Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 5 Critical Moments in Accused Child Killer Christopher Gregor's Trial: Week 4

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

The fourth week of Christopher Gregor's murder trial in Ocean County, New Jersey was a short one with an expert for the state testifying about the cause of death for his son, Corey Micciolo. Dr. Anat Feingold is a pediatrician who reviewed Corey's medical records and offered her opinion about what caused Corey's death. Gregor maintains he didn't murder Corey by beating him and that the boy died as the result of sepsis. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy breaks down the key moments from Dr. Feingold's testimony in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:True Crime Goods is the ultimate shopping experience for the true crime addict. Get 10% off your next order using code LAWANDCRIME10: https://bit.ly/4ajpjV4Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. My opinion was that there was nothing available in all the discovery and the medical records that were consistent with infection causing Corey's death or even playing a role in it. An expert for the prosecution in Chris Greger's murder trial testifies about Corey Michalow's cause of death. I'm outlining why another doctor is testifying and what she had to say about the six-year-old and how he passed away. Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Corey Michalow's cause of death is going to be key in Chris Greger's murder trial.

Greger is accused of murdering Corey on April 2nd, 2021 by causing major trauma to his little body that very day. But his attorney has claimed to the jury that Corey died from sepsis, a blood infection. And you're going to hear testimony from doctors, experts. You're going to hear testimony from Dr. Larkin, who by the way, Dr. Larkin has no skin in the game. This is a doctor that comes to the hospital, he's from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner here in Ocean County. He has no idea what the relationship is between Christopher and Brianna and Christopher and Rebecca. He's got no clue. He just evaluates the child. By science and medicine, Dr. Larkin found that Corey's blood results from Southern Ocean

showed incredibly high white blood count high glucose and high lactic acid and said that's all indicative of sepsis caused by an infection. The same sepsis that Jersey Shore Medical Center told

Brianna Micholo, do not take this child from the hospital. He possibly has sepsis. We need to evaluate him. Chief Medical Examiner here at Ocean County, his evaluation, you're going to hear evidence, sepsis, infection, not murder. Rager's attorney, Mario Gallucci, said the sepsis could have been brought on by pneumonia. But Dr. Annette Feingold, a pediatrician, testified this week that she reviewed Corey's medical records at the request of the prosecution and doesn't agree with that finding. Now, after you reviewed all of that material, did you render an opinion with respect to whether Corey died as a result of some infectious process. I did. What was your opinion?

My opinion was that there was nothing available in all the discovery and the medical records that were consistent with infection causing Corey's death or even playing a role in it. When you say nothing available, it didn't exist. I didn't see anything that suggested infection. And is that opinion to a medical degree of certainty? Absolutely. Dr. Feingold detailed the records she reviewed, including Cory's medical records from the night before he died. His mother, Brianna Michelo, had taken him to the doctor and later the hospital to be evaluated. Corey had bruises, and Michelo had tried to get

an emergency court order to get custody of Corey, who had been living full-time with Gregor while she had visitation rights. A judge denied that emergency request for custody. Here's Dr. Feingold offering her opinion of the records from those visits, which took place less than 24 hours before Corey passed away. Was there anything within those records that was important to you in regard to formulating your opinion that you're here to give? Yes. So that visit occurred the day before Corey's death at about 5.20 in the evening, and at that time Corey was described as having had no fever, no complaints of any kind of physical ailment other than the marks on his body

for which his mom had sought evaluation he was afebrile so no fever his vital signs were completely stable and he on physical exam there was no abnormality and in specific the amount of oxygen in his blood was normal. He appeared to be completely well and have normal activity. His lung examination was completely clear. No abnormal sounds in the lungs. And so at that time, with a physician evaluating him, there was no evidence of any kind of infectious process. Is it fair to say that was about 24 hours before Corey died?

Exactly. Did you review the records from Community Medical Center? I did. Was there anything within those records that was important to you in regard to formulating your opinion? Again, the findings were very similar. The vital signs were normal, meaning there was no elevation in his respiratory rate. Dr. Feingold went on to detail how Corey appeared healthy the day before he died despite those bruises.

The other important information that was gathered at that visit was that Corey had no evidence of a significant viral infection, respiratory viral infection. So he was tested for COVID. He was tested for respiratory syncytial virus. He was tested for influenza A and B, and those were all negative. So again, the conclusion reading this was that he was a well-appearing child other than the bruising that was noted, and he was described by the nurses as alert, appropriate, and walking normally with a steady gait. So again, this being the third evaluation, so we have three physical examinations by physicians, all of whom believe that this child was and he did

look completely healthy other than the bruising. And Dr. Feingold talked about a recording of Corey from the morning that he died when Brianna Michelo dropped him off at Chris Greger's apartment. Brianna Michelo had accidentally recorded Corey on her cell phone for just 33 seconds. Now, you had mentioned in the discovery that you reviewed that there was a video of particular importance to you. Could you tell us about that? When I listened to the 33-second clip that was taken in the car, you know, Corey spoke, not a lot, but he spoke to his mom, and he had no shortness of breath.

So, you know, sometimes people will call us and say their child is having trouble breathing and we'll say put the child on the phone and see if they can give a full sentence without having to take a breath. Or the other thing that was notable was that he never coughed and you never heard any other sounds except for the mom and Corey speaking. There was no wheezing heard or anything like that. But just he clearly was speaking normally by report and by the video, he sounded like, you know, a regular healthy kid. There's no moaning in that video? No, no, none.

