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By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 01:28 p.m. EDT, Aug 04, 2008
An international expert in forensic pathology testified this morning that 28-year-old Mark D. McCullaugh Jr. had the heart of a man in his 80s and died from a ''haywire heartbeat'' brought on by his violent 2006 struggle with Summit County sheriff's deputies.
Werner U. Spitz, educated in Switzerland, Israel and the United States, has testified in the Congressional investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Spitz testified this morning that McCullaugh's morbid obesity, 75-percent blockage of coronary arteries, and ''bad genes'' — combined with his psychotic behavior before the struggle — led to a rapidly accelerated heartbeat as the principal factor in his death.
Spitz said his conclusion was that McCullaugh died of ''natural causes.''
The testimony came in the sixth day of Deputy Stephen Krendick's murder trial in Common Pleas Court before visiting Judge Herman F. Inderlied Jr. of Geauga County, who is hearing the case without a jury.
Prosecutors have not finished presenting their case against Krendick, but Inderlied allowed the defense to call Spitz out of order because of conflicts with his schedule.
The fatal struggle with McCullaugh, which occurred in an 11-by-7-foot cell in the mental health unit of the county jail on Aug. 20, 2006, was preceded by agitated, combative and threatening behavior toward the deputies, according to trial testimony and investigative records.
McCullaugh had fouled his cell with feces, blood and urine and was throwing feces at the deputies at one point in the struggle, and that, too, Spitz said, caused a rush of blood that overloaded McCullaugh's heart.
''First of all, you need to be aware of the fact that Mr. McCullaugh inherited from his ancestors . . . bad genes,'' Spitz said. ''He has coronary arteries, which are arteries that supply the blood to the heart muscle, that were 75 percent narrowed.
''That means three-quarters in a 28-year-old individual,'' he said. ''This man had a heart of a 75- or 85-year-old individual — not a 28-year-old individual.
''You take a person that is that age, 75 or 85, and he's agitated because of his mental condition and all the irrational stuff that he does — throwing his arms and legs around attacking the police — and you're going to get the same result,'' Spitz said.
Spitz, 81, said he did not agree with the major findings in the Summit County medical examiner's autopsy, which ruled that McCullaugh died of asphyxiation from the combined effects of chemical, electrical and mechanical restraints on his airways.
George C. Sterbenz, the county's chief deputy medical examiner, testified last week that the principal factor causing McCullaugh to choke to death was ''severe burns'' to his windpipe from a ''large amount'' of pepper spray.
McCullaugh died within ''minutes'' of inhaling the pepper spray, Sterbenz said.
Krendick, according to testimony, used a 16-ounce can of pepper spray known as ''the sergeant's can.''
It was kept in a sergeant's office at the jail, and when Krendick allegedly used it on McCullaugh, sheriff's Deputy Adam Crolley testified that Krendick made a remark just before shooting the pepper spray into the cell through a flap in the door.
''He said he was going to let him cook,'' Crolley said.
Sterbenz, in his testimony, demonstrated what he termed ''severe burns'' to the windpipe by using a series of minutely detailed autopsy photographs shown on a courtroom projection screen.
But Spitz said those were ''superficial'' burns and that the burns did not lead to asphyxiation because there were no obstructions in the windpipe and because emergency-room personnel at Akron General Medical Center were able to easily and successfully insert a breathing tube into McCullaugh's trachea.
That emergency procedure, according to Spitz, soon caused airflow into both lungs.
McCullaugh also suffered an anal injury — specifically three bruises to the anal entrance — indicative of ''sodomy-type injuries,'' Sterbenz said in his testimony.
But Spitz said those injuries could have been caused by McCullaugh inserting his fingers into the area and pulling out fecal matter.
From analyzing that portion of the autopsy, Spitz said he came to that opinion because the investigative evidence showed McCullaugh had ''painted the cell'' with blood and fecal matter before the struggle.
Spitz said an object was not inserted into the anus because Sterbenz — in his own findings — was unable to determine a depth of penetration.
Spitz, a professor of pathology at Wayne State University in Michigan and an adjunct professor of chemistry at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, was the only witness to take the stand before today's proceedings were adjourned for lunch.
