Greedy Trial Lawyer
The Malpractice Defense
Category: Desperate Defendants
A criminal defense lawyer has a right to float any ethical theory in an effort to avoid a conviction. However, this one may strain the limits of common sense. An article in The Olathe News from Kansas details the malpractice defense being offered to avoid a murder conviction. In a nutshell, even though the defendant nearly crushed the victim to death and required him to have three surgeries, the defense is that malpractice intervened and was the real cause of the death. Nice try!
A doctor and forensic pathologist testified Tuesday that if 29-year-old Jonathan U hadn't gone to the hospital the day he was crushed between a car and a building, he would have died. And both said injuries from when U was crushed by a car driven by Brad J. Jones, who is on trial for Jones' murder, caused U's death.But the defense contends it was not the injuries U sustained in the collision that killed him but improper treatment while he was in the hospital. Defense Attorney Carl Cornwell plans to put a renowned pathologist on the stand today to counteract the testimony of the coroner and the primary surgeon who treated U while he was in the hospital, Dr. Steven Behrends.
U tried to take back a purse Jones stole from a woman in the Super Target parking lot May 20, 2005. U was hanging half-out of Jones' car when Jones took off and ran into the wall of Petsmart, crushing U between the door and the frame of the car. Jones pleaded guilty Friday to stealing the woman's purse and has admitted fleeing in his car.
Dr. Behrends explained that U had three surgeries while he was in the hospital. The first was to repair damage to multiple organs, the next was to repair a broken pelvis and the final to remove an intestinal blockage that had developed. He described the multiple internal injuries U had in his abdomen, including a tear near the beginning of his small intestine that has a 50 percent mortality rate.
Handler, the coroner, said U's broken pelvis also is an injury with a 50 percent mortality rate.
Both doctors said U's body was in septic shock the last three days he was alive, meaning an overwhelming infection had taken over his body. U had lost the use of one of his kidneys and could not consume any food or liquids outside his IV. His abdomen was bloated, and Guinn showed a picture of severe bruising across U's back that caused an audible reaction in some jurors.In his cross examination of the doctors, Cornwell pointed to a bacterial infection that invaded U's colon during his last days as the cause of death. He questioned whether doctors should have known about it or done more to treat it. Handler said it wasn't the primary reason U died on June 8, 2005. "I view this as the endpoint in a chain of events that started with the crush injury," Handler said.
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