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pneumonia, no abnormality on the lung exam to suggest a pulmonary infection. And those are all things that you would expect to see from someone that had a pulmonary infection. Absolutely, and also somebody who comes in looking this ill, if this was due to a pulmonary infection, I would expect very significant changes in the ability to breathe and his pulmonary exam. Ultimately, Dr. Feingold drew conclusions about Corey's death. So in sum, Dr. Feingold, what, if any, conclusions did you reach whether an infection caused or contributed to Corey's death? My conclusion was that there was

nothing, no evidence that Corey had an infectious disease at any point and certainly that that was not his cause of death. So there you go. Dr. Feingold agrees that sepsis did not cause Corey's death. The defense hammered Dr. Feingold about her opinion and her qualifications. So why do we have forensic pathologists? Objection, Judge. Is it a quiz? No, it's a question. Why do we have forensic pathologists? Sarcastic, Judge. I mean, if you're telling me... Your Honor, I just wanted to hear Your Honor's ruling on my objection. Well, it's somewhat argumentative, I suppose,

but you can ask her her understanding of that if you want. You started asking other questions, so are you withdrawing that question? I'm withdrawing it alone. So a forensic pathologist took blood cultures and you said that they're not reliable. A forensic pathologist took a CAT scan, you said that's not reliable, right?

I disagree with your first statement. Forensics pathologists don't take blood cultures. Physicians treating patients take blood cultures when they present or when they're in the hospital. But you disagreed with some of the things that Dr. Odassa did, right? You said they were of no value. I disagreed with a post-mortem lung culture. Okay.

You said no value. Right. And the CAT scan of no value? My understanding was that the CAT scan was ordered by someone else, but I might be wrong about that. Okay. But, yes, it's not interpretable. So, as you saw, things got a little bit sassy there. Mario Gallucci then asked Dr. Feingold about the last time she

performed an autopsy she said it would have been in 1979 when she was in medical school. She's a pediatrician, so her patients, of course, are typically alive. He's obviously setting the stage, Gallucci is, for the testimony of renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Bodden, who's expected to testify for the defense that Corey died as the result of sepsis. Then Gallucci asked a question that's pretty common when it comes to expert testimony. You got paid to review this case. Not yet, but yes. You're going to get paid for reviewing the documents provided to you by the prosecution, right?

I expect yes. Okay. And you're going to get paid for discussing it with them, right? Did you meet with Ms. Schron or Ms. Lentel prior to walking through those doors? Yes. Okay. And when you met with them, did they discuss the case with you? Yes. Okay. And when you met with them, did they discuss the case with you? Yes. Okay.

I don't know if either one of them, I'm assuming neither one of them have any medical degrees, so did you explain to them the medical technology? Yes. You did so right here when Ms. Schron asked you a question. You actually corrected her on the word she used, right? Not on the word, but on the pronunciation of the word she used right not on the word but on the pronunciation of the word and I'm sure you're going to do that often to me right now so and you're actually getting paid to sit right here and

testify for them right right yes do you know how the medical examiner's office works? What I understand is that the medical examiner is hired by the state, and when an autopsy is indicated, there's a question as to a patient, whether the death was natural or unnatural, then the case can be referred to the medical examiner to try to make that determination. So you said something very interesting. You said that the medical examiner is paid by the state, right?

That's what I understand. Okay, not paid by the prosecution. As far as I know. So the medical examiner in this case was Dr. Ordaz, right? Objection, Judge, misinterpreting. Earlier in the trial, a pathologist testified for the state that he did not believe Corey died from sepsis. Did you make any findings regarding sepsis or infection? Once again, that issue came up on the initial examination and based not only on the autopsy findings but my review of the medical records, there's no, zero, not one scintilla of evidence of sepsis or any other

infectious process in Corey's autopsy. Dr. Thomas Andrew did not perform the autopsy on Corey but reviewed records pertaining to it. In my opinion, these injuries occurred at roughly the same time, and their age could have been as recent as four hours but as old as 12 hours prior to when Corey actually died at 5 p.m. on the 2nd. That was the finding based on the histology. Additional evidence that I saw fine-tuned that time frame a little tighter. Doctor, can you tell us about the additional evidence that you saw to fine-tune that time frame? So if you think about that time frame of 4 to 12 hours,

that would have been from 5 a.m. the day before to about 1 o'clock in the afternoon on the 2nd. There was a video that was alluded to, and it wasn't an intentional video. There were no people in the video. You could basically see that the phone was on a car seat or something. Attorney Lento, have folks seen this video? Do they know what I'm talking about? So it appears as if the phone was like on a car seat or something. And it was represented to me that this was Corey's mother dropping him off for custodial care with his father.

And they were having a conversation. Well, this was at about 9 o'clock. Corey was answering questions he was conversational, he was normal audibly so if that's at 9 o'clock the period of time of injury from 5 o'clock to 9 o'clock in my mind is eliminated

a person with these injuries is not going to be responding like Corey would in the car. So that puts us between 9 a.m. and approximately 1 p.m. I can't narrow it down any more specifically than that, but I am confident that that is the range of time in which Corey was injured. So this trial could turn out to be an epic battle of the experts, with jurors weighing the testimony of the various doctors and nurses, Corey's mother, Dr. Michael Bodden, and possibly and likely, the testimony of Christopher Greger himself. That treadmill video, while it occurred days

before Corey's death, could also play a role in the jury's decision. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.