Anthony Clark — Direct/Cross
148 linesJUDGE EVERETT: Please call your next witness.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: The State calls Dr. Clark.
JUDGE EVERETT: Please raise your right hand, sir. Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to provide will be the truth?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, I do.
JUDGE EVERETT: You may take your seat. Please speak loudly, clearly, sir.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Please introduce yourself and spell your name.
ANTHONY CLARK: I'm Dr. Anthony J. Clark. A-N-T-H-O-N-Y J. Clark, C-L-A-R-K.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How are you employed?
ANTHONY CLARK: I'm currently employed as Associate Medical Examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Division of Forensic Science, in the Central Regional Office in Macon, Georgia.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What are your duties there?
ANTHONY CLARK: I work as an Associate Medical Examiner. I perform what's called the autopsy and forensic autopsies and death investigations.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Is there ever a time that you worked here in Tallahassee as an Assistant Medical Examiner?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What time periods did you do that?
ANTHONY CLARK: I was from 2007 to 2023.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And how many autopsies have you performed during the course of your career?
ANTHONY CLARK: It's over 8,000 now.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And what is the education and training that you have that qualifies you to do that type of work?
ANTHONY CLARK: I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
ANTHONY CLARK: I did two years of animal research before moving on to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.
ANTHONY CLARK: I graduated from the college and then traveled over to New Britain General Hospital in Connecticut and did a two-year general surgical internship.
ANTHONY CLARK: I then went to the Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, did four years of anatomic and clinical pathology. I then traveled from that program down to Atlanta, Georgia, where I did a two-year forensic pathology fellowship at the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office in association with Denver University.
ANTHONY CLARK: I am board certified in anatomic and forensic pathology. I have medical licensures both in the state of Georgia and Florida.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Have you ever testified as an expert in the area of forensic pathology?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, I have.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How many times?
ANTHONY CLARK: Several hundred times.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Tender Dr. Clark as an expert in the area of forensic pathology, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Does the defense wish to voir dire the witness?
MR. ZELMAN: No, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Is there any challenge to his ability to provide an opinion?
MR. ZELMAN: No, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Members of the jury, the witness will be permitted to testify before you today in the form of an opinion in the fields of both medicine and forensic pathology. You may continue.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Doctor, did you conduct the autopsy of Dan Markel?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, I did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: When was that conducted?
ANTHONY CLARK: We performed it on July 19, 2014, and we started at 1155 hours.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Where was the autopsy conducted?
ANTHONY CLARK: At that time we were in the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital morgue.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Did you take photos as part of your autopsy?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, I did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Would use of those photos assist you in your testimony?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, they would.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Would they assist the jury in understanding your testimony?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, they would.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Proceeding with States 25 through 34.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Take a moment to look through those and let me know if you recognize them.
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Are they fair and accurate photographs that were taken during the autopsy of Mr. Markel?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, they are.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Move into evidence States 25 through 34, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: There you are. States 25 through 34 at this time.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Publish 25, please.
JUDGE EVERETT: The parties can briefly approach. A brief break before we continue with the examination of Dr. Clark. The bailiff will take you to the jury room.
JUDGE EVERETT: Mr. Zelman, Ms. Fulford, if your client needs to use the restroom, this would be a good time to do so.
JUDGE EVERETT: State, you may resume with your examination of Dr. Clark at this time.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Publishing 25.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Doctor, you should have a pointer.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Explain what we're looking at in States 25.
ANTHONY CLARK: As part of the examination, particularly in gunshot wounds, we like to know whether the bullets are still in the body or how badly they are broken up, etc. So we do X-rays. And this is an X-ray of the head. You can see the top of the head here, the jaw, right side, left side, and the really bright spots here and here are the bullets that we recovered from this individual. They come out because they're very dense. The X-rays bounce off and turn them white here, just like bone — it's fairly dense. These are the bullets — here, here, and here.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Publish States 26, please.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How many bullets were in Mr. Markel's head?
ANTHONY CLARK: There were two bullets in his head, and you can see on this one here that hit the left cheek actually fragmented a little bit. And then we had a bullet inside the head back to the left side — right side, excuse me, right side.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: States 27 — what are we looking at here, doctor?
