Younger

A young woman is found in her bathtub, strangled by a noose tied to the showerhead. Though she has been dead for nearly two weeks, the pathologist who performs the autopsy is able to determine that there are no significant bruises or other injuries aside from the strangulation. The victim’s artificial fingernails are all in place, and there is no sign of a struggle. The pathologist lists the cause of death as hanging, but notes that drowning or other asphyxial death cannot be ruled out. The district attorney charges the woman’s ex-boyfriend with murder. He has told the police that after he broke up with her, the woman ran into the bathroom and he left with their children in her car. His statements to various witnesses before and after the time of death are suspicious. Nevertheless, a highly qualified pathologist testifies that the physical evidence strongly supports a finding of suicide, not homicide.

The jury hears evidence of domestic abuse inflicted by the boyfriend on the victim and two other partners in the past. The jury is instructed that if it finds the boyfriend committed prior offenses involving domestic violence, it may infer that he was disposed toward…