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A pathologist testified Tuesday that Louisiana murder victim Richard Marshall had “unusual” injuries that could only result from “a high degree of force.”
Thirty-seven-year-old Tommy L. Harrison is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly beating to death Marshall with a baseball bat during a fight in a Louisiana alley on Sept. 15, 2008.
Harrison’s trial began before Judge Dan Dildine and a seven-man, five-woman jury in Lincoln County, where it was moved on a change of venue from Pike County.
Dr. Douglas Miller, a University of Missouri School of Medicine neuropathologist, testified for the prosecution that Marshall’s wounds caused bleeding in the brain consistent with that of someone who had been thrown from a vehicle in a rollover accident or had fallen from a tall building.
The damage was “extremely unlikely” to have been caused by fists and death likely was “pretty rapid,” Miller said on the stand.
“This pattern is an indicator of severe brain injury,” he testified.
Miller said Marshall was “probably already dead” when an ambulance was called shortly after Louisiana police received the initial call of a fight in progress in the alley behind 415 Virginia at 10:26 p.m.
Tests showed that at the time of his death Marshall had a blood alcohol level of 0.28, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08. However, both Miller and Boone County Medical Examiner Dr. Christopher Stacy, who did the initial autopsy, said drunkenness didn’t kill Marshall.
Stacy testified the victim died from blunt force trauma and that while there was no forensic evidence to prove Marshall was hit with a baseball bat, he suffered at least six wounds to the face and head and that an object may have been used hit him multiple times in the same places.
During cross-examination by Todd Schulze, one of Harrison’s attorneys, Stacy said the injuries occurred at multiple times and that Marshall did not have a fractured skull.
Under questioning from Pike County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Fisher, Miller later said it was possible to die from the internal wounds Marshall suffered and not have a broken skull.
Two prosecution witnesses, former Louisiana Police Officer Corey Anderson and Pike County Coroner Jim Turner, testified they saw a baseball bat near where Marshall’s body was found. Fisher said Harrison’s attack was unprovoked.
A racial slur may have prompted the fight. Harrison’s girlfriend, Tracy Davis, told police that “Tommy was upset because Mr. Marshall had called him a nigger.”
Harrison is black and Marshall was white. The jury is all white and there were no minorities among the pool of about 50 potential jurors who were interviewed.
At least two people witnessed part of the fight and another saw its aftermath. They have yet to testify. The prosecution was expected to continue its case Wednesday morning.
Schulze and co-counsel Jonathan Hoover each declined to discuss whether Harrison will testify. Schulze on Tuesday deferred his opening statements to the jury until Fisher wraps up his case, but the defendant likely will claim self-defense.
In separate statements to police, one witness said Marshall had come to him seeking a baseball bat because “three black males were going to jump him” and another witness quoted the suspect as saying “The f----- came at me with a bat.”
The trial is expected to last through Thursday. A conviction for second-degree murder carries a penalty of 10 years to 30 years in prison.
