René Robinson

René Robinson testified for the prosecution on Day 32 about her April 19, 2013 autopsy of Officer Sean Collier. Accepted without objection as an expert in forensic pathology, she identified head gunshot wounds as the cause of death and homicide as the manner. She described an intermediate-range wound between the eyes and two contact wounds on the left side of the face. The projectiles traveled into the neck and brain, and she explained that destruction of vital brain structures left Collier unable to make purposeful movements.

Robinson distinguished those findings from what she could reconstruct about the shooting. She described two nonfatal perforating wounds and a superficial graze on Collier's right hand, but could not determine the order of the head or hand wounds or whether the hand wounds came first. A hand position on the cruiser's console was possible, but other positions were also possible. She could not establish an exact intermediate-range firing distance without weapon testing.

On cross-examination, Timothy G. Watkins explored how gunshot residue and blood spatter could disperse. Robinson explained that residue becomes more dispersed with distance and acknowledged that it could possibly reach clothing, car seats, or a shooter. These answers concerned possibilities, not actual deposits from Collier's shooting. She qualified her answer about backward blood spatter and deferred that question to a blood-spatter expert. On redirect, Steven D. Mellin asked whether the stippling was spread over a large area or was on Collier's face. Robinson confirmed that it was on his face, and she was excused.