“It is, but-”
“Just answer the question, Doctor. Post mortem lividity is one of the factors used in determining the time of death, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Now, as I understand post mortem lividity, a dead body has no pulse, therefore after death, the blood stops circulating and tends to gravitate to the lower portions of the body, causing a reddish tinge to appear on the skin. Is that right?”
“Yes, but in this case-”
“In this case that would not be a factor, am I correct? Because it takes time for post mortem lividity to develop and sufficient time had not elapsed, and even if it had, the body was so badly charred the lividity would not have shown. Is that right?”
“Yes,” Dr. Abraham snapped. “That was what I was about to say before you interrupted me.”
“So,” Steve said, “in this case post mortem lividity told you nothing, and was not a factor used in determining the time of death?”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Then there’s rigor mortis, also used in determining time of death. As I understand it, when the body has been dead for a sufficient time, rigor slowly sets in and the body becomes stiff. Then after sufficient time, rigor leaves the body, and it slowly relaxes again. Is that right?”
“Yes, it is. But-”
“But in this case sufficient time had not elapsed for rigor to even begin to set in, is that right?”
“Yes, it is.”
“So, rigor mortis was not a factor in determining the time of death?”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“I believe another means is by stomach contents. Since digestion ceases when a person is dead, by examining the contents of the stomach and determining how far digestion has progressed, one can determine fairly accurately how soon a person died after eating a particular meal, is that right?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Did you examine the stomach contents of the decedent?”
“Yes, I did.”
“What did you find?”
“I found the partially digested remnants of a frankfurter with mustard and sauerkraut.”
“I see. Were you able to determine when the person died relative to when they ate the hot dog?”
“Yes, I was.”
“And how long was that?”
“Based on the progress of the digestion, I was able to postulate that the decedent ingested the food approximately four hours before his death.”
“Four hours?”
“That is correct.”
“I see. And you estimate the time of death between ten and eleven. The median time would be ten-thirty. Four hours prior to that would be six-thirty. So then is it your opinion that the decedent ate the hot dog at approximately six-thirty P.M. on the night of the murder?”
“Approximately six-thirty.” The doctor smiled a thin smile. “Six-thirty is a median time, as is ten-thirty. I would say my findings indicate the man ingested the food sometime between six and seven o’clock, just as I say he died sometime between ten and eleven. Six and seven and ten and eleven are, of course, extreme limits, the times within which the events might have occurred. However, as to when the events are most likely to have occurred, the optimum time of ingestion of the frankfurter was around six-thirty, and the optimum time of death around ten-thirty.”
“I see, Doctor. Thank you for you clarification. Now let me ask you this. Do you know of your own personal knowledge when the man ate the hot dog?”
Doctor Abraham shifted in his seat. “I do not know when the food was ingested, no.”
“Well, aside from your own personal knowledge, did anyone tell you when the decedent ate the hot dog?”
“Objection, hearsay,” Dirkson said.
“I’m not asking what the man was told,” Steve said. “I’m asking if anyone informed him.”
Judge Grimes frowned. “Sustained as to form. You may rephrase the question.”
“Very well,” Steve said. “Doctor, aside from your personal knowledge, did you learn when the man ate the hot dog from any other source?”
“No, I did not.”
“I see,” Steve said. “That’s very interesting. So when you say the man ate the hot dog between six and seven, you are deducing that from your examination of the stomach contents alone, is that right?”
“That is correct.”
“You are saying, this man died approximately four hours after eating the hot dog. I fix the time of death between ten and eleven and therefore he ate the hot dog between six and seven. Is that right?”
“Exactly. As I have already stated.”
“I know you have, Doctor. But what I’m getting at is this. Since you don’t know when the man ate the hot dog, the stomach contents really tell you nothing in terms of time of death. In other words, in reaching your conclusions, you are taking the time of death as a given, and using it to determine when the man ate the food. You’re saying the man died between ten and eleven, therefore he ate between six and seven. Instead of the other way around, which would be, the man ate between six and seven, therefore he must have died between ten and eleven. Is that right?”
“That’s essentially correct.”
“Essentially? I think it’s totally correct, Doctor. Is it not true that if you don’t know when the man ate the hot dog, the stomach contents cannot tell you the time of death?”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“And is it not true that you don’t know when the man ate the hot dog?”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“So is it not true that in this case the stomach contents do not tell you the time of death?”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Gee, Doctor,” Steve said. “Then I guess that my assumption was essentially correct.”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Dirkson said.
“Sustained. Mr. Winslow, if we could avoid these side remarks.”
“Sorry, Your Honor. So, Doctor, in this case is it not true that you could not determine the time of death from the stomach contents?”
“Objected to as already asked and answered.”
Judge Grimes frowned. “I’ll allow it.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“So,” Steve said, ticking them off on his fingers. “You could not determine the time of death by post mortem lividity, you could not determine the time of death by rigor mortis, and you could not determine the time of death from the stomach contents. Tell me, Doctor, how did you determine the time of death.”
“By body temperature.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” Dr. Abraham snapped. “As I would have pointed out in the beginning, if I’d been allowed. Those three methods you mentioned are factors in determining the time of death, but they are relatively unimportant factors. Post mortem lividity is a factor, but a relatively negligible one. Rigor mortis is of some importance, but still not that accurate. Examination of the stomach contents can be of great help in determining the time of death if the time of ingestion of the last meal is known. But far and away the most accurate method of determining the time of death is by body temperature.”
“And that is how you determined the time of death in this case?”
“It is.”
“You took the body temperature of the decedent?”
“That’s right.”
“And when was this done?”
“When I performed my autopsy. At approximately 12:05, after midnight on the morning of the 27th.”
“That would be approximately an hour and a half after the time you determine as the optimum time of death?”
“That is correct.”
Steve paused, scratched his head. “Well, that’s mighty interesting, Doctor.” He turned to include the jury. “And now, for the benefit of us laymen, who have not had the benefit of your medical experience, could you perhaps explain how you use body temperature to determine the time of death?”
“Certainly,” Dr. Abraham said. “Humans are, as you know, warm-blooded. During life, the body temperature is approximately ninety-eight-point-six. After death, the body begins to cool. Since the rate of cooling is constant, by taking the body temperature it is possible to determine when the body began cooling. Which is, of course, when the person died.”