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If Calgary homicide victim Jesse George had survived the single bullet wound that killed him, he would still have been left paralyzed, a pathologist testified Wednesday.
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Dr. Farnaz Khalifa testified that the bullet that entered the left side of George’s neck at the shoulder was bent and severed two of the vertebrae in his spine.
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“On the way it severed one of the main arteries of (his) neck,” Khalifa told a Calgary Court of King’s Bench jury.
After severing George’s jugular vein, the bullet completely damaged his spine, she said.
“The deceased was paralysed,” said Khalifa.
With the doctor testifying remotely via video link, Crown prosecutor Tiffany Dwyer took her through graphic autopsy photos, but not before courtroom members warned what was about to be shown.
Khalifa showed the jurors both the entrance wound on the left side of the deceased’s neck and an area in the middle of his back, where bullet and bone fragments had pierced his skin.
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The prosecutor told jurors the siblings went to meet Martin Wallace Yuen but were not welcomed at the residence.
She said Yuen and co-accused John Edward Tabler chased the couple out of the house after Yuen provided Tabler with a firearm.
Out in the middle of the street, Tabler took aim and shot George once in the neck, Dwyer said.
Tabler is charged with second-degree murder in the March 27, 2021 slaying, while Yuen faces a manslaughter charge.
Khalifa’s autopsy report said a toxicology analysis found evidence of fentanyl and methamphetamine use in the dead man’s blood.
“The cause of death was injuries to his internal jugular vein, lungs and thoracic spine,” she said.
“It was a collection of injuries that caused death,” the doctor said.
“Those injuries were due to the gunshot wound to the neck/shoulder.”
KMartin@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @KMartinCourts
