Testifying Thursday morning at the first-degree murder trial of a Seabeck man was Dr. Emmanuel Q. Lacsina, a forensic pathologist hired by Kitsap County with more than two decades experience and at least 11,000 autopsies under his belt.
Lacsina told jurors when a gun is used in a potential homicide, he investigates several factors and documents several pieces of evidence.
They include:
* Establishing which wounds are “entrance” wounds and which are “exit” wounds
* Determining if organs were involved in the bullet’s pathway
* Recovering all bullets inside the victim
* Taking and documenting hair, blood, fingernails and other specimens for evidence and toxicology lab study
As the chief pathologist in the death investigation of Russell
Warren, 61, he determined that the cause of death was four bullet
wounds and manner of death was
homicide, he told jurors.
Russell’s son, Martin, is currently on trial for his murder at their Seabeck home in October 2004.
The four bullets found, he said, traveled from the gun to the body
via the left hand and then the side of the face; the left index
finger and then the side of the head; and two bullets went into the
chest cavity.
Defense attorney Clayton Longacre asked about a claim the doctor had made in the autopsy that stated “the 61-year-old male appeared to be older than his years.”
He asked the doctor if the deceased Warren had any alcohol or drugs in his system, and the doctor told him that small amounts of methamphetamine or amphetamine were found.