ANTHONY CLARK: This is actually the identification photograph of the individual. We like to get them cleaned up. We'll put the identifying tag underneath their chin, the case number, the date, and usually my initials. And you can see that there has been quite a bit of damage here, particularly on the left side of the face. We have a gunshot wound here that's labeled number one in the autopsy report, and this is labeled number two in the autopsy report.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: By labeling them one and two respectively, are you opining that that's the order in which those shots were fired?
ANTHONY CLARK: No. The numbering system in the autopsy report is just for me to discuss during the trial.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Publish 28, please.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What does 28 show?
ANTHONY CLARK: So this is what I call gunshot wound number two. And you can see it's quite irregular. It's not a nice round hole you'd like to see, but the way it hit the bone, it caused a lot of damage and tearing in this area here. You can see that there's what we call raccoon eyes, or hemorrhage around the eyes. There's quite a bit of swelling going on here. Also in this area here you see a lot of minor superficial abrasions that vary in size — some are a bunch of bigger and some are much smaller. You can see it's all over the cheek here, and the ear and inside the neck here. This is what we call pseudo-stippling, and this usually happens after the bullet goes through a door or a window or hits concrete and causes those items — the glass or the wood or the concrete — to splinter and cause small particles to fall out, to shoot out and hit the individual's skin.
ANTHONY CLARK: So this isn't true stippling, which is due to gunpowder, and we'll see an example of that in a minute. So we have large areas of pseudo-stippling around the left side of the face and left side of the neck and ear.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: So each of those small red injuries represents a piece of glass striking?
ANTHONY CLARK: Piece of glass, yes ma'am, or part of the bullet that fragmented off the main part of the bullet.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: States 29, please.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What does this one show?
ANTHONY CLARK: Again, we're looking at the left side of the neck here. Here's the left ear. You can see that this pseudo-stippling is quite extensive.
ANTHONY CLARK: Also, you'll see that there's kind of a purplish discoloration here. Because of where the bullet track went to, it caused a large amount of bleeding into the left side of the face, where you saw a huge distortion of the side of the face, and then drained down into the neck.
ANTHONY CLARK: Okay, this is going to be gunshot wound number one.
ANTHONY CLARK: It's right between the eyebrows, closer to the left eyebrow. Again, it is distorted. It's not a nice little round hole because of the shelf of bone that's there — it's called a glabella — so it causes an irregular entry wound. And now we're seeing a much finer area of stippling across the forehead here. This is much different from what we're seeing on the left side of the face. This is true stippling, or gunpowder stippling, from the barrel of the gun directly.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How does firing a gun cause the pseudo-stippling?
ANTHONY CLARK: The stippling?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Sorry, stippling.
ANTHONY CLARK: Okay. When the firearm is discharged, out of the barrel comes the bullet, of course, hot gases, soot, burning and unburned gunpowder. What causes the stippling is the burning and unburned gunpowder. It actually has part — it's a particulate that strikes the skin and it brands it. It doesn't burn it, but it hits it and brands it, scrapes it. So usually with a handgun we could see the stippling out to about 18 to 24 inches. This, to me, looks a lot closer than that, but all we're seeing is the stippling here.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: So the presence of this evidence suggests that the muzzle of the gun was quite close to Mr. Markel's head when it was fired?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes. I'm — I'm thinking inches, yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: States 31, please.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What does this show?
ANTHONY CLARK: Okay, this is giving you a perspective of the two gunshot wounds here — what I call label one, what is label two — the pseudo-stippling on the nose, the fine stippling on the forehead, the hemorrhage around the left eye, part of the raccoon eye pattern.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: State's Exhibit 32.
ANTHONY CLARK: This is the left forearm, and what you see here is kind of a ring of soot — partial ring of soot here — and some stippling on the forearm here too, that — to me suggests that that arm was up near the gun when it was discharged. That's at one point in time, and most likely the one gunshot wound that went to the center of the head — that arm was up in a defensive type thing or reaction type thing. And the soot and stippling is actually not from the barrel, but when you're talking about a revolver, you have a cylinder where the bullets are. You have a space between the cylinder and the barrel — it's called a cylinder gap — and soot and gunpowder can come out of the cylinder gap and cause this kind of pattern.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: So again, consistent with the firearm being very close to the victim?
ANTHONY CLARK: That's correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And also, is it consistent with the victim at least having enough wherewithal of the impending danger to raise his arm in defense?