An international expert in forensic pathology testified this morning that 28-year-old Mark D. McCullaugh Jr. had the heart of a man in his 80s and died from a ''haywire heartbeat'' brought on by his violent 2006 struggle with Summit County sheriff's deputies.
Werner U. Spitz, educated in Switzerland, Israel and the United States, has testified in the Congressional investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Spitz testified this morning that McCullaugh's morbid obesity, 75-percent blockage of coronary arteries, and ''bad genes'' — combined with his psychotic behavior before the struggle — led to a rapidly accelerated heartbeat as the principal factor in his death.
Spitz said his conclusion was that McCullaugh died of ''natural causes.''
The testimony came in the sixth day of Deputy Stephen Krendick's murder trial in Common Pleas Court before visiting Judge Herman F. Inderlied Jr. of Geauga County, who is hearing the case without a jury.
Prosecutors have not finished presenting their case against Krendick, but Inderlied allowed the defense to call Spitz out of order because of conflicts with his schedule.
The fatal struggle with McCullaugh, which occurred in an 11-by-7-foot cell in the mental health unit of the county jail on Aug. 20, 2006, was preceded by agitated, combative and threatening behavior toward the deputies, according to trial testimony and investigative records.
McCullaugh had fouled his cell with feces, blood and urine and was throwing feces at the deputies at one point in the struggle, and that, too, Spitz said, caused a rush of blood that overloaded McCullaugh's heart.
''First of all, you need to be aware of the fact that Mr. McCullaugh inherited from his ancestors . . . bad genes,'' Spitz said. ''He has coronary arteries, which are arteries that supply the blood to the heart muscle, that were 75 percent narrowed.
''That means three-quarters in a 28-year-old individual,'' he said. ''This man had a heart of a 75- or 85-year-old individual — not a 28-year-old individual.
''You take a person that is that age, 75 or 85, and he's agitated because of his mental condition and all the irrational stuff that he does — throwing his arms and legs around attacking the police — and you're going to get the same result,'' Spitz said.
Spitz, 81, said he did not agree with the major findings in the Summit County medical examiner's autopsy, which ruled that McCullaugh died of asphyxiation from the combined effects of chemical, electrical and mechanical restraints on his airways.
George C. Sterbenz, the county's chief deputy medical examiner, testified last week that the principal factor causing McCullaugh to choke to death was ''severe burns'' to his windpipe from a ''large amount'' of pepper spray.
McCullaugh died within ''minutes'' of inhaling the pepper spray, Sterbenz said.
Krendick, according to testimony, used a 16-ounce can of pepper spray known as ''the sergeant's can.''
It was kept in a sergeant's office at the jail, and when Krendick allegedly used it on McCullaugh, sheriff's Deputy Adam Crolley testified that Krendick made a remark just before shooting the pepper spray into the cell through a flap in the door.
''He said he was going to let him cook,'' Crolley said.
Sterbenz, in his testimony, demonstrated what he termed ''severe burns'' to the windpipe by using a series of minutely detailed autopsy photographs shown on a courtroom projection screen.
But Spitz said those were ''superficial'' burns and that the burns did not lead to asphyxiation because there were no obstructions in the windpipe and because emergency-room personnel at Akron General Medical Center were able to easily and successfully insert a breathing tube into McCullaugh's trachea.
That emergency procedure, according to Spitz, soon caused airflow into both lungs.
McCullaugh also suffered an anal injury — specifically three bruises to the anal entrance — indicative of ''sodomy-type injuries,'' Sterbenz said in his testimony.
But Spitz said those injuries could have been caused by McCullaugh inserting his fingers into the area and pulling out fecal matter.
From analyzing that portion of the autopsy, Spitz said he came to that opinion because the investigative evidence showed McCullaugh had ''painted the cell'' with blood and fecal matter before the struggle.
Spitz said an object was not inserted into the anus because Sterbenz — in his own findings — was unable to determine a depth of penetration.
Spitz, a professor of pathology at Wayne State University in Michigan and an adjunct professor of chemistry at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, was the only witness to take the stand before today's proceedings were adjourned for lunch.
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