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January 6, 2005Prosecutors' appeal hits dead endJudge says he has no jurisdictionByRecord-Eagle staff writer BEULAH - A state prosecutor indicated during a court hearing that a first-degree murder case against suspected wife-killer Mark Unger could fall apart without testimony from the Oakland County medical examiner. But 19th Circuit Court Judge James Batzer refused to hear an appeal from prosecutors of a lower court decision to exclude the testimony of Oakland medical examiner Dr. L. J. Dragovic, saying his court did not have jurisdiction. A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office called Wednesday's hearing "a mere technicality," and said prosecutors would re-file an appeal. Bernard Eric Restuccia, a state assistant attorney general, argued that Dragovic's testimony is crucial for purposes of the preliminary exam, and said he worries that without it Unger might not be bound over to stand trial. Unger, 44, is charged with first-degree murder for the death of 37-year-old Florence Unger, who was found dead Oct. 25, 2003, at a resort on Lower Herring Lake. Unger maintains his innocence. Prosecutors contend Unger pushed his wife from a boathouse roof to a concrete deck 12 feet below and dragged her into the lake, where she drowned. The autopsy listed a head injury as the cause of death, but Dragovic, who did not perform the autopsy though he reviewed its results, testified that evidence suggests Florence Unger drowned. Batzer ruled that because 85th District Court Judge Brent Danielson's decision to bar Dragovic's testimony came in the form of a written opinion, not a written order, it cannot be appealed based on case law and court rules.
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