Elijah McClain case blog: Friday, September 22 updates

Denver7 is following the trial for two Aurora officers, Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt who have pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault in the arrest of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, encountered police on Aug. 24, 2019 after a person called 911 to report a “sketchy” man walking in Aurora.

Scroll down to read updates from the Friday, September 22 proceedings.

Police responded and put McClain, who was unarmed and had not committed a crime, into a neck hold. Paramedics administered a sedative called ketamine, which officials said led to cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. He was declared brain dead days later and died Aug. 30, 2019. A pathologist found he was given a higher dose of ketamine than recommended for somebody of his size and, as a result, he overdosed.

All five people facing jury trials pleaded not guilty to the charges against them in January 2023 in the wake of a grand jury indictment.

TRIAL RESUMES AT 9 A.M. WITH MORE BODY WORN VIDEO

The prosecution picked up where it left off Thursday continuing to show jurors body camera video from Roedema and Rosenblatt. The presentation took approximately 45 minutes. The People then called Dr. Marc Moss, the first witness of Friday morning.

Dr. Moss is a pulmonary critical care physician with the University of Colorado hospital in Aurora who treated Elijah McClain a couple of days after he was admitted to the emergency department of the hospital. Ultimately, Dr. Moss was the physician who determined that McClain was brain dead on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.

The prosecution asked Dr. Moss to walk jurors through the apnea test, or medical process of determining brain death. During the apnea test, blood is checked to determine carbon dioxide levels and the patient is removed from breathing support to check for unsupported breathing activity over the course of several minutes, according to Dr. Moss.

Normal CO2 levels in adults run around 23 to 30 mEq/L, according to the National Institues of Health, and Dr. Moss stated McClain’s CO2 levels were near 83 mEq/L during the apnea tests.

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In his testimony, Dr. Moss explained two separate apnea tests were performed on McClain, one on Monday, August 26 and the second the following day.

“Mr. McClain had no breathing effort at all. His repeat level was 83,” said Dr. Moss, who stated McClain’s pupils did not react to light and his EEG, or electroencephalogram, which measures the electrical activity in the brain, “had a complete supression of activity.”

PROSECUTION PRESENTS SECOND PULMONARY CARE EXPERT

Following the mid-morning break, the People called a second medical expert with a specialty in pulmonary and critical care. Dr. David Beuther is physician at National Jewish Health in Denver who has expertise in asthma. When asked by the prosecutor if asthma played a role in McClain’s death, Dr. Beuther said “asthma was not an active problem for him and was not related to his death.”

Dr. Beuther, who was not part of the initial medical team caring for McClain in 2019, reviewed starting in 2021 McClain’s medical records, body worn video and other evidence related to the death, including the mask he was wearing the night of the arrest.

Dr. Beuther stated he observed evidence on the mask that McClain aspirated prior to receiving Ketamine: “That’s a very high-risk situation,” he said. “Cannot give 100 percent proof — the rational: he had this mask on and we know he vomited with the mask on.”

Dr. Beuther also confirmed autopsy reports McClain had marijuana and ketamine in his system but it was his opinion marijuana was not a relevant contributor in the death: “it doesn’t effect your breathing or make it harder to breath,” he said.

The court went into recess at Noon for the lunch break and the proceedings are expected to resume at 1:30 p.m.