Testimony on Brittney Walsh's fatal injuries in drunken driving murder trial

A Lindenhurst teenager's vehicle tumbled so violently after it was hit that even though she remained belted in her seat, part of her body hung out the side window and got battered by the pavement, Suffolk's chief medical examiner testified Wednesday.

As Brittney Walsh's mother stifled tears, Dr. Michael Caplan described the effects of the drunken driving crash that killed Walsh, 18, on June 24, 2012 -- two days after she graduated from Copiague High School.

Caplan testified at the trial of Michael Grasing, 34, of Babylon, who is charged with second-degree murder. He's accused of hitting Walsh's sport utility vehicle from behind while driving recklessly at high speed with a blood-alcohol level of 0.32 percent, four times the legal limit.

Using graphic autopsy and crime scene photos, Caplan said Walsh died from extensive head injuries as her Kia Sportage flipped sideways four or five times on Montauk Highway. A large scrape across the right side of her face and forehead was probably caused by the road, he said.

The impact caused extensive fractures to the base of her skull. Those fractures in turn left rips in the base of her brain and injured her brain stem, causing her heart and lungs to stop, Caplan said during questioning by Assistant District Attorney Laura Newcombe.

Defense attorney William Keahon did not cross-examine Caplan and, outside the jury's presence in the Riverhead courtroom, argued that the graphic testimony and photographs served no legitimate purpose. The defense wasn't contesting the cause of Walsh's death, he said.

The photos were "really being offered to elicit sympathy and emotion from the jurors, as they [prosecutors] have with every single witness in this trial," Keahon argued.

But state Supreme Court Justice Mark Cohen ruled that autopsy photographs are admissible as long as their primary purpose is not to prejudice the defendant. He allowed Newcombe to use 13 of the 16 autopsy pictures she sought to introduce.

Caplan was the last prosecution witness after a month of testimony. The defense is expected to begin presenting its case Thursday.

Murder charges in a drunken driving case are unusual. This is the first such trial in Suffolk in more than 14 years. To get a murder conviction, prosecutors must convince jurors that Grasing acted with depraved indifference to human life.

In addition to Grasing's intoxication and speed, prosecutors say a witness account that he was weaving in and out of traffic and ignored a warning to stop driving that way support the charge.

The defense has attacked the credibility of that witness, who has since died, noting his extensive criminal record and that no one else reported seeing what he saw.