Prosecution and defense lawyers rested arguments Friday and jury deliberation began in the trial of Lance Allen Schmidt, 21, and Joseph Wells Stapleton, 20.
The defendants, charged with the second-degree murder of Peter Richard, await their fate as separate juries deliberate. The case stems from the 2002 assault of Richard in a McDonald’s parking lot.
On Tuesday, May 31, prosecution opened its arguments by calling friends and family to attest to Richard’s character and physical condition.
Near the end of the week, prosecution called medical witnesses including Chief Deputy medical examiner Dr. Kanu Virani, who determines causes of suspicious deaths in Oakland County.
Assistant Prosecutor Greg Townsend asked Virani to show the jury the location of injuries sustained by Richard on a plastic model skeleton. Townsend also had Virani explain why he classified Richard’s death as a homicide.
The murder charges were filed against the defendants when Richard died of a pulmonary embolism. Virani testified, that in his professional opinion the embolism resulted for the surgery made necessary by the assault.
Cross-examination of Virani was lengthy as defense lawyer Michael McCarthy questioned Virani’s connection of the assault to the pulmonary embolism. McCarthy also focused on the autopsy protocol and questioned Virani’s testimony.
After the prosecution rested, defense called Richard Moyer, an orthopedic physician who treated Richard from November 2002 to March 2003. Questions centered around Moyer’s decision not to order an MRI on Richard and the fact that Moyer, despite seeing Richard on several occasions for back pain, never treated Richard for a herniated disc.
During Townsend’s cross examination, Moyer conceded that the radius of pain, caused by a fracture diagnosed after the assault, could have masked pain from a herniated disc also allegedly hurt in the assault.
In redirect questioning by the defense Moyer could not attest to when the herniated disc occurred.
At press time, the jury was still deliberating.