Medical examiner takes stand in secret lover murder conspiracy trial
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The medical examiner took the stand in a high-profile murder conspiracy trial in Phoenix on Thursday.
Kimberly LaCount could face the death penalty if convicted of masterminding a murder plot.
Prosecutors said Lacount convinced her secret lover to kill her spouse which resulted in a triple shooting, and double murder.
LaCount’s lover, Kipling Harris, was already convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison.
LaCount was married to Alex Kuhn, who had recently transitioned from a female named Alice.
The prosecution refers to her as Alice in court proceedings.
Kuhn’s parents, Peggy and Bob Kuhn, were also shot. Peggy was killed too.
Dr. Lesley Wallis Butler, the medical examiner, gave a lesson in anatomy for the jury as they learned what exactly happens during an autopsy, and what the medical examiner saw on the victim and intended target of the calculated crime.
“Do you reflect Ms. Kuhn’s cause of death to be multiple gunshot wounds?” asked the prosecution.
“Yes,” replied Butler.
Dr. Butler said Alice Kuhn was shot in three places: the head, neck and jaw.
Prosecutors said in June of 2016 that LaCount schemed with her secret lover Harris to kill Alice Kuhn, who had recently transitioned and was going by Alex.
The state said LaCount concocted the plan and solicited different lovers until she found one who would pull the trigger.
Harris took the bait and not only shot and killed Alice Kuhn but also shot her parents and killed her mother, Peggy Kuhn.
The medical examiner said she used soot on and around the victim to determine how close the shooter and gun were to Alice Kuhn, and had to try and recreate the position Alice Kuhn was in at the time of the shooting.
“I have to take what evidence is on the body to potentially position them in a non-anatomic positional pattern to make wounds connect if they do connect,” said Dr. Butler on the stand.
The medical examiner said the shot to Alice Kuhn’s head traveled into her brain, and said that shot or the shot to the neck could have been fatal.
One thing that’s certain is that it was a brazen attack.
But because of how fast it happened and where the gunshot wounds are, the medical examiner said one thing remains unknown.
“I cannot determine the chronological order, no,” she said.
“Why is that?” asked the prosecutor.
“When you have injuries that are temporarily related, the injury patterns are going to be all bleeding, so I cannot tell based off the injury pattern or blood patterns the actual chronologic order of the injuries themselves,” said Dr. Butler.
In the afternoon, the medical examiner described how Peggy’s autopsy went.
This is a capital case which means if LaCount is convicted, she will be facing the death penalty.
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