Pathologist casts doubt on Geneva murder theory
A forensic pathologist who reviewed the autopsy of Kathleen King, found dead on the Union Pacific railroad tracks in Geneva on July 6, 2014, said some of the minor hemorrhaging in her body could have causes besides strangulation.
Shadwick King, 47, of Geneva, accused in his wife's murder, is expected to take the witness stand Monday when the murder trial resumes.
Defense attorneys attempted to call King to the witness stand late Friday afternoon, but Judge James Hallock said King's testimony would run late and sent the jury home for the weekend.
Prosecutors argue that King, who faces 20 to 60 years if convicted of Geneva's first murder since 1975, strangled his wife in a jealous rage after she began an emotional affair with a 22-year-old Massachusetts man whom she met in Army training in spring 2014.
Prosecutors say King killed his 32-year-old wife at the home on the city's east side before moving her body to the Union Pacific tracks to make it look like a jogging accident.
Defense attorneys contend Kathleen died accidentally, and they called Dr. Larry Blum, a forensic pathologist who reviewed Kathleen's autopsy for the defense.
Blum said some of the petechial hemorrhaging, or minor bleeding, in Kathleen's skin and eyes could have been caused by intense vomiting.
"You don't have to be dead to get (petechial hemorrhaging)," he said.
A criminal profiler who testified for the state earlier in the two-week trial said the hemorrhaging was a common side effect of strangulation.
Two hemorrhages under Kathleen's tongue also were not a caused by manual strangulation, Blum said.
Blum also testified that he did not observe Shadwick King to have a swollen lip that could have resulted from a struggle with Kathleen, nor did Blum say King had scratches on his hands.
Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Greg Sames said two Geneva police officers noted in their reports that King had a "swollen, fat lip."
King has been held at the Kane County jail on $1.5 million bail since his arrest in early July 2014.
The trial began on March 3 and is expected to last about two weeks. It resumes at 9 a.m. Monday at the Kane County Judicial Center.