UPDATED 4:10 p.m.: After the fifth day of testimony in the Huguely murder trial opened with a neuropathologist's assertion that victim Yeardley Love may have been killed by having her head whipped violently around, there have been hours of medical testimony, much of it repetitious.
Witnesses have asserted that CPR was unlikely to cause the injuries found in Love's brain and that she likely died of blunt force trauma.
At about 4 p.m., medical examiner Dr. William Gormley reiterated his belief that blunt-force injuries to Love's head were what killed her. The medical examiner's finding on the issue has long been public, and he testified to similar effect at an April preliminary hearing.
He also repeated findings of alcohol and expected levels of Adderall in Love's system.
Much of the testimony and cross examination dealt with a minute examination of the effects of trauma on Love's brain. The defense emphasized that the cause of the trauma and the amount of force exerted on her were not covered in the experts' testimony.
UPDATED: 11:19 am.:Testifying for nearly two hours Tuesday morning in the George Huguely murder trial, a neurologist from the Medical College of Virginia said that victim Yeardley Love's brain had sustained several injuries, including potential fatal damage to her brain stem.
She attributed the injuries to blunt force trauma.
Dr. Christine Fuller said that the bleeding in Love's brain stem indicated torn blood vessels. Blood vessels, in turn, are far harder to tear than the cells that relay messages through the brain, which means that they were presumably also damaged in Love's brain stem, she testified.
Because the brain stem is responsible for bodily functions including breathing and heart beat, that could easily have proven fatal to Love, either immediately or during the course of a couple of hours, she testified.
The brain stem injury would have been caused by Love's head whipping around, she said.
"If you torque the brain rapidly ... that can rip those [brain cells]," she said.
She also described contusions to the left and right side of Love's brain and bleeding beneath the brain's spidery envelope.
"Had there not been injuries elsewhere, this might not have caused a major problem," she said of one of the contusions.
The injuries pointed clearly to blunt force trauma, she said.
The defense has yet to cross-examine her. Another brain expert is also expected to testify today.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement