Compelling Evidence (18 page)

"Unless," suggests Nelson, "someone was trying to make a murder look like a suicide?"

"precisely", says Coop. He is now Cheetarn's witness. "Dr. Cooper, you say that this mystery bullet firedinto the head of Mr. Potter was the cause of death. Were you able to find an entry wound for this bullet?"

"No, as I said ..."

"You've answered the question, doctor. So we have no entry wound that you can find for this bullet. How large was the bullet in question, what caliber, can you tell just' Coop's eyes are turning to little slits. "Not with certainty. It was a fragment."

"Oh, a fragment. How big was this bullet fragment, doctor?" Coop consults his report. "Ten point six eight grains," he says. "And when you conducted the post mortem, did you find shotgun pellets lodged in the victim's headt' "Yes."

Sensing Cheetam's juggernaut, Coop's gone to short answers. "How many of these pellets did you find?"

"in the victim, or in the office ceiling?"

"Let's start with the victim." Coop looks at his notes again. There were sixty‐seven re from the cranial cavity during the postmortem."

"And in the ceiling?"

"Four hundred and hinety‐two."

"Do you know the size of this shot found in the victim the ceiling?"

"Mostly number nine."

"Do you know what these pellets were made or."

"They were composed of lead with a thin coating of co

"Do you know,

doctor, how many pellets there are in a n load of number‐nine shot?"

"About five hundred and eighty‐five .. "Objection, Your Honor." Nelson has caught Cheetam w ing. "If Mr. Cheetam wants to call a ballistics expert, he's do so. Dr. Cooper is here to testify as to the medical patholo this case."

"Sustained."

"Still," says Cheetam, "the doctor knows his shot. He's on with the number."

"Objection. Now counsel's testifying."

"Mr. Cheetam, direct your comments to the witness and frame them in the form of a question."

"Sorry, Your Honor."

"Dr. Cooper, the shotgun pellets you found in the victin in the ceiling of Mr. Potter's office, were these all number shot?"

"No. They varied in size."

"They varied?" Cheetam's eyebrows arch for effect, turns toward the jury box, forgetting for a moment that it's I "Some were one shot‐size larger and some were one s smaller, but most of them were number‐nine shot."

Coop's is flat, as if he's saying

"So whatt' Cheetam pauses for a

moment. He wants to ask Coop w such variations in shot size are common.

But Nelson w, the court kick his butt. He moves on. "Now this supposed bullet fragment, you said earlier thatj ten point six eight grains. Is that con‐ect?"

"Yes. "How large were the shotgun pellets found in the victi Again Coop looks at his notes. "They averaged a seven five grains of weight."

"So this other thing, this thing you identified as a bullet fragment, was a little bigger?"

"No, it was a lot bigger," says Coop. "Approximately fifteen times bigger."

"I see." Cheetam's smiling, not to appear set back by an unhelpful answer. "Doctor, have you ever heard of the phenomenon called 'fusing'

as it's applied to shotgun ballistics?"

"Objection, Your Honor." Nelson's at him again. Cheetam's having a difficult time trying to get where he wants to go, "Let me reframe the question, Your Honor."

"Please."

O'Shaunasy's looking over her glasses at him again. "In the course of your medical practice I assume you've done hundreds, perhaps thousands, of autopsies."

Coop nods. "And I assume that some of these, perhaps a considerable number, would have involved shotgun wounds."

"A number," says COOP. "In the course of these autopsies involving shotgun wounds, have you ever encountered a situation in which two or more, perhaps sometimes even several, shotgun pellets fuse together to form a larger mass of lead?"

Cheetarn turns to engage Nelson@s eyes, an imperious grin having finally arrived on his face. "I'm familiar with the phenomenon. I've seen it,9'

says Coop. The grin broadens on Cheetam's face. "Well, isn't it possible that this object which you have identified as a bullet fragment, isn't it possible, doctor, that this amorphous piece of lead is in fact just a number of shotgun pellets which have become fused together by the heat of the shotgun blast as they traveled down the gun barrel?"

Cheetarn turns his back toward Coop. He's now facing Nelson, straight on, with his arms folded, waiting for the expected shrug 'of the shoulders and the concession of

"It's possible,"

"No," says Cooper. "These were not fused pellets."

Cheetam whips around and takes a dead bead on the witness. "How can you be so certain, doctor? Are you a ballistics expert now?"

