Witness testimony continued this week in the murder trial of a Springfield man accused of the beating death of a bar owner in January 2022.

Dalton C. McDermott, 28, of Springfield, was arrested for four counts of aggravated battery one day prior to the death of Angelo Manci, Jr., with first-degree murder charges being added later.

Nathaniel Patterson, a forensic pathologist with the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, was among the witnesses Tuesday and testified that the death of Manci of Springfield had been caused by blunt force trauma to the head, with pre-existing cardiovascular issues also a contributing factor.

Manci was 80 years old when he died two weeks after he was battered and injured in an incident outside Parkway Pub, a bar that he owned, on New Year's Eve 2021. He had owned several bars in the area before he became the owner of Parkway, such as the Porthole Lounge and the Sandbar Tavern. He was also the owner of Roadhouse Package Liquor and worked with Schafer & Son, an Anheuser-Busch distributor based in Springfield.

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Manci was following in the footsteps of a family tradition that dated back more than 70 years, with his father, Angelo, Sr. and his brother Henry having been in the tavern business in Springfield in a variety of roles.

Prosecutors from the Sangamon County State's Attorney's office – led by felony division chief Mary Beth Rodgers – brought Patterson to the stand Tuesday in an attempt to show the jury that McDermott's alleged beating caused Manci's death. Patterson said that while his cardiovascular issues were a contributing factor in his death, they likely wouldn't have caused his death.

McDermott's defense team, led by Daniel and Sarah Noll of the Noll Law Office, attempted to prove to the jury that another issue may have caused Manci's death other than McDermott's alleged involvement. They pointed to a cardiac episode one week after Manci was admitted to HSHS St. John's Hospital as a potential sign of underlying issues.

Prosecutors hope to rest their case in the next day or so, with the resolution of the trial coming sometime this week.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Murder trial continues in 2022 death of Springfield bar owner