UTICA - A forensic pathologist took the stand this morning in the trial of Brad Stanistreet and Kevin Stolarcyk. The two young men are being charged with manslaughter for allegedly beating Carl Hill of Rome to death last August.

Michael Sikirica is a pathologist who has performed thousands of autopsies in his career, including the one after Hill succumbed to his injuries on August 17 - five days after he was attacked at a party in Camelot Village in Westmoreland.

To the jurors - Sikirica went over in detail the results of his autopsy. He says blood samples taken when Hill was admitted to the hospital on August 12 showed that he had a blood alcohol content of 0.13.

His blood sample taken during the autopsy showed no signs of alcohol in his system. As far as physical injuries to his body, Sikirica indicated that Hill had no serious injuries to most of his body - just some cuts and bruises to his arms and hands.

Most of the injuries appeared to be near his scalp and brain. The official cause of death being hemorrhaging, skull fracture and brain injury due to blunt force trauma to the head.

Sikirica says upon further investigation of the skull fracture...he says he could positively say that it was caused by one strong blow to the head. And when the prosecution asked him if he could tell what was used to hit Hill, this is what Sikirica had to say.

"What is the significance of the size and compactness of the injury" the assistant district attorney asked.

"It indicated that what hit him was relatively small and hard to create that localized and small fracture," Sikirica said.

After the defense finished cross-examining Sikirica, Cory Adam took the stand. He is one of two who took a plea deal in this case. Adam was examined by the prosecution yesterday, and he is expected to remain on the stand up until the lunch hour as both defense attorneys cross examine him.

Adam's brother - John Almanza - who also took a plea deal in this case for gang assault, should be taking the witness stand sometime this afternoon.