Cheyenne Carter
| Charged With: | Murder 2nd Degree |
| Sentenced To: | 25 Years to Life |
Forensic Evidence vs. Prosecutor & Organized Crime Witnesses
By Cheyenne Carter
By Cheyenne Carter
Luis Pagan was killed in the early morning hours of June 25, 1994 in front of a neighborhood store at 163rd street Kelly Street in the Bronx, where he had gone to its 24-hour window to pick up a few grocery items. Judith Pagan, Luis Pagan’s daughter, was nearby in the family’s apartment waiting for her father to return when she heard what she believed to be a gunshot. Soon after hearing the gunshot she became concerned when her father had not returned.
The Observations of the Law Enforcement Officers at the Scene
NYPD Sergeant Michael Perry twenty-year police veteran, and his partner Officer Edward Quinones, were the first law enforcement officers at the scene. They were directed to the scene by an unidentified man who reported that someone had been shot. In his twenty years of police work, Perry had seen over 100 people who had been shot in the face. Sgt. Perry looked at the mortally wounded Luis Pagan, determined that Mr. Pagan had been shot in the face, and radioed to “Central” to send an ambulance as he had a man who was shot in the face. After Sgt. Perry Radioed Central, he called the hospital to notify them that an ambulance was bringing a man who had been shot in the face. Sgt. Perry entered in his memo book the code “1010”, “man shot”.
Police Officer Michael Greaney was called by Sgt. Perry to assist at the scene. When Greaney arrived, he saw Luis Pagan lying on the sidewalk. Since an ambulance had not arrived, Greaney, with his partner and Sgt. Perry, put Luis Pagan into the back seat of the police car and drove him to Lincoln Hospital. Officer Greaney informed the medical team at the hospital that Mr. Pagan had suffered a gunshot wound to the face.
Detective John DeGuilio of the Crime Scene Unit was called to the scene to conduct the crime scene investigation. In his report, De Guilio wrote that Luis Pagan had been shot in the eye, and the bullet exited through his head.
The Findings of the Doctors and Nurses at Lincoln Hospital
The medical records from Lincoln Hospital were introduced into evidence at trial as Defendant’s Exhibit K. These records document the medical procedures performed by the medical staff, as well as the observations of these physicians and nurses at Lincoln hospital, from Luis Pagan’s admission on June 25, 1994, until he was declared dead on June 28, 1994. These records reveal an initial diagnosis of gunshot wound to the head, which remained unchanged throughout all of the testing and treatment of Luis Pagan during the medical staff’s four-day effort to save Mr. Pagan’s life. Virtually every page of the Lincoln Hospital medical records refers to the gunshot wound.
Among the numerous documents in these medical records generated by physicians and nurses who were treating Luis Pagan at Lincoln Hospital were the following:
NYPD Sergeant Michael Perry twenty-year police veteran, and his partner Officer Edward Quinones, were the first law enforcement officers at the scene. They were directed to the scene by an unidentified man who reported that someone had been shot. In his twenty years of police work, Perry had seen over 100 people who had been shot in the face. Sgt. Perry looked at the mortally wounded Luis Pagan, determined that Mr. Pagan had been shot in the face, and radioed to “Central” to send an ambulance as he had a man who was shot in the face. After Sgt. Perry Radioed Central, he called the hospital to notify them that an ambulance was bringing a man who had been shot in the face. Sgt. Perry entered in his memo book the code “1010”, “man shot”.
Police Officer Michael Greaney was called by Sgt. Perry to assist at the scene. When Greaney arrived, he saw Luis Pagan lying on the sidewalk. Since an ambulance had not arrived, Greaney, with his partner and Sgt. Perry, put Luis Pagan into the back seat of the police car and drove him to Lincoln Hospital. Officer Greaney informed the medical team at the hospital that Mr. Pagan had suffered a gunshot wound to the face.
Detective John DeGuilio of the Crime Scene Unit was called to the scene to conduct the crime scene investigation. In his report, De Guilio wrote that Luis Pagan had been shot in the eye, and the bullet exited through his head.
The Findings of the Doctors and Nurses at Lincoln Hospital
The medical records from Lincoln Hospital were introduced into evidence at trial as Defendant’s Exhibit K. These records document the medical procedures performed by the medical staff, as well as the observations of these physicians and nurses at Lincoln hospital, from Luis Pagan’s admission on June 25, 1994, until he was declared dead on June 28, 1994. These records reveal an initial diagnosis of gunshot wound to the head, which remained unchanged throughout all of the testing and treatment of Luis Pagan during the medical staff’s four-day effort to save Mr. Pagan’s life. Virtually every page of the Lincoln Hospital medical records refers to the gunshot wound.
Among the numerous documents in these medical records generated by physicians and nurses who were treating Luis Pagan at Lincoln Hospital were the following:
| 1. | The very first medical document in the records (Def. Ex. K) is signed by the attending physician who recorded his diagnosis of “[g]unshot wound to the head with subdural hemmorhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage”. [sic]. The attending physician “certified” that “the narrative descriptions of the principal and secondary diagnoses and the major procedures performed are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge. |
| 2. | The Lincoln Hospital “Discharge Summary”, which was signed by another physician, records both the initial “complaint” at the time of admission of Luis Pagan as “GSW [gunshot wound] to head”, and a “Final Diagnoses” after Mr. Pagan’s death of “GSW Head to Brain”. [sic]. |
| 3. | An untitled document, which was signed by yet a third physician records a “DX [diagnosis]” of “GSW Head”. [sic]. |
| 4. | The Lincoln Hospital Emergency Department’s “Multiple Trauma Sheet” dated June 25, 1994, contains a drawing of a human body upon which the track of the gunshot wound into and out of Luis Pagan’s head was shown. |