ATLAS HARTLEY

Q. Please introduce yourself to the jury

A. My name is Dr. Atlas Hartley and I am a chief medical examiner at Charlotte County

Q. What kind of medicine do you practice?

A. Well I am a forensic pathologist.

Q. What is a forensic pathologist?

A. A forensic pathologist is your typical medical doctor but I have specialized training to be able to determine the cause and manner of death. I’m typically utilized to investigate suspicious deaths and usually work aside law enforcement.

Q. How long have you been practicing forensic pathology?

A. for 16 years

Q. What roles have you held within that time?

A. I worked at Polk county office, and charlotte county office as a senior forensic pathologist and chief medical examiner

Q. How many cases have you handled exactly?

A. I have performed 6,650 cases and handled over 20,000 cases as a chief medical examiner.

Q. Where were you educated?

I attended the University of South Florida for my Doctorate in Medicine.

Q. Let's turn to the reason we are here today. How did you get involved in this case?

A. Well because the death involved a major media company, Governor Sullivan called and asked that I personally conduct the autopsy.

Q. Did you do the autopsy

Yes I did the autopsy.

Q. After you performed the autopsy, how did you report your findings?

A. I had written a toxicological analysis and autopsy report

Q. Doctor can you explain how you determine a cause of death?

A. I look at the body inside and out, take samples from organs and fluids and run tests to see what might have caused the death.

Q. Are those standard methods used in your field?

A. Yes, they are the gold standard and peer reviewed in forensic pathology.

Q. Did you apply those methods correctly in this case?

A. Yes I did.

Q. You mentioned you wrote a toxicological analysis and autopsy report. Would you recognize these reports if I showed you?

yes

Q. Doctor what did I just hand you?

A. This is the report I wrote for the autopsy I performed.

Q. What did you find when you examined Rob Armstrong’s body?

A. His organs were healthy but I found irritation in his airway and calcium oxalate crystals in both kidneys.

Q. What are calcium oxalate crystals?

A. Calcium oxalate crystals are crystals that show that oxalic acid entered the body and caused a reaction that only happens during poisoning.

Q. Could anything else have caused this reaction?

A. No.

Q. What did your toxicology tests reveal?

A. The oxalic acid level in his blood was over three times the normal limit and the concentration in his mouth, trachea, and bronchi was very high.

Q. What does that mean about how he was exposed to the oxalic acid?

A. It means Rob Armstrong inhaled oxalic acid while he was still alive.

Q. How would inhaling oxalic acid affect someone?

A. It would lower calcium levels and cause confusion, weakness, and eventually loss of control of the body.

Q. Did you review the footage of the underwater challenge?

A. Yes I did, and I took notes.

Q.Would you recognize these notes if I showed them to you?

A.Yes I would

Q. Dr. Hartley what did I just hand you?

A. These are the notes I took while watching the underwater challenge.

Q. Now would you say these are a fair and accurate copy?

A. Yes.

Q. What did you notice from that video?

A. Around five minutes into the dive Armstrong slowed down and looked confused and later he took off his mask and inhaled water. Those are clear signs of poisoning and oxygen loss.

Q. Based on all your findings, was this a natural death?

A. No.

Q. What was the cause of death?

A. Drowning caused by oxalic acid poisoning.

No further questions, your honor.