Joseph Costanzo died from complications to a gunshot wound to the face, Mercer County Medical Examiner Dr. Rafaat Ahmad said.
TRENTON — In the ongoing trial over the murder of Joseph Costanzo, a medical examiner today testified that the 38-year-old Hamilton man shot during a 2008 home invasion died after he choked on his own blood.
Costanzo died from complications to a gunshot wound to the face, Mercer County Medical Examiner Dr. Rafaat Ahmad said.
The bullet entered through his right cheek, passed through his mouth and entered his left shoulder and lodged in his upper left arm, Ahmad said.
“The blood collected in his mouth and then it went down in his airway,” Ahmad said. “He couldn’t breathe. He’d be gurgling initially, then he’d die.”
Brian Johnson and Damien Johnson, who are not related, are on trial for Costanzo’s murder. Prosecutors allege they wanted to enter a house on the 1400 block of South Clinton Avenue on the night of Dec. 1, 2008 to steal money and drugs. Costanzo was in the living room of the home watching Monday Night Football.
Troy Negron, who was at the home at the time, said he saw Costanzo get shot and was at his side a few minutes later, after the intruders left.
“He was gurgling, holding his face in the couch,” Negron said of Costanzo.
Ahmad said that from the autopsy it was evident that Costanzo had bled profusely.
“I found he had lost a lot of blood,” Ahmad said.
A small pattern of dots on Costanzo’s face — caused by unburned gun powder —revealed he was shot from between 18 and 20 inches away, Ahmad said.
The gun powder only leaves marks on a person’s skin when they are shot at close range, Ahmad said. If a gun is closer than 18 inches away when a person is shot, their skin would be charred, she said. There would be no such marks if a person is shot from farther away, she said.
Contact Alyssa Mease at amease@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5673.
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