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Friday, November 23, 2017 Lake Oconee News Page A13 Lynn Hobbs/Staff Reacting with tears after the 'guilty' verdict was given are a few members of Lydia Ivanditti's family, including, from left, her mom, Maurine Huggins; sister, Amy Paine; daughter, Julia McKelvey; and son-in-law, Steven. Lynn Hobbs/Staff Putnam County Superior Court Clerk Sheila H. Perry reads aloud the verdict handed down by the jurors for Frank Causey - guilty of felony murder, malice murder and aggravated assault. Causey Continued from A12 of Ivanditti’s, so he was con cerned he would not receive his medication in jail. The agents assured Causey they did not know the nurse and would not tell her anything. The two of them argued, Causey said, and Ivanditti slapped him. “And I just broke out in a rage,” he said in the record ing. “And I rushed her and held her 15-20 seconds and let her go. She fell into the water so fast.” After the recording fin ished, on cross-examina tion, the defense attorney questioned Mabin and asked him why Causey was singled out from the other people who had talked with or seen Ivanditti the week before her murder. “We looked at all kinds of people. We didn’t just focus on one person,” Mabin said. When Thompson said the confession was false because it was coerced, Mabin said, “The evidence at the scene and his descriptions of the scene that only the killer would know showed he did not make a false confession.” The autopsy report Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner Sandra Parrish Thomas also testified Monday, saying she per formed the autopsy on Ivanditti on Dec. 5, 2016. Thomas, who has performed approximately 2,000 autop sies, said the first thing she noticed were some “fairly subtle marks” on Ivanditti’s face and neck area, a goose egg on her forehead, and a bruise on her left cheekbone. Her lungs were heavy with clear fluid, later determined to be water. Her stomach also had water in it, and her organs were healthy. The subtle marks on the exterior skin of Ivanditti’s neck told a different story when the medical examiner looked under the skin, she said. Under the skin on either side of the neck were several areas of hemorrhage. “Hemorrhage means pres sure on the neck consistent with being strangled by hand,” Thomas said. The hemorrhaging on the neck, goose egg “swollen bruise” on her forehead, pete- chiae (blood spots) in her eyes, andfluidinher lungs indicate all of Ivanditti’s injuries were sustained while she was still alive and were a result of both strangulation and drowning, ruling out suicide and acci dent, she said. Photos of the autopsy were shown to the jury. The medical examiner could not tell the sequencing of the events, she said, just that they appeared to be simultaneous, just moments beforedeath. The extentofthe hemorrhaging on the victim’s neck and the fluid in her lungs and stomach showed that she died of both strangulation and drowning. “I cannot tell which hap pened first or which one con tributed more to her death,” Thomas said. When pressed by the defense attorney during cross-examination to say either strangulation or drowning was the cause of death, Thomas was quick to respond. “To be honest, if it could’ve been one or the other, I would’ve put one or the other on my report,” she replied. “But I put both because it was both.” The state rests The state rested at 11:35 a.m. Tuesday, and the defense brought in five witnesses. At the time of his arrest, CauseywasworkingatHorton Haulers. As the first witness for the defense, Causey’s direct supervisor at Horton described Causey’s job, how employees in that position receive frequent nicks and scratches. He did not know if Causey had cut his hand at work, which Thompson said was the reason his blood was found at the murder scene. The defense then brought in someone else who was said to have murdered Ivanditti, but he said he did not know why anyone would say that. The people who had told Thompson about the other suspect, both of whom were jail inmates, were brought in andtoldhowtheyreceivedthe information via the county jail inmates’ note-passing system, which they call “kite.” Finally, a clerk from Quick Pantry testified that she remembered Ivanditti stop ping in the store on a routine basis to purchase alcohol, cigarettes andlottery tickets. Closing arguments On Wednesday defense attorney Thompson requested the charges be changed to simple battery and involuntary manslaugh ter, citingthedeathhappened because Ivanditti was upset with Causey and that caused an argument. Judge Burleson asked what were Causey’s statements and actions in evidence that showed such was the case, but the defense attorney did not provide any. The lesser charge of invol untary manslaughter was not allowed, but the charge of simple battery was added as an option. Closing arguments began at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, with Thompson telling the jurors her client’s guilt needed to be determined beyond all reasonable doubt. “Removing the idea that she (Ivanditti) was a social ite makes the case easier to understand,” she said, adding “you have to deal with the evi dence to determine ifthe state proved beyond a shadow of doubtifFrankCausey caused the death of Lydia Ivanditti.” Thompson refuted the testimony of the state’s wit nesses and suggested some of them may have been the murderers instead, saying “it all goes to common sense.” She concluded at 11:47 a.m. After lunch, the district attorney made his clos ing arguments, throughout which he showed photos, charts, Ivanditti’s phone, and even a video of Causey giving his confession - all whichhad been submitted as evidence during the trial. “(Causey) deserves the same respect and formality as anyone else sitting in that chair becauseit couldbe any body’s loved one who’s sitting in that chair, assuming there is sufficient evidence to get them there,”he said, pointing to Causey. “At the same time, thepoorsoullyinghereinthis stack of evidence deserves the same respect,” he added, placing his hand on a stack of photos of Ivanditti. The jurors should not base their decision on suggestions, innuendos or rumors, but on evidence, Bradley told them. “Reasonable doubt does not mean beyond a shadow of a doubt or beyond all doubt; it means just what it sounds like,” he added. Bradley said he found it interesting that Causey and others had said they knew someone else may have com mitted the murder, “but they never told the GBI, they never told the people investigating the murder.” “Whether (Causey was con sidered by Ivanditti) to be a friend who brings occasional marijuana, or a bad boy on the side, evidence shows he was the only one around that night ... It does not entitle him to beat her and strangle her in her own tub,” he said. 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