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Medical examiner: single gunshot wound caused death; manner ruled homicide
Summary
Dr. Tabitha Ward, a forensic pathologist with the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office, testified that autopsy findings show a single gunshot entered the decedent's upper back and exited the left chest; injuries to left lung and pulmonary artery were sufficient to cause death and the manner was ruled homicide.
Dr. Tabitha Ward, a forensic pathologist with the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office, testified that she conducted the autopsy on Dunuel Valadares Hernandez on Feb. 17, 2023 and assigned case number 2023-0432. She described a single penetrating gunshot wound with a right-to-left, back-to-front trajectory that injured a posterior rib, the left lung and the left pulmonary artery; the wound path and internal damage are sufficient to cause death.
Dr. Ward told the jury the manner of death in this case is homicide. Toxicology testing showed cocaine at 0.16 milligrams per liter and metabolites in blood; she said the toxicology indicates cocaine was present within a typical window but she could not say precisely when it was ingested. She also explained that her office does not perform gunshot-residue testing and that she cannot identify who fired the shot — her testimony is limited to cause and manner of death.
Photographs from the autopsy (State's Exhibits 67–74, among others) were admitted and shown to the jury. Defense counsel stressed that the medical examiner's role is to determine cause and manner, not assign responsibility for the shooting.
