If Bullet
One word in the filing describes the heart: "hemopericardium". The heart sits inside a tough sac. Blood collected inside that sac. Enough of it squeezes the heart so it cannot pump.
If Bullet · Step 1
"hemopericardium"Exhibit 11, pages 3 and 4, as quoted by prosecutors
The pericardium is the sac around the heart. Hemopericardium means blood inside it. The sac does not stretch quickly, so blood collecting there presses on the heart from outside.
The heart sits in the middle of the chest, behind the breastbone, tilted toward the left.
If Bullet · Step 2
The State's path ends in the neck, at the spine. The top of the heart sac sits inside the chest: below the collarbones, behind the breastbone, beneath the first ribs.
The amber measurement is the gap between the end of the path and the top of the sac in this drawing.
If Bullet · Step 3
For a bullet to fill the sac with blood, the round or a piece of it would have to travel down into the chest and tear the sac, the heart, or a vessel at its root. That would leave a track.
The quoted lines list no hole in the sac and no torn heart wall. The words the prosecutors cut at the "…" are not public, so the public cannot check whether such a track was found.
If Bullet · Step 4
The government's account could point to CPR and hospital care. CPR usually breaks ribs and the breastbone at the front of the chest; bleeding into the heart sac from CPR is uncommon.
Frank Turek reportedly gave CPR in the car, which a security account disputes, and an Orem fire captain helped with CPR at the hospital, according to UVU's after-action report. The full report should say which findings came from resuscitation. The quoted lines do not.
If Bullet · Step 5
| Finding | If a bullet | |
|---|---|---|
| Blood inside the heart sac | The path stops in the neck. It needs a second cause, or a track into the chest that the quoted lines do not list. | Not reached |
Shaped Charge Explosion
The transmitter sat on the upper right of his chest, about five inches from the heart sac. Here the same finding is tested against a blast at that spot.
Shaped Charge · Step 1
The transmitter sat on the upper right chest, under his shirt, just below the collarbone. The heart sac lies about five inches away, below and behind the breastbone, toward his left.
The amber measurement is that distance in this drawing.
Shaped Charge · Step 2
A pressure wave passing through the chest can bruise the heart and tear small vessels on its surface. That is a known blast injury.
Blood from those tears collects inside the sac: hemopericardium, with no bullet track needed.
Shaped Charge · Step 3
When a blast squeezes the chest, it also drives a surge of pressure out of the chest along the big arteries, up through the neck and into the head.
That surge is the link to the brain findings.
Shaped Charge · Step 4
| Finding | If a shaped charge | |
|---|---|---|
| Blood inside the heart sac | The pressure wave bruises the heart; the sac fills | Fits |
What would settle it: