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WOBURN — A cardiologist who treated Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan's father testified Tuesday that a physical altercation he had with his son could have triggered his deadly heart attack.
Kerrigan's brother, Mark Kerrigan, is charged with manslaughter in the January 2010 death of their 70-year-old father, Daniel Kerrigan. Prosecutors say Daniel Kerrigan died of a heart attack after Mark Kerrigan put his hands around his father's neck during a violent struggle, causing broken cartilage in his larynx.
Dr. Khether Raby, testifying for prosecutors, said he reviewed the autopsy report and found that Daniel Kerrigan had a so-called demand event that caused his heart attack.
"I suspect that because of the two things that I mentioned ... no active blood clot found in his arteries and because there was this injury to his neck ... he had some event that made his heartbeat and blood pressure go too fast, and that overwhelmed his blocked arteries and that caused him to have a heart attack," Raby said.
Raby's testimony came on the second day of Mark Kerrigan's trial.
Nancy Kerrigan and her family have supported her brother. The family has said repeatedly that it believes Daniel Kerrigan died of his longstanding heart condition and that Mark Kerrigan did not cause his death.
Kerrigan's mother, Brenda, cried softly during portions of Tuesday's testimony. Nancy Kerrigan put her arm around her mother to comfort her.
Raby said he first diagnosed Daniel Kerrigan with coronary artery disease in 2003. He said Kerrigan opted to treat his illness with medication rather than heart surgery and had remained stable over the next seven years, continuing to do many of the same physical activities he had previously done.
"He was quite happy and content ... he reported that most of his routine activities were without symptoms," he said.
Raby said that during his last examination of Kerrigan in December 2009 — a month before he died — Kerrigan said he wasn't having any shortness of breath, chest pains or palpitations.
"Typical symptoms of angina have completely disappeared for over one year," he wrote in Kerrigan's file.
During cross-examination, Mark Kerrigan's attorney, Janice Bassil, repeatedly asked Raby why he didn't do more tests on Daniel Kerrigan to determine the amount of blockage in his arteries. Bassil said an autopsy showed his three main arteries were between 85 percent and 100 percent blocked.
Raby said studies have shown that the mortality and heart attack rates are the same in stable patients, whether they take medication or have heart surgery for coronary artery disease. He said Daniel Kerrigan appeared to be doing well on the medication and denied having any significant heart symptoms.
Bassil also questioned Raby about the cartilage fracture in Daniel Kerrigan's larynx and suggested that his injury could have occurred while emergency medical personnel were inserting a tube into his windpipe or after his death during the autopsy.
Raby acknowledged that he had no direct knowledge about how the injury to Kerrigan's larynx occurred. He also acknowledged that he assumed the fracture was traumatic, based on the medical examiner's report.
"I have no way of knowing whether that fracture was traumatic or not," he said. "I'm assuming that it's traumatic."
Prosecutors told the judge they expect to wrap up their case Wednesday.
It is unclear whether Nancy Kerrigan will be called to testify. Prosecutors said during a pretrial hearing that they may call Kerrigan to testify about her father's health in the weeks before his death, but they said Tuesday they are not planning to call her. Kerrigan's lawyers would not say whether they plan to call her.
Before the start of testimony Tuesday, Judge S. Jane Haggerty rejected a defense motion for a mistrial.
Kerrigan's lawyers alleged that during her opening statement to the jury, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Keeley made some claims that only testimony from Brenda Kerrigan could prove, such as the allegation that Mark Kerrigan was seen pushing and shoving his father. Keeley, however, told the judge that that was her characterization of what happened during the altercation and that she did not attribute that information to Brenda Kerrigan. Prosecutors have said they do not plan to call Brenda Kerrigan as a witness.
