Axel Corado was convicted by a Mercer County jury in 2013 and sentenced to five years in prison.
TRENTON -- A state appeals court has affirmed the case of a Trenton man convicted of possessing a handgun and resisting arrest in 2012.
Axel Corado was convicted by a Mercer County jury in 2013 and sentenced to five years in prison, with a three-year minimum.
Axel Corado On appeal, he argued his lawyer was ineffective, and the judge should have declared a mistrial due to a doctor's testimony.
Following his arrest, and at his trial, authorities said Corado ran from Trenton police in the Chambersburg neighborhood when a two-man police unit spotted him holding a a handgun.
They alleged Corado tossed the gun as he ran, then resisted arrest - refusing to show his hands - after being tackled by one of the officers, Aaron Bernstein.
Unable to get Corado's hands secured, Bernstein punched Corado during the scuffle, and officer Jason Astbury pepper-sprayed him. The officers later recovered the gun nearby.
Corado suffered a head injury during the arrest and was taken to a Trenton hospital, where a trauma team treated him.
At trial, Corado testified at trial he gave up as he ran from police, had no gun, did not fight with police and was struck in the back of the head while handcuffed on the ground.
Corado's defense attorney called a trauma surgeon to the stand, Louis D'Amelio, who detailed the Corado's skull fracture.
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During questioning by the prosecutor, though, D'Amelio was asked if Corado's injuries were consistent with an assault.
The doctor said Corado's skull fracture was the type of injury people commonly suffer in a backward fall, like being tackled - not from a baseball bat or pipe.
When the prosecutor elicited D'Amelio to say it was to a "high degree of medical certaintly," the defense objected and the judge struck the comment, saying he had gone from fact witness to expert witness.
On appeal, Corado's lawyer said a mistrial should have been granted at trial due to the medial testimony veering from fact to expert.
The appeals court disagreed, saying the trial judge properly handled the objection and instructed the jury about it.
The panel also found the ineffective counsel argument - whcih had to do with language of the resisting arrest charge - was without merit.
Corado, now 25, was released from state prison in April.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.