while a violation of the Confrontation Clause, constituted harmless error under facts of this case.
b. Expert Testimony Based on Autopsy Reports of Deceased Doctor
Dr. Clark served as the county coroner at the time of S.B.'s death, and he observed the victim's body at the murder scene. He directed that an autopsy be performed. Dr. Eckert, who died prior to trial, conducted the autopsy and prepared the autopsy report. The autopsy report contained an external, internal, and microscopic description of the body and did not suggest the date of death. Deputy Police Chief (formerly Sergeant) Plunkett attended the autopsy and testified at trial.
As part of his coro