A jury viewed autopsy photos of Todd “T-Rek” Thomas on Tuesday as the state’s chief medical examiner testified that Thomas was shot at intermediate range by a high-velocity bullet that entered near his left eyebrow, passed through both lobes of his brain and exited at the back of his head.

The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. The manner of death, homicide, according to Dr. James Gill.

Prosecutor David J. Smith called Gill to the witness stand in Superior Court in Norwich on the sixth day of the murder trial of Gerjuan “Cali” Tyus and Darius “P-Nut” Armadore. The two men are accused of conspiring to kill Thomas as he stood outside Ernie’s Cafe in New London on Dec. 23, 2006.

Thomas’ mother and widow, watching from the gallery with other family members, stepped out of the courtroom as Gill’s testimony continued.

Gill did not perform the autopsy, but said he reviewed the results of the post-mortem examination conducted nine years ago by the now-retired Dr. Malka Shah. Gill testified that based on the red dots, or stippling, around the bullet entry wound, it appeared the muzzle of the gun was between 6 and 18 inches away when it was fired in a downward direction. An X-ray showed tiny pieces of bullet fragment were left in Thomas’ head, according to Gill, who said that blood would have come out both the entry and exit wounds.

Retired state police detective George H. Leitkowski testified that a copper-jacketed bullet fragment, or “projectile,” was found inside a black piece of fabric at the crime scene. The black cloth, which Thomas’ wife said was a head-wrap, was one of three head coverings found at the scene. Keri Carter-Thomas said outside of the courtroom that her husband would have worn his baseball cap over the head wrap and carried his green knit cap in his back pocket.

Leitkowski, who had served as the evidence officer as the Eastern District Major Crime Squad, processed the homicide scene at the request of New London Police. He opened a sealed evidence package containing the Winchester 9mm shell casing he said was recovered at the scene. The detectives also packaged a cell phone found at the scene and took swabs of blood from the large pool left after first-responders took Thomas to the hospital.

The crime squad also processed a gray Chevrolet Impala that Tyus had been driving in December 2006, finding blood on the right front passenger door and below the steering wheel. Tyus’ girlfriend had rented the car for about 12 days and listed him as an additional driver, and witnesses said they had seen a man climbing into a gray car on Golden Street following the shooting. Under cross examination by Tyus’ attorney, Christopher Duby, Leitkowski admitted he had no way of knowing how or when blood got into the car.

“You don’t know if it got there on Christmas Day in Providence?” Duby asked.

“No,” Leitkowski responded.

Armadore, the alleged gunman, was shot two days after the Thomas homicide, suffering a graze wound to the neck during a melee at a Providence club, according to news accounts.

Tyus and Armadore claim that on the night of Thomas’ death, they went to Boston to pick up three women and drove to Bella Notte, a club on Route 32 in Norwich. Police contend the two men drove to the Norwich club immediately after the Thomas shooting and made their presence known to other patrons in order to establish an alibi. New London Police Detective Richard E. Curcuro testified Monday that he and detective Keith Crandall conducted test drives to the Norwich club from Ernie’s and determined that it would take about 10 minutes at a high rate of speed and about 20 minutes if obeying all traffic laws.

The state also alleges that phone records show the two men were in the New London area at the time of the shooting. Prosecutors were expected to call an expert to testify about the phone evidence Tuesday afternoon.

The trial, which is expected to run through Nov. 20, will resume on Friday.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN