Luka Magnotta trial: Pathologist calls victims autopsy difficult

The pathologist who drafted the 13-page autopsy report determining Jun Lins cause of death testified at Luka Magnotta's first-degree murder trial that it was a difficult process because of the state of the body.

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Yann Daz, a forensic pathologist, testified Thursday thathe performed the autopsy over five non-consecutive days between June 1, 2012, and July 5, 2012.

The jury heard Lins throat was slit with a knife, which was identified as the likely cause of death, but the pathologist was unable to determine whether numerous blows to the victims head were inflicted before or after his death.

During much of the scientific testimony, Magnotta, 32, looked down at the ground from his position inside a glassed-in enclosure in the courtroom, listening to a translation via a headset.

The court heard the remains were recovered from different locations and sent to the pathologist's lab over the course of a month.

He specified the body had suffered major trauma and was in an advanced state ofdecomposition.

Jun Lins torso was found on May 29, 2012, in a suitcase outside Magnotta's Montreal apartment.

His hands and feet had been sent to locations in Ottawa and Vancouver and his head was recovered in a Montreal park.

The witnesstestified that thepolice showed him 10 photographs from the investigation. Officers told him remainswere recovered from Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal and thatvarious tools had also been seized.

Traces of sleeping pills found in Lin

Daz used medical sketches to show the jury the wounds he documented on the victim around 60 cuts and lacerations to the torso and back. The pathologist also detailed numerous bone fractures and wounds to the head, consistent with those that would be caused by blows from a hammer.

The court also heard further details of howthe body was dismembered after death, including howa small piece of the left buttock was removed.

A biologist is expected to testify next week about substances found in Lins blood, but Daz did tell the jury traces of two drugs were found: temazepam, a sleeping pill, and diphenhydramine, used bothto treat allergy symptoms and as a sleeping aid.

Crown prosecutor Louis Bouthillier asked the pathologist if he had watched an online video that depicts some aspects of the killing.

Daz responded he had not, not only because he did not want to taint his expertise while performing the autopsy, he also had no interest in it because he sees enough "disgusting things at work.

Magnotta has pleaded not guilty to the charges, but has agreed to the facts of the case, including that he killed Lin.

His lawyer told the courtthat he intends to proveMagnotta wasnot criminally responsiblefor his actions because of mental illness. He said Magnotta suffers from schizophrenia.

Bouthillier told the court hewill present evidence that shows Magnotta had documented a plan to kill someone six months before Lin's death.