2.Laposata Diagrams: Slides 4–6 Allowed
63 linesTHE COURT: All right. Counsel, I know that the next witness is scheduled to be Dr. Laposata.
MR. REDDINGTON: Yes.
THE COURT: And she will be testifying by Zoom.
MR. REDDINGTON: That's correct.
THE COURT: And I think at some point after we talk a little bit, we're gonna have to take a short break just to make sure that logistically everything's all set up with the doctor and the system here, and I appreciate everybody's help technically in setting that up. And I know that the defendant has provided, I don't know, maybe five or six exhibits that counsel wanted to introduce through Dr. Laposata. And so I guess, Commonwealth, have you had an opportunity to take a look at these?
MS. SPRAGUE: Yes.
THE COURT: All right.
MS. SPRAGUE: And we are objecting to these—
MR. REDDINGTON: No.
MS. SPRAGUE: ... items. Yeah.
THE COURT: All right. And so why don't we discuss those here in open court and go through it. And so I've had the opportunity. I saw these this morning as well. And so, Commonwealth, why don't I hear the objections, and then I'll hear from the defendant?
MS. SPRAGUE: The main objection is that the drawing is inaccurate. The window well is in the wrong place, and where they have her falling and landing in slide four would be where the window well is actually placed in the photograph. I can pass up the photograph to the court. This is in evidence, I believe, maybe a couple times. But talks are discretionary, but what they should not do is mislead a jury and present information that's not accurate. And so the drawing itself is inaccurate, and so we're objecting to these slides.
THE COURT: Is that the Commonwealth's objection, is that the window well is in the wrong place on the drawing?
MS. SPRAGUE: And putting aside the late disclosure and the fact that I don't know if anyone who created this is going to come in and testify that they created it and whether it's to scale or not, but the main objection is that it's inaccurate.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Reddington.
MR. REDDINGTON: Thank you. Your Honor, obviously, the window well, you've got... Man, this thing is ridiculous. You have the diagram talking about the window well. I'm just gonna... You already have a copy of these, right?
THE COURT: I do, yeah.
MR. REDDINGTON: The window well is depicted on the diagram, I suggest, accurately. And in fact, measurements were taken by the gentleman who did the computer animation in conjunction with information by way of medical provided by Dr. Laposata, and it shows clearly that, as Your Honor can see, that we're talking about the x-rays that are included. There are exhibits that she attaches that shows the way that she falls, how she hits her head. The Commonwealth has been suggesting that, I guess, that they're confused as to how she would've ended up the way she did. This shows the way that she landed on her head, gets the Jefferson fracture, falls back. Legs are facing out from the house. She's laying in the snow. They're all depicted there. If there's an issue with the window well that's off according to the government, they could raise that on cross. They could say, "Well, the window well was really six inches to the left instead of to the right." That never struck her anyway. It's totally irrelevant. I think that they are useful for a jury to be able to review. I did have copies made for the jurors and the court as well as the DAs. And Dr. Laposata has it. And then, you know, I could go through, but you can see that we've taken the diagram, the window, where the body lands, and then to the right of it would be the actual x-ray. Dr. Laposata can compare the injuries, talk about the Herrin, the Jefferson fracture. There's a photograph that shows the blood in the snow, shows the area, and the photograph actually shows the window well. And I suggest the window well on page six is exactly—the way we have it depicted. So I don't know what the objection is. I would ask that the court would allow this to be in.
THE COURT: All right. Well, I guess it appears to be slides four, five, and six certainly go towards the doctor's opinion as to, we said, the mechanism of the injury. That shows the head striking of the ground, and then on the other part of the slide has the X-rays, and there's also a slide regarding the Jefferson fracture diagram. And then five is a diagram showing how the thoracic spine injury could have occurred. And there's a diagram regarding the thoracic spine, specifically T6. And then slide six shows the... And I think there has been testimony as that's, that is where the defendant was found. And also then there's a thoracic spine, I think it's either an X-ray or some type of scan, as well as some of the additional medical devices that were found in that area. I'm not quite sure about one, two, and three.
MR. REDDINGTON: That's fine. I can remove one, I can remove two, and we'll just focus, if you want, on—
THE COURT: Yeah.
MR. REDDINGTON: ... three through six.
THE COURT: I think that goes more towards the doctor's kind of background and kinda what had been offered in regards to her opinion.
MS. SPRAGUE: Your Honor, I think you said you were unsure of one, two, and three.
THE COURT: Yeah.
MS. SPRAGUE: And defense said he could go with three, four, and six. Three, four, five, and six. So it—three was an issue, was it not?
MR. REDDINGTON: What's wrong with three?
THE COURT: Well, I think, again, I think four, four kind of would cover what's... Let's deal with that. All right? So I would allow in slide four, slide five, and slide six.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay, thank you.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. SPRAGUE: Your Honor, I object.
THE COURT: And so what we'll do is... Yeah, objection noted. And then what we'll do is take a short break at this point, set up the Zoom call. Also, I know we're gonna have to probably make certain changes to the jury book that was gonna be presented. So the only slides that will be in that book will be, like I said, just so we know—
MR. REDDINGTON: Four, five, and six.
THE COURT: ... Yeah, just so we know which ones you're talking about.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay.
MS. SPRAGUE: There's a book?
MR. REDDINGTON: Well, no, it's just—it's not a book. It's just, Lara, Lara stapled together all of the exhibits.
THE COURT: All right. So just so we know what we're talking about, right? Four.
MS. SPRAGUE: Yes.
THE COURT: And five is the thoracic spine.
MR. REDDINGTON: Yes. And like I say, I've got enough for the jurors plus you and the DA's office.
THE COURT: Okay. And then six. I just kinda wanna make sure that we're all—
MR. REDDINGTON: Yep.
THE COURT: ... Talking the same.
MR. REDDINGTON: Slide six.
THE COURT: Okay.
MR. REDDINGTON: Perfect. Thank you.
THE COURT: All right. So why don't we do that? We'll take a short break so that those changes can be made and we can set up for the Zoom, and then we'll come back out and we'll proceed with Dr. Laposata.
MR. REDDINGTON: Thank you.
THE COURT: Okay. All right, thank you.
BAILIFF: All rise.
BAILIFF: This court is back in session. You may be seated.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, 1st District Court, this is Judge Shanan L Buckingham. All parties are present exluding the jury.
THE COURT: All right. Are we ready for the jury?
MR. REDDINGTON: Yes. We have some kind of background noise. I don't know if there's anything that can be done with it.
THE COURT: I know. I'm not sure. I'm probably the wrong person to ask. When you ask that.
MR. REDDINGTON: I'm right behind you.
MR. REDDINGTON: Hold on, Doc.
THE COURT: I'm not sure this is gonna work at this point. So why don't we see if we can get somebody to address this we'll get it done. But we can toss them at FDR or somebody. So why don't we take a further break. We'll figure this out.
THE COURT: Yeah. All right. All right. Thanks.
BAILIFF: All rise.
BAILIFF: This court is back in session. Please be seated.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, the folks in the well, we return back to the matter of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Marie Clancy. All parties are present, excluding the jury.