Court reviews autopsy in house party mass shooting trial
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The trial continues for the Yuma man tied to a house party mass shooting that killed two people.
It was the fourth day in the trial of 20-year-old Jose Lopez.
The forensic and neural pathologist, defense, and prosecution discussed autopsy photos to the jury. The photos were of 20-year-old Ande Blackthunder and 19-year-old Danny Garcia, who died during the shooting.
"Is it fair to say that both men died of gunshot wounds most likely supersonic rounds right from a rifle?" asked attorney Richard Parks.
"Mr. Blackthunder, yes. Mr. GarcÃa, possibly. Probably, but I can't say definitively yes," said the pathologist.
The defense attorney asked what type of gunshot wound Garcia received.
"We don't know which type of gunshot wound, but it was probably a rifle?" asked attorney Parks.
"Correct or a handgun. It was not a shotgun," the pathologist responded.
The prosecutor showed the video a witness who attended the party took during the shooting. The defense argued that one can't tell who shot the victims.
"The person who took the video already said that there was gunfire that occurred before the video began, so when you consider the relative position of all the people in the video, we don't know when the boys, the young men, where hit where they were at any given time," said attorney Parks. "We can speculate, but we don't know."
Lopez is facing two counts of first-degree murder and five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The defense attorney says the maximum sentence if Lopez is found guilty is life without parole.
