CROSS EXAMINATION OF MEDICO LEGAL EXPERT by Atty.

Anna Marie Santos

DEFENSE: May I proceed your honor

Q: Mister Witness, you have mentioned that your occupation was a medico-legal expert, is that correct?

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: How long have you been in the service?

A: (INSERT YEARS OF SERVICE)

Q: Considering that length of service, would you say that you have been assigned to numerous cases
already?

A: Yes, Ma’am

Q: How many medico-legal examinations have you conducted? Or approximately for that matter?

A: About [Insert number] ,ma’am

Q: Can you recall the worst case that you’ve been assigned to?

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: What kind of case or crime would that be?

A: [think of a heinous crime or anything]

Q: Have you ever been presented as a witness in any other case prior to this case?

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: Mr. Witness, being in the medical field for quite some time, and having been able to conduct a lot of
examinations as you have stated, would you say that you’ve always been efficient in conducting these
examinations?

[OBJECTION: QUESTION CALLS FOR A CATEGORICAL ANSWER WITHOUT EXPLANATION]

A: Yes, ma’am
Q: Let me rephrase the question, your honor. Was there ever an instance, even without saying what it
was in particular, when you have committed an error in your examination?

[OBJECTION: THE QUESTION CALLS FOR A CONCLUSION]

A: Yes, ma’am.

Q: Let me just go to another question. You were not present at the scene of the crime, correct?

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: As a medico-legal expert, your part usually begins when?

A: From the time the body of the victim is brought to the crime lab of the NBI

Q: And from there, you conduct your examination?

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: And you base your results on the examination that you have conducted, correct?

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: You conduct an autopsy on the body of the victim based on its state when it was brought to your
laboratory?

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: What time and on what date did you conduct the examination on the victim’s body in this case?

A: at 8:45 pm on August 10, 2015.

Q: And based on the medico legal report, what time was the approximate time of death of the victim?

A: between 7:30 and 9:30 P.M. on the same day of 8/10/2015.

Q: And this is just an approximation, correct?

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: Mr. Witness, given that this Is just an approximation, is there a possibility, even a remote one, that
the time of death of the victim be earlier or even later than the time that you have reported?
A: There is a slight possibility, yes.

Q: So there is a possibility that the victim could have died on a different time than what was reported?

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: You have mentioned that the cause of death was massive blood loss due to laceration aggravated by
asphyxia due to blood clot.

A: Yes, ma’am

Q: In cases of blood loss, how long would it take for a victim to die due to it?

A: That would be difficult to answer as it is a case to case basis

Q: I understand. Let me just go to my last point, in a medico legal examination, are you capable in
determining the weapon used in killing the victim?

A: Not specifically.

Q: In this case, Mr. Witness, were you able to deduce the kind of weapon used to kill the victim?

A: Not specifically

Q: So you were able to determine the cause and the approximate time of the death, without however
showing what could have transpired from the time the crime happened up to the time of the victim’s
death, correct?

A: Yes, ma’am. That’s basically what we do. We examine the body from the time the body is brought to
the NBI, as what I have previously answered.

DEFENSE: No further questions your honor.