whether it s rodney king, whether it s george floyd, whether it s the vietnam war. and i hesitate to say that it s somehow the public obligation of a mother or a father to display the autopsy photos of her murdered child, but on the other hand, look at it this way. the child you just had on, the 11-year-old who witnessed the execution of her teacher and who will go to grief counselling for the rest of her life, was forced to witness up close and personal that tragedy. why is it that that child has to see this but lawmakers who threw their inaction or action permit this environment to exist can walk away and not have to see vividly the consequences of their actions or inaction? and so i think we need something dramatic here to finally make a difference. otherwise, this is going to go on and on and on. these children are changed.
the original autopsy photos. what did you see? what stood out in my mind from the autopsy photos was on meg s neck there were lines on her neck that looked like a belt mark was on her neck, not a rope mark. the detective figured the only way to find out what had actually happened in that apartment in 1985, was to learn all he could about scott and meg purk. coming up something disturbing about meg s past. there was an on the coffee table and it said that she had i tried to hang herself. and something dark from scott s. he was an inter burglar. then in your burglar? he would actually commit burglary dress up as a ninja. how many burglaries are we talking about? at least ten burglaries. he would come into your bedroom and what you sleep and then take your wallet or purse off your night stand. when dateline continues.
another 50 homicide cases when the detective from stow came to us and said, hey, i have a really old case i want you to consider presenting to the grand jury. but evidence did the detective have? well, almost none beyond a few old autopsy photos. and a theory of what had happened. the only physical evidence, if any existed, would involve meg purk s body. so, if this case was to go forward, meg would have to be exhumed. deciding to dig up a body that s been buried for a long time is not an easy decision. she s got a whole family that was there when she was put in the ground, and they might have their own opinions about whether or not digging her up again was the right thing to do. exactly. it was a tough conversation to have with i went and spoke with mixed
you thought maybe it was an uptake yet? all that s correct. after reviewing the autopsy photos, dr. davis concluded that the bruises were in particular, caused by somebody straddling when she died, but rather bruises that occur naturally when blood cools after death. purple areas of discoloration, that can be easily mistaken for picky, but they re actually caused by differ mechanism. and the same witnessed offered in the different picture of the murder scenario. had scott patterson indeed been on top of lisa, pressing that bar down onto your throat, dr. davis said, he would ve expected to see more significant damage to her neck. i would expect to see a fracture of that cartilage, right here, that i m sample. more injury. the defense introduced a new team, they talk to the jury about a toxicology report that showed as a dangerous cocktail of drugs in your system. particularly side effects like fainting spells, and irregular
in and day out what they have seen there no matter what the verdict is. i tried homicides as a prosecutor for ten years, an normally who is forgotten is the familiar lift deceased, and it s very heart-wrenching because you re making them relive that fatal day over and over and over, and they hear so much information, and those autopsy photos, to think that this is the last sight, the last thing that aari saw right before he took his last breath and the way his life was taken. it s horrible for the family. yeah. sarah, your thoughts on this? yeah. i mean, you have to realize that even before getting to trial they have seen these videos. they have heard the made-up stories by these defendants. it s tough, and i think sometimes defense attorneys are guilty of forgetting but it s a big mistake. you have to show that empathy even though you re vigorously and zealously trying to represent your client. i think you lose the jury to