By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A Long Island father with a death wish was stabbed at least six times in his chest and left to die in the front seat of his SUV by a man sitting next to him, the medical examiner testified Friday.
That person was Kenneth Minor, who is on trial for the murder of 52-year-old motivational speaker Jeffrey Locker, prosecutors said.
While the defense argues Minor, 38, simply held the knife steady against the steering wheel while Locker, on the driver's side, hurled himself against it, the medical examiner testified Friday that could not have been the case.
Forensic pathologist Jonathan Hayes testified that the claim was highly improbable if not impossible, and that an attacker had to use force to puncture Locker's chest with a sharp blade.
"That pattern is most consistent with an attacker next to him stabbing [him] repeatedly into his chest," medical examiner Jonathan Hayes testified Friday after jurors saw an autopsy photo of a cluster of several five to seven inch deep holes in the center of Locker's chest.
Minor, an ex-con, was charged with intentional murder. The prosecution concedes that Locker sought to end his own life, but Minor's role in the death would make him a hired killer, they argue.
Locker's bruised and bloodied body was found inside his vehicle, parked near the RFK-Triboro Bridge, on July 16, 2009.
Locker had acquired substantial debt, had defaulted on his mortgage payments and was looking for a way out, prosecutors said.
Minor was caught using Locker's ATM card at several bodegas in the neighborhood after the killing. It was, Minor said, his compensation for his help with the suicide.
On cross examination Friday, Hayes said the assisted suicide element would not have changed his theory that Locker was stabbed with force by whoever was in the car with him.
"If I were to tell you the deceased in this case wanted to kill himself and went out of his way to try to make it look like a murder, not a suicide, would that have impact on what you told the jury today?" defense lawyer Daniel Gotlin said.
"No it would not," the autopsy doctor said.
Testimony is expected to continue in Minor's trial on Tuesday. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
