Testimony in Brando Hearing Conflicts : Trial: Actor’s son says he shot half-sister’s lover during a struggle. Expert witness for defense agrees, but pathologist called by prosecution says victim was lying on couch.

Expert witnesses gave conflicting testimony Wednesday about Christian Brando’s story that he accidentally shot and killed his half-sister’s lover during a struggle over a gun.

Testifying at a Santa Monica Superior Court hearing that will help the judge decide Brando’s sentence on his guilty plea to a charge of voluntary manslaughter, a forensic pathologist called by the prosecution said victim Dag Drollet was probably lying down when he was shot. That view conflicts with Brando’s claim that the gun went off during a struggle.

Dr. Joseph Cogan, a pathologist in the county coroner’s office, testified that Drollet’s body was probably found in about the same position he was in when he was shot--lying down and not sitting upright.

But pathologist Dr. Michael Baden--who was called by the defense and was on forensic panels that reviewed the deaths of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.--said powder burns on Drollet’s face, coupled with the type of wound, indicated that the gun must have been moving at the time it was fired.

“There was motion going on with the gun at the time” it was fired, the witness said.

Baden also testified there was gunshot residue on both of Drollet’s hands and “it only could have gotten on his hands if his hands were on top of or near the weapon,” which supports Brando’s claim that there was a struggle.

Brando, 32, a self-employed welder and admitted alcoholic, has been free on bail secured by his actor father’s hilltop estate, where the slaying occurred last May.

Brando contends that the bullet was fired accidentally after he returned home drunk from a dinner with his 20-year-old half-sister, Cheyenne, who was pregnant by Drollet and had just told Brando that her boyfriend was beating her.

Police say Brando simply walked in and shot Drollet as the victim lay on a couch watching television.

Brando admitted to police immediately after the killing that he shot Drollet. He also said he did not mean to shoot Drollet, that the gun went off accidentally.

Drollet, 26, the son of a political figure in French Tahiti, was shot once in the left cheek at point-blank range, while a house guest at Brando’s estate.

Drollet’s body was found reclining on the couch, apparently the same position he was in when he was shot, according to testimony from investigating officers. A TV remote control unit was in his right hand; tobacco, rolling papers and a butane lighter were in his left hand, police said.

Marlon Brando, who is paying for his son’s defense and who has attended court sessions, is expected to testify today for the defense. The victim’s father, Jacques Drollet, is scheduled to testify for the prosecution.

Prosecutors, who originally charged Brando with murder, are seeking the maximum prison term for voluntary manslaughter--16 years. Steven Barshop and William Clark, deputy district attorneys, contended in their sentencing recommendation that Brando is “vicious, callous and a serious danger to society” with a violent past.

Defense attorneys asked for leniency and a report by county probation officials recommended a three-year term with parole eligibility after 18 months.