ANTHONY CLARK: In my opinion, yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And you said that the number that you order the shots for purposes of your reports does not necessarily mean that's the order of the shots that were fired in this case. Do you have an opinion as to which shots were fired in what order?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes. After discussions with the investigators and looking at the scene photographs, the first shot went through the closed car window. So the first shot would have been to the left cheek area, which traveled from the left cheek just before the left ear, hitting soft tissues, fracturing the jaw, fracturing the left cheekbone. Again, this is maybe slightly incapacitating — maybe stunned him — but would not immediately put his lights out. Okay, so that is where all the pseudo-stippling is coming from, from that shattering glass. Glass is not there anymore. The second shot is to the forehead, where the actual gunpowder can strike the skin, and the hand was raised somehow into the vicinity of that cylinder gap.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And that — that's the second shot, is the one that was not survivable?
ANTHONY CLARK: That's correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And was there any amount of medical attention that could have assisted Mr. Markel, say, had gotten there sooner?
ANTHONY CLARK: Well, these are pretty devastating injuries, particularly the gunshot wound in the brain.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Did you collect the projectiles from Mr. Markel's head?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, I did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I'm going to show you State's Exhibit 127 and 128.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: If you will publish 30, please.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I'm — going to ask if you recognize 127 and 128.
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, I do.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How do you recognize those?
ANTHONY CLARK: These are the envelopes that we placed these bullets in, with the identifying labels and where they were from — both ones from gunshot wound number one and ones from gunshot wound number two.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Are they in the same or substantially the same condition as when you collected them?
ANTHONY CLARK: They appear to be so, yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Move into evidence 127 and 128, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Any questions? There you are.
JUDGE EVERETT: Evidence 127 and 128 are admitted.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And is this a photograph of one of these projectiles removed from Mr. Markel's head?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, ma'am. This is the one from gunshot wound number two to the left cheek area. If you remember on the X-ray, it had kind of a barrel shape to it.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I don't remember, but do you see the barrel shape here?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And for the record, that was 33. Now publishing 34.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What does this show?
ANTHONY CLARK: This is the bullet that we pulled from the right side of the brain, and the X-ray is getting pretty deformed.
ANTHONY CLARK: You can see that. We've taken one picture, one aspect of it here. Here's the identifying label.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What is meant by the term "cause of death"?
ANTHONY CLARK: That is how that person died.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And is it part of your job as assistant medical examiner to determine a cause of death?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And were you able to do that in this case?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What was the cause of death?
ANTHONY CLARK: Gunshot wounds of the face and head.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And what about manner of death? What's meant by that term?
ANTHONY CLARK: Manner of death is what were the circumstances that eventually led to the death.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And do you have an opinion as to the manner of death?
ANTHONY CLARK: Yes, I do.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And what is it?
ANTHONY CLARK: Homicide.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No further questions.
JUDGE EVERETT: Cross-examination?
MR. ZELMAN: No, Your Honor.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Judge, this witness can be excused, and this might be a good time to take our lunch recess.
JUDGE EVERETT: Very well. Well, Dr. Clark, you may step down, sir. Have a good day.
JUDGE EVERETT: Members of the jury, we are going to take our lunch break at this point. As you have been previously instructed, I'm just going to remind you again, you are not to discuss this case with each other or any other person.
JUDGE EVERETT: During your lunch break, you may eat together if you choose to. Again, you may converse about any manner of things but this case. Does everyone understand this instruction? Please raise your hands.
JUDGE EVERETT: And for the record, the jurors have raised their hands.
JUDGE EVERETT: Please return at 1:15. Enjoy your lunch break.
JUDGE EVERETT: Before we go on the recess break this afternoon, I do believe this merits a small bit of discussion on the topic.
JUDGE EVERETT: The matters that we've discussed at sidebar concerning emotional responses, I do feel it is important at this point. Mrs. Adelson, listen — when the testimony is occurring or the evidence, I know you may have a natural reaction, but as best possible, you need to control your reactions concerning any head movements, any expressions of disagreement, or any emotional outbursts. The jury must decide this matter on the merits, on the evidence. Do you understand this?
JUDGE EVERETT: Very well. I do not wish to do this in front of the jurors at all, but it's very important that you are able to control your emotions. Do you understand what I'm saying?
JUDGE EVERETT: Does either party need to be heard before we go into the lunch break?
JUDGE EVERETT: All right. Please report back at 1:15 as well. I believe we have three other witnesses that we can possibly get through this afternoon.