BROSSARD TRIAL: Lawyers debate graphic pictures
Video
Dawn Brossard's sister testifies
Dawn Brossard's sister reads a letter from 1997 written by David Brossard. In it, he writes that Dawn "is still up to her lying and cheating ways." David Brossard is on trial, accused of killing his wife. Click to play
Video
David Brossard trial, Aug. 19, 2009
A co-worker testifies about the last day she saw Dawn Brossard alive. David Brossard is charged in his wife's killing. Click to play
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David Brossard trial
David Brossard is on trial, accused of killing his wife in 1997 and dumping her bound body in Geneva Lake. He was found not guilty Aug. 31, 2009 after a two-week trial.
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ELKHORN -- Attorneys debated this morning about whether pictures of Dawn Brossard’s seemingly crushed skull could unfairly prejudice jurors in the murder trial of her husband, David Brossard.
Defense attorney Charles Blumenfield objected to two “gruesome” and potentially upsetting pictures Walworth County District Attorney Phillip Koss asked to show; the autopsy photos depict blows to Dawn Brossard’s skull, possibly caused by a sledgehammer.
“It looks as if it’s been caved in by whatever blows caused these injuries,” Blumenfield said. “…The jury is going to want to convict somebody. And there’s only one person here for them to convict. To allow them to be swayed by emotion would be improper.”
Koss said the pictures were not meant to sway but instead intended to show the “overkill” suspected in Dawn’s attack, which former FBI expert Mark Safarik described as the excessive force used in her murder.
“This illustrates that graphically but not with gore,” Koss said.
Judge James L. Carlson agreed. Of the thousands of available photos, the two Koss chose were not unfairly prejudicial and could be used, he said.
David Brossard’s trial began last week and is expected to continue through this week.
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