RALEIGH -- Prosecutors in the murder trial of former surgeon Raymond Cook wanted the jury to see for themselves the car that Elena Bright Shapiro was driving the night Cook's Mercedes crashed into her.
Twelve jurors and two alternates were brought outside the Wake County Courthouse this afternoon where Shapiro's crushed Hyundai was parked on the street. They spent about 15 minutes looking at the car and showed no emotion.
Before Judge Osmond Smith agreed to allow the jury to see the mangled car, the sight of it drew a large crowd on Fayetteville Street. Many looked shocked at the condition of the car and some took pictures. Shortly before 4 p.m., sheriff's deputies cleared the sidewalk around the car, presumably to make room for the jury.
Earlier in the day, a woman who had been at Piper's Tavern the night that Shapiro was killed in a fatal traffic collision testified this morning that she told managers at the North Raleigh pub they should stop serving Cook.
Marcia Hale, an accounts manager who frequented Piper's regularly, had been in the bar and grill only briefly before she ordered a Michelob Ultra and watched him stumbling toward the restroom.
"I said there's a guy in here who just walked by me and he went into the bathroom and he is drunk, and you guys do not need to serve him and he doesn't need to be here," Hale said.
Hale's testimony is on the fourth day of evidence in the second-degree murder trial of Cook.
Cook is accused of driving drunk at nearly twice the posted speed limit on busy North Raleigh roads and causing the collision that ended Shapiro’s life when she was on the threshold of a promising dance career.
Prosecutors contend that Cook, a doctor with a history of alcohol abuse, acted with malice when he sped down Lead Mine and Strickland roads after consuming large quantities of alcohol.
Under the second-degree murder charge, prosecutors must show the defendant intended to drive in a reckless manner that reflected knowledge that injury or death would likely result.
With the jury out of the room, Hale also told Judge Osmond Smith and the lawyers that she saw Cook in a parking lot near Piper's embracing a woman with curly blond hair, kissing her and grabbing her romantically.
"I stared at them for a good, long while," Hale said. "I stared at them in a manner so they would know I saw them. I said, 'Why don't you take him home already?'"
"I think the girl may have said, 'What?'" Hale later said. "I said, 'Why is he still here?'"
The defense team representing Cook tried to persuade the judge to limit Hale's testimony so she cannot mention the kissing scene in front of the jury.
While the jury was out of the courtroom, the judge agreed to limit the testimony to where Hale can mention the embrace, but not the extent that she saw them "making out."
Prosecutors said they hoped to use the testimony to show that Cook was familiar with the woman and could have asked her for a ride home.
The defense team representing Cook hope to persuade the judge to limit Hale's testimony so she cannot mention the kissing scene in front of the jury.
The defense team failed on Thursday to persuade a judge to suppress emergency room test results showing that their client’s blood-alcohol content was three times the legal limit.
Dr. Herbert Myles, an emergency room physician who attended to Cook at WakeMed North on Sept. 11, 2009, testified Thursday that he ordered a blood test in the hospital within hours of the fatal collision.
Myles said he detected a strong odor of alcohol around Cook. Although the patient had complained only of minor injuries, Myles said he worried that alcohol might have masked pain related to larger problems.
Cook had been transported to the hospital after he slammed his black Mercedes into a silver Hyundai that Shapiro, a 20-year-old from Winston-Salem, was driving on Strickland Road.
Shapiro, who was in Raleigh to train with Carolina Ballet, was on her way to a house-warming party in North Raleigh.
According to testimony, Cook had been at Piper’s Tavern, a nearby North Raleigh pub. A manager there refused to serve the doctor alcohol after witnesses reported seeing him stumble on his way to the restroom.
Minutes later, Cook leaned over Shapiro and attempted to give the motionless young woman mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. One emergency medical technician described it as the worst accident scene he had ever seen.
Cook is accused of driving drunk at nearly twice the posted speed limit on busy North Raleigh roads and causing the collision that ended Shapiro’s life when she was on the threshold of a promising dance career.
Prosecutors contend that Cook, who has a doctor with a history of alcohol abuse, acted with malice when he barreled down Lead Mine and Strickland roads at a high rate of speed after consuming large quantities of alcohol.
Under the second-degree murder charge, prosecutors must show the defendant intended to drive in a reckless manner that reflected knowledge that injury or death would likely result.
Myles testified that a test done at WakeMed North after the collision showed Cook’s blood-alcohol content to be 0.24, three times the legal limit of 0.08.
Roger W. Smith Sr., part of the father-son law team representing Cook, argued that lactic acid, which can be released into the blood after traumatic incidents, can cause elevated alcohol readings.
The defense tried to suppress the blood-test results, arguing there was no one for them to cross-examine since it was unknown which lab technician did the analysis.
But the judge allowed the testimony.
Police also ordered blood tests from the emergency room.
Early in the trial, Cook’s defense team ceded that their client consumed alcohol that day. They also admitted he was speeding.
During testimony on Thursday, the third day of evidence, emergency workers testified that Cook initially denied that he had consumed alcohol. He then told an emergency worker in an ambulance that he had two drinks earlier that day while playing golf.
In addition to trying to raise questions about blood tests, Roger W. Smith Jr. spent much of Wednesday trying to raise doubt about the rate of speed his client was traveling.
Several witnesses testified seeing a dark sedan speeding along Strickland Road at anywhere from 75 to 100 miles per hour.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Simon Capell, an emergency medical technician, described Cook on the accident scene as someone who did not identify himself as a doctor, but a man insistent on getting Shapiro out of the car and beginning cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
Though Shapiro had blood around her mouth, Cook tried to blow air into her airway.
In an effort to counteract claims of willful injury and reckless behavior, Cook’s defense team mentioned the doctor’s attempts at mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in their opening statement.