Coop is slow to answer, methodical and deliberate. "No," he says. "I'm not, a ballistics expert. But I've taken enough steel jackets from bullets out of bodies to recognize one . he ‐ror, when I see it." Then, as if to pound the point home, "The fragment removed from the basal ganglion of Potter was not lead. It was a portion of a steel jacket, used in the manufacture of pistol and rifle bullets."

"Oh." Cheetarn stands in front of the witness box, his woi@ half open‐like the emperor without clothes. He as vi ate 1, cardinal rule of every trial lawyer: Never ask a question n07 you already know the answer. "In this case it was thin and small," says Coop, describing fragment of jacket. "The wound that it inflicted was for a high‐caliber rifle. Therefore, I arrived at the obvious clusion that it was part of a bullet from a small‐c iber imr‐r‐E, Probably a twenty‐five caliber ..."

@ I "That's all for this witness, Your Honor." Cheetam's riml shut him up. "Because that's the smallest caliber that uses a @IMROUND," says Coop. "Move to strike the last answer as not responsive to any tion before the witness, Your Honor." Cheetam is ing at the counsel table now, looking for refuge. "Very well, counsel, but I should remind you tha since‐,*, opened this matter up, Mr. Nelson is free to explore it on rect."

O'Shaunasy's put him in a box. With nowhere to retreat, Cheetam withdraws his w077@, strike, allowing all of Coop's answer to remain.

94", A@ Nelson passes on redirect. George Cooper has done @Ot damage necessary for one day.

1 1% Cheetarn sits fidgeting nervously with a pencil, as Nelson his next witness. It is Matthew Hazeltine, Ben's partner. On MT to Hazeltine to craft wills and living trusts for the firm's vi‐:@' clients. Probate and estate planning are his specialties. He to this role well suited in appearance, a miserly‐looking owlo a craggy face and round wire‐rimmed spectacles. If social t4i_v were a religion, Matthew Hazeltine would be its high priest " _S@ count on the fingers of one hand the times that I had i ols M_ him while with the firm. With Sharon Cooper's probate‐lin, hanging fire, I have wished on successive occasions that I'd a greater effort to cultivate him. He testifies to the existence of the prenuptial ____ document that he says the victim asked him to prepare Potter and the defendant were married. He now produces a 1""' : of this contract, which Nelson has marked for identification. "Have you ever drafted a document similar to this agreement for other clients?" asks Nelson. "On

@a few occasions."

"What is the purpose of such an agreement?"

Hazeltine considers for a moment before speaking. "Usually it's intended to protect the rights of heirs, children by a former marriage."

"But the victim had no children in this case. Isn't that true?"

"That's correct."

"And the defendant possessed no children?"

"Right."

"So what purpose would such a document serveg" Hazeltine squirms a little in the chair. His is a gentleman's venture, the drafting of wills and other papers of property where delicate questions of motive 4re, more often than not, left unstated. "Mr. Potter was a very cautious man. He believed in keeping his personal affairs in order. He was not one to take chances."

Hazeltine smiles at Nelson as if to say' "Enough on the issue."

"Mr. Hazeltine, have you ever heard Of something called the Rooney clause?"

Hazeltine's eyes turn to little slits behind Coke‐bottle lenses. "I have."

"Can you tell the court where this term comes from?"

"Mickey Rooney." Hazeltine is curt, to the point. He does no more than answer the question stated. "The actor?"

"Yes."

"And what's the purpose of this clause‐briefly, in layman's terms?"

"It's designed to protect a party from a spouse who may seek to take unfair advantage."

"In what way?"

Hazeltine is uncomfortable with the turn this line of inquiry is taking.

"A spouse who might marry for money and seek a quick divorce," he says.

"Ah." Nelson's nodding, playing obtuse, as if he's just now understood the significance of all of this. "Have you ever heard another name for this clause?"

Hazeltine.looks at him, down his nose. "Not that I recall," he says.

"Haven't you ever heard the term 'gold‐digger's asks Nelson. The witness gives a little shrug. "Some people may ::ki' that."

"Well, wasn't this clause, this so‐called enant,' included in the prenuptial agreement you wo‐j,%, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes."

"And was it the victim, Mr. Potter, who specifically J.14 to include this language in the agreement?"

"it was."

"And did you explain to the two of them, to Mr. wd Potter, at the time that they signed this agreement, its )sils@ V7 and what the legal effect wast' "I did."

"And what is that legal effect?"

"Mrs. Potter could inherit nothing from the estate of Z ter unless she was lawfully married to him on the death."

