Brophy Trial Latest: Day Two's Witnesses Tell Of Chef's Dying Moments

PORTLAND, OR — Clarinda Perez had noticed several things wrong, she testified Tuesday in the trial of Nancy Brophy, a romance novelist accused of killing her husband. Perez, a student at the Oregon Culinary Institute where Daniel Brophy was a chef-instructor, testified on day two of the trial.

She arrived at the institute for class on the morning of June 2, 2018. Perez noticed that some of her fellow students were lined up waiting to be let in, which was a little unusual. Then she noticed that the garage door to the storeroom was also open, which was unusual since only faculty were allowed in there.

Once inside, she went to get water to start a pot of coffee, something that was also usually made by the time the students arrived. That's when she saw her teacher on the floor. dying.

"I saw Chef Brophy on the floor, lying on the floor, by the sink," she testified through tears.

Perez told jurors that she checked to see f she could find a pulse, thinking that maybe had just fallen. It quickly became apparent that was not the case, she said.

After yelling for someone to call for 911, Perez started doing chest compressions.

"His chest was really squishy and I thought I had broken a rib because as I continued to do compressions, my hands started getting full of blood," she said.

Perez, who worked as a medical assistant, testified that she didn't know that Brophy had been shot at first. She was focused on continuing the compressions. She said that in her training, she had learned to keep going even if she was concerned that she had broken a rib during the process.

EMTs arrived. One of them, Chris Gault, also took the stand.

Gault said he only realized that Brophy had been shot when he lifted one of his arms to apply a tourniquet and discovered a bullet casing beneath it. A firefighter soon found a second bullet casing.

Jurors also heard from a crime scene investigator who testified that in the more than 12 years she had worked for the police bureau investigating crime scenes, she had never found a fingerprint on a bullet casing.

This case was no different.

The trial should last four to six weeks.