“Yes, I suppose so.”
“Doctor, have you ever conducted another autopsy on a person who killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head?”
“Yes, at least a dozen times. It’s a very common way of committing suicide.”
“In any of those cases, was there a gunshot trajectory similar or identical to the one in this case?”
The doctor thought for a moment. “No, I don’t believe there was.”
“Doctor are you aware that Mr. Stone was right-handed?”
“Yes. It was in the trooper’s preliminary report.”
“But, if Mr. Stone indeed shot himself, he would have done so with his left hand?”
“Yes, that is so.”
“In any of the other cases you mentioned, did the victim use other than his dominant hand to fire the shot?”
The doctor thought again. “I can’t be positive from memory, but I don’t recall such a case.”
“Doctor, the trooper has testified that it is his belief that Mr. Stone laid his head on t
he desk, then fired the fatal shot. On reflection, do you believe that the trajectory of the gunshot is consistent with his theory?”
“Perhaps not,” the doctor said.
“Your Honor, may I use the blackboard?” Stone pointed to the board at one side of the courtroom.
“Go ahead,” the coroner said.
Stone walked to the blackboard and quickly sketched a man’s head lying on a desktop, then he drew a line through the head and into the desktop.
“Doctor, is this approximately the path that the trooper described in his report, with the bullet lodging in the desktop?”
“Yes,” the doctor replied.
Stone drew another line through the head, approximating the trajectory of the bullet described by the doctor. “Doctor, is this the approximate path of the bullet, given the trajectory in your report?”
“Yes, I suppose it is.”
“Do you see that the bullet would have lodged in an entirely different place in the desk, if fired in this manner?”
“Yes, I do.”
“It would then appear that the only way to reconcile the trajectory of the bullet with the place where it struck the desk would be with Mr. Stone sitting in an upright position?”
“It would seem so.”
“With the gun held so?” Stone again assumed the awkward position he had demonstrated earlier.
“Yes.”
“Would this trajectory also be consistent with the gun being fired by a person unknown standing next to and above Mr. Stone’s position?”
The doctor took a deep breath. “Yes, it would be.”
“Thank you, Doctor. Your Honor, I suggest that the preponderance of the evidence suggests that this was murder, not suicide, that it was likely that the shooter first shot Mr. Stone, then went upstairs and shot his wife and daughter.”