Linda returned her attention to the witness. “Dr. Kapoor, based on your autopsy, did you reach an expert medical opinion with respect to how Anna was strangled?”
“Yes. My opinion is that she was strangled by another person, most likely an adult male.”
“What is the basis for your expert medical opinion?”
“My examination and expertise tells me that the pressure applied to the throat sufficient to cause death would have been in the range of strength possessed by most adult men.”
“Would you place the defendant in that range?”
“Yes.”
“What, if anything, could you determine about the perpetrator’s hands from the bruising on Anna’s neck?”
“I was able to rule out people with larger or smaller hands. The size of the hand that caused the bruising was average, and there were no distinctive fingermarks that would identify it, so the majority of the adult male population would match it.”
“Again, would you consider the defendant’s hands to be within the average range?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you, I have no further questions.” Linda faced Judge Gardner, who turned to Thomas.
“Cross-examination, Mr. Owusu?”
“Yes, thank you, Your Honor.” Thomas rose and strode toward the witness stand. “Ms. Swain-Pettit, I won’t be needing the autopsy photo.”
“Whoops, I forgot.” Linda motioned to her paralegal, though Noah didn’t believe for a minute that she’d left it up by accident.
Thomas stopped in front of the witness stand. “Dr. Kapoor, you testified that your office performs about 220 autopsies per year. How many of those have been on homicide victims?”
“Probably ten.”
“Ten total?” Thomas lifted an eyebrow.
“Yes.”
“And you aren’t the only assistant coroner who performs autopsies, are you?”
“No.”
“How many others are there?”
“It varies, two or three.”
“How many homicides generally occur in Montgomery County, per year?”
“It varies between three and five. Except last year, we had eleven.”
“So in fact, the overwhelming amount of your experience is not on homicide victims, isn’t that correct?”
“Yes.” Dr. Kapoor frowned.
“And even so, how many of those homicides were by manual strangulation?”
“I’d have to think about that. Most are by gun or knife.”
“Would you say less than five are by manual strangulation?”
“Yes.”
