Medical Examiner: Killing At Suburban Hospital Showed "Excessive Violence"

Update, 5:38 p.m.: As medical examiner Victor Weedn wrapped up his testimony at the Suburban Hospital trial Thursday, he said that whoever killed Brockington "knew they were inflicting significant damage to the neck, and kept going."

Weedn said the injuries demonstrated "overkill" or "excessive violence, more than is necessary to kill somebody."

As Weedn completed his description of Brockington's injuries, he said the deepest wound he found was a five-inch knife wound that penetrated Brockington's chest cavity. The wound would "require a very significant amount of force -- this would require some real effort," Weedn said.

He said Brockington likely bled to death in a "matter of minutes" as a collective result of the stab wounds.

Also taking the stand Thursday was Sgt. Ari Elkin with Montgomery County police, who responded with his canine to Suburban the day of the murder, and Garvin Watkins, who operates security cameras at Suburban.

Watkins said the security camera trained on the door of the office where Brockington had been killed was transmitting video to the security office the day of the murder, but the video was not recorded to a central hard drive because of a glitch in the system. Security officials did not learn of the problem until later that day, Watkins said.

Watkins said security officials may have been in other parts of the building that morning because of a problem with the fire alarms.

Update, 1:35 p.m.: Victor Weedn, a medical examiner who conducted an autopsy on Suburban Hospital homicide victim Roosevelt Brockington, Jr., took the stand at the trial of Keith D. Little Thursday.

Little, of Lanham, stands accused of killing his supervisor, Roosevelt Brockington, Jr., in the hospital's basement boiler room Jan. 1.

Weedn told the jury Thursday that Brockington suffered 72 stab wounds and one cutting wound, in areas including his neck, back, face, and shoulders. The jury was shown graphic autopsy photographs of Brockington's wounded body.

According to Weedn, some of the stab wounds were four inches deep. One wound penetrated the base of the skull into the cavity in which the brain sits, though it didn't penetrate the brain. "It would take a lot of force, even with a sharp knife," Weedn said, describing the wound.

Several major vessels were also cut, including the victim's external jugular vein, Weedn said.

"You can see this is a very major vein," said Weedn, pointing it out on an anatomical diagram. "This will bleed way more than just cutting a finger."

Suburban Hospital maintenance manager William Mathews also finished his testimony Thursday. He was asked questions by the defense about access previous maintenance employees may have had to the hospital.

During his testimony, Mathews described a panicked phone call he received Jan. 5 from another maintenance employee who the prosecution argues saw Little attempting to wash a mask and glove in chemicals as the two were working together in the boiler room.

"He said, "No, Bill. It's Keith," Mathews said. "I told him to call security right away and he said, 'I can't. I can't. I don't know what to do.' I said, 'You stay on the loading docks and I'll make the calls.'"

Describing his next phone call, "I said, 'My guys down in the boiler room are in trouble. I want security down there right away, I want police down there right away, and I don't want Mr. Little to leave the property.'"

Patch is reporting live from the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville. This post will be updated.

Original Post, 6 a.m.: William Mathews, who oversees about 20 members of the maintenance staff at Suburban Hospital, is expected to continue his testimony during the Suburban Hospital murder trial Thursday.

Keith D. Little, of Lanham, stands accused of killing his supervisor, Roosevelt Brockington, Jr., in the hospital's basement boiler room Jan. 1. Brockington was found stabbed over 70 times. Mathews oversaw Brockington in his role at Suburban.

Wednesday, Mathews testified that he signed off on a performance review that Brockington gave Little in Nov. 2010. Prosecutors have said the performance review denied Little a raise.

"You have at times shown great potential to exceed standards," said Mathews, quoting the review.

But the review went on to say, "Your tardiness will not be tolerated in the coming year."

Little was told that he must change his behavior "immediately," and that if he arrived late to work within the next 60 days, Brockington would start the "write-up" process.

Prosecutors have said the negative review ties into Little's motive to kill. They also argued during opening statements that Little "hated" Brockington because Brockington changed his shift at Suburban, forcing him to lose another job at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt.

Patch will be reporting live from the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville throughout the trial. Follow us on Twitter for real time updates.