Editing Assata Shakur (section)

====Medical evidence====
[[File:Illu pectoral girdles.png|thumb|Shakur's broken [[clavicle]] was a key element of her defense, and the implications of her injury for the differing accounts of the shootout were points of contention.]]

A key element of Shakur's defense was medical testimony meant to demonstrate that she was shot with her hands up and that she would have been subsequently unable to fire a weapon. A neurologist testified that the [[median nerve]] in Shakur's right arm was severed by the second bullet, making her unable to pull a trigger.<ref name="hinds"/> Neurosurgeon Dr. Arthur Turner Davidson, Associate Professor of Surgery at [[Albert Einstein College of Medicine]], testified that the wounds in her upper arms, armpit and chest, and severed median nerve that instantly paralyzed her right arm, would only have been caused if both arms were raised, and that to sustain such injuries while crouching and firing a weapon (as described in Trooper Harper's testimony) "would be anatomically impossible".<ref name="kirsta"/><ref name="wag4">Waggoner, Walter H. (March 17, 1977). "Neurosurgeon's Testimony Backs Mrs. Chesimard", ''The New York Times'', Section 2, p. 20, column 3.</ref>

Davidson based his testimony on an August 4, 1976, examination of Shakur and on X-rays taken immediately after the shootout at Middlesex General Hospital.<ref name="wag4"/> Prosecutor Barone questioned whether Davidson was qualified to make such a judgment 39 months after the injury; Barone proceeded to suggest (while a female Sheriff's attendant acted out his suggestion) that Shakur was struck in the right arm and collar bone and "then spun around by the impact of the bullet so an immediate second shot entered the fleshy part of her upper left arm" to which Davidson replied, "Impossible."<ref name="wag4"/>

Dr. David Spain, a [[pathologist]] from [[Brookdale Community College]], testified that her bullet scars as well as X-rays supported her claim that her arms were raised, and that there was "no conceivable way" the first bullet could have hit Shakur's clavicle if her arm was down.<ref name=sulliv>Sullivan, Joseph F. (March 18, 1977). "[https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/18/archives/doctor-testifies-on-bullet-scars-in-chesimard-trial.html Doctor Testifies On Bullet Scars in Chesimard Trial]", ''The New York Times'', Section 2, p. 24, column 1.</ref><ref>James, Joy, and Sharpley-Whiting, T. Denean (2000), ''The Black Feminist Reader''. Blackwell Publishing. {{ISBN|0-631-21007-5}}, p. 279.</ref>

Judge Appleby eventually cut off funds for any further expert defense testimony.<ref name="kirsta"/> Shakur, in her autobiography, and Williams, in ''Inadmissible Evidence'', both claim that it was difficult to find expert witnesses for the trial, because of the expense and because most forensic and ballistic specialists declined on the grounds of a conflict of interest when approached because they routinely performed such work for law enforcement officials.<ref>Perkins, 2000, pp. 80–81.</ref>