Pathologist for defense offers an alternative cause

A defense-hired forensic pathologist with a checkered past offered an alternative explanation for the death of Valley Springs resident Marvin Brown during the trial of his accused killer Friday in Calaveras County Superior Court.

Another medical expert for the defense testified that the suspect is suffering from brain cancer and may not live past March.

Dr. Thomas H. Gill, a licensed forensic pathologist from Fairfield, told jurors cardiac arrest induced by drug and alcohol use could have occurred before the vital C-4 vertebra was broken in Brown’s neck.    
 

Dr. Robert Lawrence, the Stockton pathologist who performed Brown’s autopsy, concluded a sharp yank from behind caused the broken neck and led to his death. Lawrence testified Feb. 10 that a drug overdose could not have led to the injury.

James Alison Livezey, 41, of Valley Springs, is charged with second-degree murder. Brown died July 4 at Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital, following an incident that occurred at the victim’s trailer on June 29 at the Sequoia Rose Mobile Home Park in Valley Springs.

Gill testified to establish his expertise, including specialization in forensic and neurological pathology, membership in the National Association of Medical Examiners and more than 40 years in medicine since graduating in 1969 from Oregon Health and Sciences University.

However, jurors heard nothing of the many ups and downs of Gill’s career.

In an episode of PBS’ “Frontline,” which aired early last year, an investigation conducted by the show’s staff — along with ProPublica, National Public Radio, California Watch and the investigative reporting program at the University of California, Berkeley — revealed Gill was hired by the Marion County Coroner’s Office in Indiana in 1993, having performed fewer than two dozen forensic autopsies since graduating from medical school 24 years earlier.

A co-worker found Gill passed out drunk in a loading dock after the end of a shift, which Gill acknowledged in written answers during preparation for a 2001 trial, and local prosecutors wrote the “credibility he may have had no longer exists” after he gave conflicting answers while testifying in a 1994 murder trial, the report stated.

A private investigator’s research into Gill’s past and work on a 2006 Sonoma County homicide investigation unraveled the case.

“Gill was fired or resigned from forensic pathology jobs in Indianapolis, Northern California and Kansas City, Mo., following controversies over the competency of his autopsies,” a March 2011 California Watch report stated.

In response to the “Frontline” report, Gill wrote a letter stating that “as noted in the Indianapolis period I had no formal training in forensic pathology and therefore made mistakes, particularly in pediatric cases where findings tend to be more subtle and complex. Even during this period, however the origins of some of these allegations are identified as originating from defense lawyers and other forensic pathologists.”

“Throughout, allegations of competence (sic) can be seen to continue originating in non-forensic pathologists with their own agendas and need to discredit my competence. At times an error or omission may have occurred, however it had no bearing upon the determination of cause and manner of death,” Gill wrote.

In the Livezey case, Gill said he pored over hundreds of pages of materials, including autopsy and crime scene photographs and CT scans, in reaching his conclusion that contradicted Lawrence’s finding.

He said he found the victim’s CT scan “very instructive.”

“I think that it’s very likely that there was not a major tear ... that caused the bleeding that’s described in the autopsy,” Gill said. “It’s probably just kind of a pinpoint tear” and not the kind of fractures from a hyperextension.

“These fractures are coming from a blow right at the level,” he said, and not from above or below.

Gill said he went back and looked at photos of the trailer to look for “suspect areas,” and found edges of tables, a door frame and steps which could have caused the neck fracture. 

He testified that alcohol, methamphetamine and benzodiazepines consumed by Brown on June 29 could have been the key contributing factors to the death.

Deputy District Attorney Seth Matthews asked Gill what if Brown also had been attacked.

“It’s a stress ... this would be another factor that would predispose him to have racing of his heart,” Gill said. “There is such a thing as being scared to death. There really is.”

Jurors also heard Friday from Dr. Albert Globus, a Sacramento neurological psychiatrist, who testified for the defense on his interviews with Livezey and review of his medical records.

He revealed that Livezey, who chose not to be present for Globus’ testimony, has terminal brain cancer but that the defendant believes he may still be cured. Globus said he does not expect him to survive much beyond March.

Globus also concluded that Livezey would have been hobbled by the effects of the tumor on the night he went to Brown’s trailer.

“I don’t think he would be running anywhere,” he said, but also added that there were aggravating factors in play that night, including Livezey’s girlfriend failing to return his calls while at Brown’s trailer and the tumor causes a lack of impulse control.

The trial is set to resume at 8 a.m. Wednesday, the last of eight days scheduled for the trial, but visiting Judge Edward Lacy acknowledged it may continue on Friday if necessary.

Contact Sean Janssen at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 890-7741.