from www.patch.com – The homicide detective who investigated the death of former adult film actress Felicia Lee said in court Tuesday that injuries on Lee’s arms and legs appeared to be defensive wounds, but a judge ruled that that information could not be presented to the jury.

Outside the presence of the jury in the trial of Brian Lee Randone, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Brian Schoonmaker told Superior Court Judge Dorothy Shubin that the wounds on Lee’s forearms, elbows, hands, shins, knees and feet showed signs that she was trying to defend herself.

Schoonmaker said it appeared from the wounds that Lee was trying to cover her face and torso with her appendages to protect herself.

Mark Overland, one of Randone’s attorneys, argued that Schoonmaker did not have the expertise to back up his statements and said the medical examiner would have been the appropriate person to testify about the nature of the wounds.

“The pathologist was not asked those questions precisely because he couldn’t tell whether they were defensive wounds or not,” Overland said.

Shubin ruled that Schoonmaker could not testify about the wounds being defensive because Prosecutor Philip Wojdak had not established that Schoonmaker was an expert in identifying such wounds. She left open the possibility, however, that the detective could testify about the topic in the future if the court was presented with evidence showing his expertise.

Randone is charged with murder and torture for allegedly beating Lee and smothering her to death inside his Monrovia apartment in 2009. A medical examiner ruled that Lee died from being forcibly smothered, but Randone’s attorneys have argued that Lee died from an overdose of the drug GHB and that the wounds on her body came from a drug-induced seizure.

Schoonmaker later took the stand after the jury was brought in and pointed out wounds throughout Lee’s body in photographs that Wojdak had displayed on a projector screen. Lee had 320 separate blunt force trauma wounds on her body at the time she died, Wojdak has said.

“The number of injuries was extensive, even in my experience,” Schoonmaker said, noting that he only counted the scratches and abrasions on Lee’s body, not the myriad bruises on her limbs, torso and face. “I just didn’t even count the bruises.”

Because of scheduling conflicts, Randone’s attorneys began their case before the prosecution rested and called two dispatchers to the stand Tuesday morning to testify about the 9-11 calls Randone made on Sept. 11, 2011, when Lee died. Schoonmaker is Wojdak’s final witness, and the defense is expected to continue presenting its case late Tuesday afternoon.