Coroner testifies to Baby Dylan's injuries in Mom & Dad Murder Trial | COURT TV

once the corner delivers to you a body that they believe needs an autopsy what do you guys do so we start by taking some photographs and documenting how the body looks as we have received the body and then proceed on to take additional photographs after we have removed you know clothing and medical type equipment to further document any kind of a natural disease or injury and then next step is removing body organs to look for the same types of things natural disease or injury and all along the way taking notes and taking photographs and if there is any evidence that comes with the body how do you guys log that evidence and then maintain it we we do log anything in as evidence and we will hold it in our facility until an investigating agency the police will either pick up the evidence or proceed on with the evidence in the way that they feel they need to to further their investigation through you know maybe a crime lab okay and are there documents that note or chart everything that comes into the office there and everything that you do while you're in the office working yes okay so you would have an evidence sheet that demonstrates all the evidence that would have come in with the body yes okay and then what type of documents do you prepare in regards to the autopsy itself so i take some notes while i'm performing the autopsy and then from those notes dictate and prepare an autopsy report okay and do you also use toxicology lab there at montgomery county coroner's office yes under what circumstances we perform toxicology under almost for almost all autopsies that we do okay um the evidence when we go back to the evidence where is that sword uh we we have an evidence uh we have an evidence room at the coroner's office okay and is that a secured location yes okay how do you gain access to that area uh there are only a couple of people who have access to the area and um those few people who are are employed at the coroner's office will gain access when law enforcement comes and picks up the evidence and then we will maintain a chain of custody to show who came and picked up evidence let me direct your attention to june 2019 did you have an opportunity to assist in the investigation uh or actually to perform an autopsy on the body of baby dylan groves yes okay how did you become involved in that case um it is just random really um so on that day this is the autopsy that uh you know i just randomly was um selected to do okay so the assignments in your office are uh random assignments just random okay let me hand you it's going to be what's been marked at state's exhibit 36 for identification [Music] maybe you can take a look at states exhibit 36. do you recognize that document yes how so this is the autopsy report that i prepared okay and included with the autopsy report is also a toxicology report yes and then also an evidence log or inventory sheet evidence that was that we submitted to the toxicology lab and is that a true and accurate representation of the services performed there at the montgomery county coroner's office in reference to baby dylan's body yes let me ask you dr brown to explain to the jury what you received um and how you received it just the initial package so um we received um dylan's body in um milk two milk crates that were put together um the open end put together so open end to open end and these milk crates were secured together by a chain with multiple padlocks metal wires and zip ties let me hand you what's been marked as states exhibit 37-44 for identification doctor if you could take a look through those photographs and um advise the jury you recognize them yes okay how do you recognize that these are the photographs that we took during the autopsy [Music] doctor if you would explain to the members of the jury fit in this photograph uh so this is what i was describing these um two two milk crates that are um secured together with a thick chain which is woven in through these handles to hold these two milk crates secure together and then the chain is further secured by padlocks and the other ends of the milk crates secured by metal wires and zip ties judge if you would give her the laser pointer so that she can identify what she's speaking about to the jury okay so here we have you know the top of each milk crate which would be open-ended and then the bottoms and then they are put together with this thick chain and multiple padlocks and zip ties and metal wires okay and from your report did you document how many zip ties padlocks and metal wires were there yes so there are three padlocks there are 12 zip ties and there are eight metal wires okay if i could show you states exhibit 38 and ask you to explain what is depicted in that photograph so now we're looking at the opposite end of these milk crates and you can see then that this metal chain is going around this entire structure and you also are able to see a little bit of what is inside of these milk crates and these are very large rocks [Music] and so then this is the opposite side of this structure so we're just kind of going all the way around as if you're able to walk around the whole thing and look and so also then on the side the same type setup with the chain and and padlocks states exhibit 40. and so now we've completed the circle here with the other the opposite end and again the chain and you can see a little bit as to what is contained inside which is you know another structure here in addition to multiple 18 large rocks states exhibit 41. so this gives you a a closer look at what i'm describing to you so that you can see here are multiple zip ties and these metal wires that i've been describing states exhibit 42. another wire states exhibit 43 here we have the chain padlock and a zip tie [Music] so in order to see what is inside of of this structure we proceeded to open the top by cutting the portion of the milk crates and sort of opening it up and so that's what we're doing here in this picture so that you can see that there is this uh structure here which contains dylan's body also these large rocks and then in addition to that there is this um iron anchor type device that is over the top of his body and you remove that whole package out of the milk crates yes okay you continue to take photographs step by step of what you're seeing there yes why do you do that to demonstrate the extent to which his body is concealed this time i would ask the witness to identify states exhibit 46 through 55 throughout the year set 46 through 55 in a second 46 or 55 [Applause] i'm if you could glance through these photos uh and advise the jury if you recognize those photographs yes okay and how do you recognize that these are the photographs taken during the autopsy and these photos are all true and accurate representation of what took place there in your office as you're performing this autopsy yes let me ask you about states exhibit 46 to begin with what do you see there so here we have removed all of the contents of these milk crates and so what we have here is on end we are looking down on the top of dylan who is wrapped in multiple layers of