Document 2020r000308

Case No.: 2020r000308 Document No.: 61908 Filed: 11/10/2019 Page: 11 of 23 L9L5ber1 1 death. 2 We will not be eliciting expert medical testimony or opinion from this witness, he will be simply testifying to what he observed with respect to the victim's physical condition during the 10 intervening years between the shooting and the death and that's important evidence, it's evidence that will then be consistent with things that medical experts to be qualified as experts will be called to testify about, but those experts did not observe these injuries during the 10 intervening years. They also did not observe Mr. Jones prior to the shooting. For instance, they wouldn't be able to tell you whether he was in a wheelchair before the shooting or after the shooting. They wouldn't be able to tell you if he developed those bedsores before the shooting or after the shooting. It is Mr. Vega's observations that will allow the jury to connect those dots. Given how important causation is in this case, we think it is important that the jury understand those injuries. 19 THE COURT: Will medical records, that will be introduced, describe the bedsores? 21 MR. HOBSON: They will describe the bedsores at the time of the autopsy which was in November of 2010. 23 THE COURT: What is the connection between bedsores and cause of death? Infection? 25 MR. HOBSON: Your Honor, essentially what I expect the SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300 DOJ-OGR-00011126 --- PAGE BREAK --- Case No.: 2020r000308 Document No.: 61908 Filed: 11/10/2021 Page: 12 of 623 L9L5ber1 1 testimony will be from the medical experts is that as a result 2 of the gunshot wound, that caused paralysis and paraplegia in 3 the victim. Paraplegia commonly leads to things such as 4 bedsores or pressure sores from not being able to move one's 5 body; also other conditions such as a colostomy bag, a 6 collapsed rectum, a permanent catheter, all of which can lead 7 to infections and that in this particular case it was the 8 complications of the paraplegia that led into infections or 9 sepsis and that it was the sepsis that ultimately, in 2010, 10 killed Mr. Jones. 11 MR. DeMARCO: Your Honor, if I may? 12 THE COURT: Sure. 13 MR. DeMARCO: In my reading of the 3500 notes that 14 were disclosed it's more than that. He describes oozing-type 15 wounds, he describes a horrific odor, I think he described it 16 as the smell of death in Mr. Jones' apartment at or near the 17 time of his death. It's facts like these that I am focusing on. 18 on. 19 THE COURT: Yes. 20 MR. DeMARCO: The paraplegia, the medical testimony 21 from the medical examiners will establish that Mr. Jones was a 22 paraplegic and he was in a wheelchair. But, my concern is 23 about the graphic description of the bedsores, the compression 24 sores, and also the horrific odor witnessed by Mr. Vega. 25 MR. HOBSON: Your Honor, we are certainly cognizant of SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300 DOJ-OGR-00011127 --- PAGE BREAK --- of my questions in a leading way, I will hope to enforce that line. It is, again, certainly not our intention to be gratuitous but to simply get in the nature of the injuries and their relationship. THE COURT: You don't have pre-autopsy medical records that you are putting in that describes these injuries? MR. HOBSON: No, your Honor. MR. DeMARCO: I'm sorry. What was that? Pre? THE COURT: No. I asked if there were -- I'm sorry. THE COURT: I asked if there were pre-autopsy medical records that describes these infections and injuries and the answer is no. MR. DeMARCO: The government has disclosed, pursuant to Rule 16, some of these records that your Honor references, so. MR. HOBSON: Your Honor's question was I think if we are introducing them. There are voluminous medical records that are almost incomprehensive to a layperson. We are not introducing those records. THE COURT: But you have a medical expert. MR. HOBSON: We do have a medical expert. MR. DeMARCO: Your Honor, if I just might add another fact to this? Based on the exhibit list and the exhibits SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300