“Now then,” Mason said, “let’s forget the technical patter, Doctor, if we may, and describe these things in terms the jury can understand. What is post-mortem lividity?”
“It is a distinctive color of the corpse due to the gravitational settling and subsequent coagulation of blood in the capillaries.”
“I see you’re not doing very well,” Perry Mason said. “Perhaps I can help you clarify things a little, Doctor. During life there is a blood pressure, is there not?”
“Yes.”
“After death this blood pressure is reduced to zero?”
“Yes.”
“So the blood naturally settles to the lower parts of the body of the deceased.”
“Yes.”
“And, since it ceases to circulate, it begins to coagulate.”
“Yes.”
“So the lower parts of the body have a peculiar color, a certain so-called lividity due to this settling and coagulation of the blood?”
“Yes.”
“How soon after death does that post-mortem lividity begin to establish itself? That is, how soon after death does it become evident?”
“Well, it begins to be apparent in from one to two hours after death.”
“And remains how long after death?”
“For some considerable period of time.”
“As much as twelve hours?”
“Oh, yes.”
“As much as twenty-four hours?”
“Yes.”
“Therefore,” Mason said, “when you refer to postmortem lividity as indicating the time of death, it would only show that a man had been dead for more than one hour. Isn’t that right?”
“No. Post-mortem lividity continues to develop. The color is an indication of the time of death.”
“Is there any difference between post-mortem lividity at the end of five hours and at the end of ten hours?”
“By five hours I would consider that post-mortem lividity had been fully developed.”
“And post-mortem lividity was fully developed in the body that you saw?”
“Yes.”
“So all that you can say as a result of post-mortem lividity is that the body of the man you saw had been lying there for more than five hours, that death had occurred more than five hours earlier. Is that right?”
“Well... there were other factors.”
“Never mind the other factors right now,” Mason said. “I’m talking about post-mortem lividity alone. Isn’t it a fact that all you could learn from the post-mortem lividity of that body in the condition that you saw it, and I am talking now, Doctor, about post-mortem lividity alone, is that in your opinion the man had been dead more than five hours?”
The doctor hesitated perceptibly.
“Yes or no?” Mason asked.
“Yes,” Dr. Jasper said at length.
“Now we’ll come to the other phenomenon which you mentioned, rigor mortis. Can you describe rigor mortis so the jury will understand it?”
“It is a stiffening of the body due to chemical changes within the muscle tissue. Immediately after death the body is very limp. Then a certain stiffness begins to develop in the face and jaws and goes down the neck, chest, arms, abdomen and finally the entire body is involved.
“Then after a period which may be somewhat variable, the rigor begins to leave the body in the same order that it appeared. First, the neck and face become limp, then the disappearance of the rigor continues on down the body until finally the entire body becomes limp once more.”
“And in this body that you saw, rigor had become fully developed?”
“That’s right.”
“Therefore you were led to believe that death had taken place, when?”
“As I said, between midnight and five o’clock in the morning.”
“Is the development of rigor a constant factor?” Mason asked.
“Not necessarily.”
“Normally, within what time limits does it develop?”
“Within eight to twelve hours.”
“Eight hours?” Mason asked.
“Conceivably, yes.”
“Then, in a body in which rigor mortis was fully developed at seven-thirty in the evening, it is possible, is it not, that death could have occurred as late as ten-thirty in the morning?”
“Well, it could have, yes.”
“And that is well within the so-called normal limits?”
“Yes.”
“Now then,” Mason said, “isn’t it a fact that there are other factors which hasten the onset of rigor mortis? Isn’t it a fact that where a person has been murdered at a time when he was engaged in physical activity, or in the course of a struggle, rigor may develop much sooner?”
“I believe that is true.”
“And temperature is also a factor.”
“Yes.”
“There are cases, are there not, where rigor mortis has fully developed almost instantly, Doctor?”
“Well, within very short times.”
“Almost instantly?”
“It depends on what you mean by instantly.”
“Within a few minutes, say ten or fifteen minutes.”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“Now, Doctor, when you were asked about the time of death and how you fixed it, you stated that there were certain phenomena which were in the nature of clues to the trained forensic pathologist and you mentioned two — rigor mortis and post-mortem lividity. Now, since we have seen that post-mortem lividity develops within one or two hours after death and that in the body that you examined it meant nothing more than that death had taken place in your opinion five hours before, and since it now appears that rigor mortis is a variable factor, I am going to ask you what other factors entered into your mind in fixing the time of death?”
“There were no other medical factors.”
“No other medical factors?” Mason asked, his tone reflecting incredulous surprise.
“None,” Dr. Jasper snapped.
“Isn’t it generally conceded that estimating the time of death by rigor mortis is apt to lead to incorrect deductions?”
“I don’t know. I would say that rigor mortis was a certain barometer.”
“Rather an uncertain barometer, isn’t it, Doctor, since it can appear a few minutes after death, or may be delayed as much as twelve hours?”
“Well, those are extreme cases.”
“How do you know that this wasn’t an extreme case?” Mason asked.
The doctor fidgeted uneasily.
“Speak up,” Mason said. “How do you know this wasn’t an extreme case?”
“I don’t,” the doctor admitted.
“How about body temperature?” Mason asked. “Isn’t that considered the most reliable way of determining the time of death?”
“Body temperature is a factor, yes.”
“Perhaps one of the most reliable factors?”
“It is a factor.”
“It is quite reliable?”
“Fairly so. But it varies.”
“It isn’t subject to as many variations as rigor mortis is, is it?”
“Well, it depends.”
“Doctor, I am going to ask you if you didn’t write an article in the Journal of Forensic Medicine, Pathology and Crime Detection entitled, ‘Determining the Time of Death’ and if in that article, which was published in December of last year, you didn’t state that of all the methods of determining the time of death, rigor mortis was perhaps the most generally unreliable and that the drop in body temperature was perhaps the most reliable?”
The doctor fidgeted on the witness stand. “I don’t remember expressing it in exactly that way,” he said.
Mason opened his brief case, whipped out a copy of the publication and said, “Perhaps you would like to refresh your memory from reading this, Doctor?”