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 Defense attorneys have said 45-year-old Ana Trujillo was acting in
self-defense against an alcohol-fueled assault by her boyfriend,
University of Houston professor Stefan Andersson.
"I did not see any one injury that would have been fatal to Dr.
Andersson," forensic pathologist Lee Ann Grossberg told a Harris
County jury. "Natural causes may have contributed to his death.
Because his pulse and respirations weren't checked, we will never
know if he could have survived."
Grossberg, who had not directly examined the body, said police and
medical crews should have performed CPR or tried other emergency
procedures, or at least used an electronic monitor to gauge his
heart's activity.
Prosecutors say Trujillo stabbed the 59-year-old Andersson about two
dozen times in the face and head with her spiked-heel shoe after the
pair returned to his condominium from a night out on June 9.
Both defense attorneys and prosecutors at times touched the heel of
the shoe-turned-weapon — a tangle of hair-like material wrapped
around its frame — displayed in the center of the court room for
jurors to see.
In its opening statements, Trujillo's defense team accused Andersson
of being an alcoholic and described the alleged murder weapon as
more of a platform-heeled shoe, not a pointy stiletto, local media
have reported.
Jurors could begin deliberations after rebuttal witnesses and
closing arguments set for Tuesday.
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Bruises visible on Trujillo's body when she was examined after the
attack had been present weeks before when the Mexico native was
treated at a Houston hospital after a physical altercation with a
man and woman, a prosecutor has suggested.
Andersson, a native of Sweden, taught at the university's Center for
Nuclear Receptor and Cell Signaling, specializing in women's
reproductive health, the school said.
Grossberg, a private forensic pathologist, reviewed crime scene
photographs, the autopsy report as well as police and medical
records.
(Reporting by Amanda Orr in Houston; writing by Eric M. Johnson;
editing by Larry King)
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