"So if she divorced him`@‐Nelson pauses for a 1111)1'11,@O if he divorced her, she would get nothing, is that correci‐ "Yes. "Your witness."

Cheetam. takes one long look at Hazeltine sitting in the 7@7 waives off.

He's still stunned, shaken by Cooper's =ms‐z‐ "Your Honor," I say, "I have a few questions for this Cheetam looks over at me as if to throw daggers with I look the other way, ignoring him. O'Shaunasy nods for me to proceed. I remain seated at the counsel table, and hone in gnawing question, the answer to which has remained me in discovery. Mr.

Hazeltine, isn't it true that prenuptial agreements drafted in concert with wills, that the terms of such an ‐,I_@,4, are carefully coordinated with the terms of a will?"

""at is common."

"Were you asked to draft a will for Mr. Potter at the you drafted the prenuptial agreementt' "Objection." Nelson is on his feet. "Irrelevant, Your it', V O'Shaunasy's looking at me. "Me district attorney has opened this entire area, the of the victim's testamentary intentions. He's produced 412@@ 40 4f that unless my client was marriied to the victim at the time of death, she stood to lose everything acquired during the marriage. I think we have the right to see the full picture in these regards."

"Overruled. The witness will answer the question." I was asked to draft a will at the same time that I did the prenuptial agreement."

I get up from the table, and move laterally, keeping an appropriate distance from the witness. "I think you've already stated that Mr.

Potter had no children."

Hazeltine nods his assent. "Did you prepare mutual wills for the Potters, or just onet' "Just one, for Mr. Potter."

"Under the terms of that will, if for any reason the defendant, Mrs.

Potter, were disqualified from inheriting, because of divorce, or for any other reason, did Mr. Potter name any other heirs, persons who would inherit his estatet' Hazeltine is clearly uncomfortable with this. He's looking up at the judge as if for a reprieve. "Your Honor, the will has never been read. I am the executor, but until these proceedings are completed, I thought it best that any probate be postponed. These are matters of considerable confidence."

I can appreciate that," says O'Shaunasy, "but they are also material to this case. You will answer the question."

Hazeltine looks back at me, a little hopeful that perhaps I have forgotten it. "Were there any other heirs named in the Wilit' "There were several. A distant cousin in the Midwest was the only surviving relative other than Mrs. Potter. He was to get a small inheritance. Mr.

Potter left several hundred thousand dollars to the law school. The balance of his estate went to his wife, and if she predeceased him or for any other reason was disqualified, then the entire estate went to a single alternate beneficiary."

"Who was thatt' Hazeltine is pumping little points of perspiration through his bald scalp. "His partner," he says. "Mr. Skarpellos."

There are little munnurs in the courtroom. "So if Mrs. Potter were"‐1

search for a better word but can't think of one‐‐‐@'eliminated, then Mr.

Skarpellos would take her Part of the estate?"

Hazeltine swallows hard. "That's correct," he says. : CHAPTER 13.

IS it

important?" I ask her. I'm on a lunch break from Talia's case, wolfing down a deli sandwich and working to return phone calls, a stack of slips left on my desk by Dee from that morning. "Not vital," she says, "but a loose end that we should tie up before we close the estate."

I've never met Peggie Conrad, the paralegal recommended to me by Harry to handle Sharon's probate. I messengered the file to her after an initial telephone conversation. Since then I have talked to her twice, each time by phone. In listening to her talk I conjure the image of a dowdy, middle‐aged woman. Her voice has a certain frumpish quality, a rasp that gives off mental odors of alcohol and cigarettes. It seems that Sharon's probate, like so much of the rest of my life, is not going well. A couple of items are missing from the file. "I just about got it assembled," she says. "It's a little messy, the file. Nothing I can't fix, you understand. When I'm done going' through everything I'll publish the notice to creditors, prepare the decedent's final tax return‐unless her father already did one." It is more a question than a statement.

"Better do it," I say. Knowing Coop and his mental state at the time of Sharon's death, I'm sure he was in no mood for dealing with the minutiae of tax returns. The fact that the state could tax this transaction, the death of his only daughter, was, I am certain, as foreign to George Cooper as capital gains are to the homeless. 11 ve heard this morning, through the grapevine, that the police have run out of leads. A month ago they thought about checking cellular telephone records on the off‐chance that the driver Sharon's car may have had a hand‐held portable phone, and i,@ he or she may have used this to get a ride from the scene. *@ this was such a long shot, one that even Coop could not *1