RESTON, VA—Noting that attorneys on either side had used the term dozens of times during the previous two weeks, juror Michael Kerr told reporters Monday that he was too far into a capital trial at this point to ask what “contusions” are. “When the prosecutor first brought it up, I thought I could just ignore it and hope it wouldn’t come up again, but then they called in a medical expert who said it a whole bunch of times,” Kerr said after the witness delivered testimony on the victim’s numerous contusions, which he surmised could refer to strands of hair, bones, or another part of the body, but could be something different altogether. “I’ve been looking at people’s faces whenever contusions come up, and I can tell by their expression that it’s something bad, but that’s the only clue I’ve got. The next time they say it I’m probably just going to nod.” Kerr said he planned to look up the term as soon as he got home after voting for a guilty verdict.

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