Slay juror faints

Grisly autopsy photos of W. Side woman

A juror in a Manhattan murder trial fainted Wednesday after seeing graphic autopsy pictures of the victim.

The man passed out twice while a city medical examiner detailed the injuries Shele Covlin allegedly suffered at the hands of her homicidal husband, Roderick Covlin.

Covlin’s autopsy was performed two months after the Upper West Side woman was found dead in her bathtub by her 9-year-old daughter on Dec. 31, 2009, Dr. John Hayes testified in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Hayes, a pathologist, said he knew that something was off about the 47-year-old’s death and took his suspicions to the city’s then-head medical examiner, Dr. Charles Hirsch, when her family said it didn’t want an autopsy.

“She had scratches on her face, which I considered suspicious. I explained that I had some concerns,” Hayes said he told the victim’s late father.

The city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner can overrule a family’s wishes if there are signs of a threat to public safety, including a murder or an infectious disease.

Hayes testified that he took his questions to his boss.

“I spoke to Dr. Hirsch three times about this. I stressed my concerns,” the doctor recalled.

“I was worried that she may have been killed.”

Hirsch “became angry,” and made the final call to let Covlin be buried without an autopsy. As a result, the body had to be exhumed and examined months later.

Prosecutors say her estranged husband, Roderick, who lived across the hall, let himself into her apartment and committed the crime.

As Hayes detailed how he determined the victim was strangled, Juror No. 8 fainted while looking at the autopsy photos.

The physician stepped down from the stand and offered a