INDIANAPOLIS - The final bullet that struck Michael McKinney came from a gun fired from less than six inches away from his face and hit him when his head was down, an expert testified Wednesday.
Forensic pathologist Werner Spitz took the stand on the second day of the McKinney v. Duplain civil trial and testified about the proximity and order of the four shots that killed McKinney.
McKinney, then a Ball State University student, was shot and killed by University Police Department Officer Robert Duplain on Nov. 8, 2003 in a near-campus backyard.
Spitz told the jury that the fourth shot Duplain took "was a different kind of shot than the others."
Because of the effects from the gunpowder on McKinney's face and the angle the bullet traveled through his head, Spitz said the shot had to have been taken while McKinney was facing down.
Duplain was issued a double-action handgun, Balash said, which means the gun has to be cocked and fired in two separate actions. Based on the type of gun Duplain was using, crime scene reconstructionist David Balash said Duplain's shots were deliberate.
"The feature is making sure the shooter intended each and every time a shot was fired," he said.
Balash explained that type of gun is a much safer weapon to have than a single-action gun as it's a lot harder to accidentally fire an extra or unintended shot.
While the McKinneys' lawyer Geoffery Fieger used Spitz to paint a picture of unreasonable use of force, Duplain's attorney Scott Shockley attacked Spitz's credibility based on his previous relationship with Fieger.
In Shockley's cross-examination, Spitz testified he charges $5,000 to testify, $4,000 as a retainer fee for up to 10 hours of work and $400 per hour after that. He also testified that during the past 10 years, he's testified in 20 to 25 cases for Fieger's firm - which would make Spitz' earnings from Fieger $200,000, Shockley pointed out.
"$200,000 over 10 years is pretty meager," Spitz responded.
Before the experts took the stand, two former Ball State students testified about the events that lead up to the shooting.
Philip Juskivice, a friend of McKinney, went through the path from his home to Downtown Muncie and then a tour of the Village. He last saw McKinney at about 2 a.m., Juskevice testified.
Michael Huber, an acquaintance of McKinney's, came across McKinney sometime between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., at which point, Huber tried to encourage McKinney to come to a friend's nearby apartment. After failing to gain access to the apartment, McKinney ran away from Huber in a "zig-zag direction toward North and Dicks [streets]," Huber testified.
The trial will proceed Thursday with continued testimony from Balash, in addition to the doctor who performed the autopsy, the 911 caller and a former Ball State University Police Department officer.
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