Wecht: Woman struck on head

In a darkened courtroom, Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril H. Wecht pointed to X-rays and autopsy photos to convince jurors that Michelle Witherell was hit on the head before she suffered fatal injuries in a fall from her balcony eight years ago.

With jurors and spectators bathed in a white light and transfixed by the medical testimony, Wecht testified Thursday on the second day of the trial of Jeremy Witherell, 30, who is charged with criminal homicide.

Michelle Witherell was his first wife.

Wecht said the victim, who was 24, suffered a fracture on the left side of her head. The fracture wasn't from the 33-foot fall from the third-floor balcony of the LaVale Apartments in Monroeville on Dec. 20, 1992, he said.

Jeremy Witherell, now living in Cranberry Township, Butler County, has said his wife died after she tumbled off the balcony of the couple's apartment.

Wecht, a nationally recognized forensic pathologist who had reviewed medical evidence for Michelle's Witherell's family before he became coroner, said the fracture to the left side of her head would have caused corresponding injuries to the right side of the brain if it had happened in a fall.

The absence of 'counter-coup' injuries to the opposite side of the brain indicated that the fracture was from a blow with a blunt instrument, Wecht argued.

The injury could have been caused by 'kicking her, the leg of a chair, and on and on ... you pick it,' Wecht said.

Defense attorney Thomas Ceraso argued that some medical experts believe that falls from heights greater than 15 to 30 feet can cause crushing head fractures without counter-coup injuries.

Wecht said he had a textbook written by an expert to be called by the defense. 'I just don't accept it,' he said.

In addition to the head fracture, Wecht testified that Michelle Witherell suffered fractures to her lower jaw, the base of the skull, and in both wrists and a thigh bone as a result of the fall.

The victim's parents, Evert and Cathy Mellema of Arapahoe County, Colo., paid Wecht to review medical evidence in the case.

However, when he called for an open inquest in January 1998, Wecht said he appointed a coroner's special hearing officer to conduct it and didn't participate in the proceedings.

The hearing officer ruled that Michelle Witherell's death was a homicide and not undetermined as it was originally listed by the coroner's office.

Witherell was charged with homicide in 1999 after the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office conducted a new investigation.

In other testimony yesterday, Mary Herr, who lived below the Witherells, said she was sitting on her couch reading her Bible at about 10 p.m. on Dec. 19, 1992, when she heard loud voices and running in the apartment upstairs.

Herr said she heard a man's voice shouting, then a 'loud thump over my dining room that shook my chandelier.'

After that, Herr said, she heard the sliding glass doors to the balcony slammed five times.

Herr said she took a sleeping pill because 'with them carrying on almost every night I couldn't sleep.'

She said she had complained to the manager of the apartment complex about the noise that started when the Witherells moved in in October.

The trial resumes today in the courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Gerard Bigley.

Robert Baird can be reached at (412) 391-8650.