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September 9, 2004Doctor: Death no accidentMedical examiner: It was 3-step processByRecord-Eagle staff writer BEULAH - Florence Unger suffered a head injury that would have killed her, but before she could die someone moved her from a concrete slab into Lower Herring Lake where she drowned, a medical examiner testified. Dr. L.J. Dragovic said Wednesday at first-degree murder suspect Mark Unger's preliminary examination that the woman's death at a resort in southern Benzie County last October was a three-step process. First, someone pushed or kicked Unger's 37-year-old wife from the roof of a boat house. Next, she fell 12 feet to the concrete slab below and suffered what ultimately would have been a fatal head injury. "And the third, her unconscious body was placed in a body of water, and as a result of which, she died," Dragovic said. "Once the body was submerged, the inability of lungs to get air stopped the head injury from causing death." Defense lawyers hotly contested Dragovic's testimony and tried to have it excluded, then cross-examined him rigorously on each conclusion. Defense attorney Thomas McGuire focused on a defense demand that Dragovic submit scientific articles to back up his conclusion that lack of brain swelling observed during Unger's autopsy indicated she did not die of head trauma. Dragovic said Unger's death was unique and that no scientific studies exist that deal with the way she died. The hearing will be continued at a later date when Unger's attorneys may call witnesses. Mark Unger, 43, pleaded not guilty. Benzie County District Judge Brent Danielson was unavailable Wednesday and visiting Judge David Hogg sat in for him. Hogg said Danielson would review transcripts to decide whether there is probable cause to bind over Unger for trial. Stephen Cohle, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, also testified Wednesday. Cohle said that although he determined the cause of death to be trauma to the head, Florence Unger could have drowned. Whether Florence Unger drowned could prove important to prosecutors, who seek to convict Unger of premeditated murder and maintain the suspect moved her body into the lake. During cross-examination of Cohle, McGuire hinted that a state police investigator concluded Unger's death was an accident. McGuire asked Cohle if such information could have changed his findings. "I would want to know about what's in the report about how she got into the water," Cohle said. Assistant attorney general Donna Pendergast said she was confident that once all reports were public, it would be clear that no state police investigator concluded the death was accidental.
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