The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on 21-year-old Kaycee Smith in 2009 told a jury Tuesday she is certain Smith was a homicide victim.
Testifying in the Hilo Circuit Court murder trial of Patricia Wong, Dr. Kanthi De Alwis, a retired chief medical examiner for the City and County of Honolulu, said Smith died June 30, 2009, of “an intermediate-range gunshot wound” to her forehead.
“And the bullet traveled through her head, causing severe injuries to her brain, multiple skull fractures,” De Alwis said in response to a question from Deputy Prosecutor Annaliese Wolf.
The 61-year-old Wong is charged with second-degree murder, two counts of solicitation of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and criminal conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.
According to prosecutors, Wong killed Smith — whom she referred to as her hanai daughter — to gain control of a $277,000 life insurance inheritance Smith received after the 2007 death of her father, Noel “Bear” Smith.
Twelve jurors and four alternates are hearing testimony and reviewing the evidence. Eleven are men and five are women.
Wong reported to officers at the Keaau Police Station on June 30, 2009, that she found Smith’s body in the living room of the rented Orchidland Drive house where Smith lived alone, and that she believed Smith had committed suicide.
A Browning Hi-Power 9mm semi-automatic handgun was found on the floor by the couch where Smith’s lifeless body lay, as was a spent bullet casing. Police said the firearm had a live round in the chamber and another in the magazine.
De Alwis said in her 35 years of performing autopsies, she’d never encountered a suicide gunshot delivered from that distance. She added that suicides by gun are usually accomplished by a gunshot to the side of the head, the roof of the mouth or beneath the chin, with the gun in contact with or in close proximity to the head.
Police said in court documents it appeared the crime scene was manipulated in an attempt to make the slaying appear to be a suicide. Asked if Smith might have been standing when shot, De Alwis replied no.
“She was lying down, because there was no blood spatter in the back or anywhere,” she said. “The blood was all pooling to where she was lying down. So, in my opinion, she received the gunshot while she was lying down.”
De Alwis, who performed the autopsy July 2, 2009, in the Hilo Medical Center morgue, used several factors, including blood clotting evidence and the contents of Smith’s stomach to determine that Smith died between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on June 30, 2009.
According to De Alwis, there was partially digested food and some liquid in Smith’s stomach, and De Alwis was unable to determine exactly what the contents of the former high school rodeo champion’s stomach were.
Wolf asked De Alwis if she had heard that Smith’s final meal was Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Alwis said she had.
“That means her death occurred after four to five hours from the time of the last meal … because it’s a heavy meal,” De Alwis replied.
Wolf entered into evidence a KFC receipt which indicated a five-piece meal with a biscuit, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw and a Diet Coke was purchased at 9:53 p.m. the previous evening.
Under cross-examination by Aaron Wills, Wong’s attorney, De Alwis acknowledged it’s possible Smith didn’t eat the fast-food chicken, but stood by her estimated of time of death.
“There were no drugs, no alcohol, no prescription medication in (Smith’s) system,” De Alwis told the jury.
Kaleo Kaluhiokalani, a criminalist at Honolulu Police Department’s crime lab, testified he performed gunshot residue tests on the hands of Wong, Wong’s daughter, Denicia Derasin — who was with Wong when she reported the death — and Smith.
According to Kaluhiokalani, Derasin’s test results were “inconclusive” because he found only two of three components necessary in a particle on Derasin to confirm the presence of gunshot residue. He added that Wong had residue on both hands and Smith on one, her right.
Kaluhiokalani also noted that the finding of gunshot residue doesn’t necessarily mean that an individual has recently fired a gun.
“Every time we find the three-component particle, the particle that contains lead, barium and antimony, the conclusions are always going to be the same three conclusions — that they either fired a gun, were in close proximity to a gun that was fired, or had touched something that had gunshot residue,” Kaluhiokalani said.
Trial continues at 9 a.m. today in the courtroom of Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
