you mean to prove beyond doubt that he is really dead? I still want my share of the 90,000 frozen clams from the La. Senator. I wonder why I never hear anything about this?
Close. To prove he was murdered and how. Otherwise any defendant attorney worth his salt can sow reasonable doubt with the jury. And if they find the murder weapon, they can prove that particular weapon caused the victim's death.
Look at it this way, suppose no autopsy was done. And the police caught a suspect with the weapon that fired a bullet. I know it stretches credibility but what happens if the defendant's attorney argued that the victim died of a heart attack prior to being shot? At most, the defendant would be guilty of shooting a dead person.
Catch the drift? During the autopsy, they look at EVERYTHING. To eliminate any other causes of death to arrive at a singular conclusion that the victim must have died after being shot.