plastic and around all of this plastic is this iron anchor type device you would explain photograph 47 since it's a 47 to the jury and so now we have just put it the whole thing on the other side so that you can see just from another angle exhibit 48 we have now taken the anchor off and so now we have a numerous layers of plastic and duct tape wrapped around his body 48 is mostly silver duct tape yes over the top of plastic space exhibit 49 so now we begin to open this plastic and we do this kind of layer by layer and find uh six different um plastic items that are wrapped around his body and secured with duct tape and the next one wrapped around his body and secured with duct tape over and over and over again and so in these photographs we have cut each layer layer by layer we have cut this open and began to unwrap the structure basically and so now we're down another layer and which is different different type of plastic with additional duct tape and we're down to another layer of the same thing over and over and over again it's not necessarily all the same plastic and duct tape it's not states exhibit 52 and we're down to now another layer of plastic and duct tape and in this photograph you're starting to see some debris from outside somewhere uh there is debris and everything is wet states exhibit 53 another layer of plastic states exhibit 54. so now we are down to a blanket so this right here is a blanket doctor states exhibit 55. there was another blanket which was right here and so now we are down to dylan's body and just the way that we have happened to open all of this plastic what we're looking at is the back of his head and his back so here's his head okay and it's the back of his head here's his back this is his left arm his right arm will be over here and his feet will be down here we just can't see them yet before we move on doctor did you all weigh that package before you start taking it apart do you recall uh i believe that we did i don't recall what the weight of everything was but i believe that we did okay all right so if you would tell the members of the jury how you proceed through the examination before we move on to the photographs um so we continue to you know take pictures every step of the way and basically now we're we're going to remove his body from uh this structure and examine his body i might approach the witness the state's exhibits 56 through 60. doctor if you could take a glance 356 through 60 and advise the jury if you recognize those photographs yes how do you recognize this additional pictures taken during the autopsy [Music] so now we're looking we have flipped him over and so now we're looking um at dylan and his um his face the top of his head is very darkened although his face is still normal tan white color he is in a sleeper and his he has on a sleeper onesie and socks as well as a disposable diaper and everything is soaking wet [Music] if you would explain to the members of the jury what baby dylan weighs at the time that you get his body what his length was uh he weighs 2126 grams which is about four and a half pounds and how long was he at that time uh 20 and a half inches long states exhibit 57 so now we have flipped his body over and you can see um the back of his head again the back of his head you know going down to his neck area here is very darkened um and then the rest of his body again with wet clothing states exhibit 58 so now we have undressed him so that we can evaluate for injury or natural disease any signs of natural disease and so here we can see there is an area on the right side of his chest that is red it's a bruise okay the right part of his abdomen is a little grayish greenish discoloration which you can see when a body begins to decompose or break down just after a period of being deceased he also has a red area on his left leg which is a bruise and a laceration or a break of the skin on his left arm states exhibit 59. so this is a closer look at his face this is our identification photograph and again you can see this very well kind of demarcated you could almost draw a line where you have all of this darkening of his scalp leading to right above the eyes [Music] and here is uh his back with the back of his head again his scalp area very darkened in color and then the um right side of his chest is red with bruising and left leg is red with a bruise as your autopsy progresses you eventually look inside the body at these uh some of the things you've seen outside and then identify things inside that you can't see from the outside is that right that's right okay what hand you states exhibit 61 through 67. after you take a look at these photos and advise the jury who recognized those photographs yes there goes again continuation of photography that you're doing having done there as you're doing the autopsy yes that's right you would explain the significance of states exhibit 61. so this is his left arm so just for orientation his head is here this is his left arm his left hand and this is the laceration or the tear of the skin of his left arm states exhibit 62 so this shows you a closer look at his left arm and what i have done is i um opened his left arm so that i could demonstrate the fracture of the left arm so this is near that area where it is it is lacerated or torn the skin and beneath that area for a second at the record reflect that the witness has pointed to her upper arm i'm sorry go ahead uh so beneath this area is a fracture of his humerus which is just the bone of the left arm and here is the bone which is fractured and that's a complete fracture yes okay stage exhibit 63 so now we're looking further down on his left arm that said this is going to be his left forearm area his hand his left hand is here his left shoulder would be up here and his left forearm is also fractured you have two bones in the left forearm the radius and the ulna so both bones of the left forearm are also fractured doctor before we move on um let me hand you what's been marked as states exhibit 72 for identification do you recognize that photograph yes okay what is that photograph this is an x-ray that we took during the autopsy does this x-ray demonstrate the fractures that you were just speaking of yes okay so using the laser pointer if you would identify those fractures on the x-ray for the jury so here we have his head this is the right side of the body this is the left side of the body and this is the left arm with the fracture of the left humerus or the upper arm bone and then here is a fracture of the left radius and ulna the bones of the left forearm and doctor is it accurate to say that those lower fractures are also complete fractures yes

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Keywords: News, Court, Courtroom, Live Court, True Crime, Real Crime, Law, baby dylan groves story, baby dylan trial, baby dylan groves, groves trial, Daniel & Jessica Groves, daniel groves, dylan groves, court tv, court tv live, court tv live trial, court tv live trials, court tv full trials, jessica groves, daniel groves jr testimony, dylan groves trial

Id: 1VvA-ZLO7dw

Length: 29min 12sec (1752 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 31 2020