Medical examiner: "I actually speak for the dead" | Forensic Files

I'm Dr Bradley J Marcus I'm a forensic pathologist and the Richland County chief medical examiner I actually speak
for the dead I'm I'm their last doctor that they see and I take that relationship very very seriously because
I'm trying to explain what happened to them your left hand on the bot and raise your right face my feeling is is that
when I get on that stand it's over for the defendant I have never seen a case like this before this is probably one in
a-lifetime type case I'm very confident in what I do and I know what I'm doing in that autopsy room and it based on my
track record over the last 10 years when I go to court and testify people are convicted I knew that the girl Miss
Parker had been shot multiple times because I had gone to the scene and seen her body there I only knew about U Mr
captain that he had shot in the head that's what I was told so I was assuming that his case was going to be a real
straightforward one for me to do he was brought out in the uh the body bag so we
opened the body bag and I saw he still had all his clothing on on him right away I knew this guy we're doing
multiple gunshot wounds here multiple as I'm unclothing it a bullet one of the discs from the 410 Shot Shell round
falls out so I'm like that's odd and then I realized that he actually had been a
shot there was a also a shot a gunshot right to his left forearm here which I don't think anybody noticed at the scene
one of the bones was completely broken you can actually see the break you can see the break right there you see that
the black space there shouldn't be any black space you can see the crack in the bone right there to me he would not have
been able to have a gun in his hand at that with that type of injury there it would have knocked anything out of his
hand and then he falls backwards lands on the ground like this and then he sustained a final gunshot wound to the
to the middle of the head

Chief medical examiner Dr. Bradley Marcus takes "48 Hours" inside the Richland County, S.C., morgue and talks about the forensics in the shooting death of Bryan Capnerhurst.

Brief Summary

Dr. Bradley J. Marcus discusses a complex homicide case involving multiple gunshot wounds and the implications for forensic analysis in court.

Key points

Dr. Marcus: Voice of the Dead. Forensic pathologist Dr. Bradley J. Marcus shares his unique perspective on death and justice.
A Lifetime Case. Dr. Marcus reveals the extraordinary nature of the case he's working on.
The Shocking Discovery. Dr. Marcus uncovers a significant injury that changes the understanding of the case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I actually speak for the dead.

Dr. Bradley J. Marcus introduces his role as a forensic pathologist.

0:04WatchJan 23, 2014

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