The Crown will deliver its closing statements in the manslaughter trial of three Taranaki police officers on Wednesday.
On the two year anniversary of Allen Ball's death, the defence was due to either be called or call witnesses in the High Court at New Plymouth today.
However, the court eventually sat for about 20 minutes after all three defence counsel - Susan Hughes QC, Andrew Laurenson and Kylie Pascoe - decided not to call any evidence which means closing statements can now begin.
The jury has now been sent home for the day and Crown prosecutor Cherie Clarke will issue her closing statement tomorrow morning.
The defence counsel will then deliver their closings before Justice Susan Thomas issues her summing up and then the jury will be sent out for its deliberations, on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.
The three Hawera police officers - who all have name suppression - have been on trial for the past three weeks defending the charge.
Ball, 55, died in a cell at Hawera Police Station several hours after being arrested at his home after a family harm incident at his home late on May 31, 2019.
He died after drinking a substantial amount of rum, followed by lethal doses of codeine and tramadol.
The Crown alleges the officers were grossly negligent in their duty of care to the victim and that this negligence was a causal factor in his death, thereby committing manslaughter.
The charge relates to the officers allegedly failing to provide the necessities of life, namely medical attention.
If they had provided medical attention, the Crown alleges, it may have saved his life.
The Crown yesterday concluded its case, while the defence were then given the option to call their clients or call witnesses.
A CCTV image from inside the Hawera Police Station after Allen Ball, blurred at rear, was placed inside cell one after being arrested at a family harm incident. Photo / NZ Police
The court heard from emergency medicine specialist Dr Paul Quigley, who said Ball had consumed a lethal mix of drugs and alcohol
"That combination would mean that he'd steadily get into an unconscious state as we saw [in the CCTV footage].
"His breathing rate would drop and he would slowly build up a poisonous gas that we all make called carbon dioxide.
"It's about that time first responders would have four minutes to give a patient oxygen to save their life."
Quigley said if an ambulance had been called its crew would have spotted Ball had opiates in his system.
"A combination of decreased breathing rate plus very, very small pupils means opiate poisoning and they would have the ability to give a drug called Naloxone, which reverses opiates and also frees up his breathing and may even wake him somewhat."
