Medical examiner: Mark Anthony Salvador died of gunshot wound; toxicology found no common drugs

Dr. Kimberly Molina, the medical examiner who reviewed case number 2017-0941, told jurors the April 24, 2017, autopsy of Mark Anthony Salvador showed he died from a gunshot wound and that the manner of death was homicide.

The testimony came during a hearing in the 187th District Court in Bexar County. Molina, who described more than two decades of experience as a medical examiner, walked the court through postmortem photographs and autopsy findings the state admitted as exhibits 41 through 57.

"That he died as a result of a gunshot wound, and it was a homicide," Molina said when asked for her conclusion on Salvador's cause and manner of death. She described an entrance wound on the left shoulder and an exit wound on the right back and said a projectile traversed the chest, making it possible for lungs, heart, major vascular structures such as the aorta, or the spine to have been struck.

Molina described the standard evidence-preservation procedures she observed: the decedent arrived sealed in a transport body bag with a yellow seal that indicated it had been sealed at the scene and not tampered with before arriving at the medical examiner's office. Investigators had placed paper bags over the hands at the scene to preserve potential evidence; those and other collected items (for example, a small sample on filter paper described as a yellow ring) were documented and turned over to investigators.

The examiner testified that no bullet fragments were recovered at autopsy. Laboratory testing included a routine toxicology panel; Molina said the screen did not detect cocaine, opiates as a class, benzodiazepines as a class, fentanyl, oxycodone, or oxymorphone. She testified that the office does not routinely test for marijuana because detection windows can reflect exposure weeks earlier and are difficult to interpret in a postmortem context. "We do not routinely test for it," Molina said.

Defense counsel questioned the limits of the medical examiner's testing and the office's role in collecting material evidence for law enforcement; Molina said the office collects evidence and submits it to investigators for testing they elect to pursue, and noted that fingerprint processing and some other forensic tests are performed by investigators rather than by the medical examiner's lab.

State exhibits 41 through 57 (autopsy photographs and related items) were received into evidence without objection. Molina also explained standard autopsy procedures, including inspection of external and internal organs and laboratory testing used to determine cause and manner of death. The witness was excused subject to possible recall.

The trial record shows the autopsy findings and the admitted photographs will remain part of the evidence the jury will consider as the case proceeds.