Compelling Evidence (34 page)

‐TM="‐ rl@ the jury‐ ‐ 4;@ 4mient"" t he ic t h I'm rising, moving toward him in the box. "Excuse me. Detective Canard. How many Tosts RWYOU investigated in your career?"

"I don't know, exactly."

"A hundredt' "More," he says. "Two hundred?" 293 "I don't know." Canard is wary, not sure of where I am going Oith this. "A good number, I assume, enough cases that you would be Onsidered experienced, a veteran homicide investigator?"

"Yes," he says, satisfied that such abstractions are safe ground..So it's safe to say that you've dealt with a good number of 4ws involving grieving family members, survivors of victims?"

"Yes."

"How many do you think, a hundred such survivors?" ‐,I don't know." We're back to numbers and Canard is taking + ‐A guess'?" I say. '

‐Vbjection." Nelson keeps his seat. "Me witness has answered question."

d"

"Sustaine TOU ve been heading up homicide's special section for twelve U.. , is that correct?"

"C‐:A@L I.,."Yes."

"I assume that in that twelve‐year period you would have had s when it would have been necessary for you ‐,7@om, occasion bad tidings to survivors of crime victims, to tell a wife that a husband.or father had been killed? Is that true?" ‐M worst part of the job," he says. assume that some of these survivors might go into a state MM, on hearing thisnewst Aw ‐suppose," he says. j'do you know, detective, the physical symptoms of shock? For

"M I‐L.‐ do you know whether a family member who is stunned state of shock by such horrible news, whether that family

'7'‐,;4 would cry? Whether there would be instant tears at the 6171 they hear the newst' Your Honor. The witness is not a physician." 21. i'a".

what I want. I've planted the seed with the jury. I shift stoot speculation to experience..71 ,ri@k.,;wha ,"M.,v@ anard, in all the homicide cases in your long 7 it your experience, is it your testimony, that in delivering *I some tragedy, the death of a close family member, that the 1 Us) always and invariably, without exceptions, breaks down upon hearing this news?" 6. the axioms of cross‐examination‐draw the question in push it to the brink of the absurd, and over. 4000, "Not always," he says. "So there have been some people in your oma@@ homicide investigator who when told of the death of one, actually did not immediately begin to cry9"

"That's true," he says. Anything else would bring the jury. "And have you always and invariably concluded M M the survivor who does not instantaneously break 4 M.T. somehow is implicated in the death of the victim'? Do assume that the person who doesn't cry is a u Iii

"Objection, Your Honor. The defense is 1111ZWO)IM testimony of the witness."

"I think not, Your Honor. If the absence of I I M M., on the part of Talia Potter was not being offered to 1; the sole and express purpose of implying her guilt in would like the district attorney to tell us for what offered."

@6v Nelson is motioning with his hands, making faces, " M' to think.

X 0 "To show the defendant's state of mind," he says. 5@, "Exactly", I say, "to imply by any means, fair or rmf had a guilty state of mind."

"It's a fair question. The witness will answer it," Canard can't remember the question. "I'll restate it," I tell him. "Do you always Kvii @j@ person who doesn't cry is a murderer?"

"No," he says. I look over at Nelson. I can tell he is beginning he has not picked up the dirty end of this thing he bludgeon us with. "So then in fact there is no theorem of po ice reliable formula of law enforcement, that allows cup and measure the production of a person s tear to determine whether they are responsible for the ift' loved one?"

"Your Honor, I must object." Nelson's busy trying rhythm. Canard is a bundle of resentment sitting in the I MM Before the judge can rule on Nelson's $I responds. "No, his teeth clenched. Acosta lets the objection go by, no grounds being ‐So it is entirely possible, based on your experience as a seasoned homicide investigator, that the reason my client Talia Potter did not immediately break down in tears upon hearing the news of her husband's death had absolutely nothing to do with any theory d1at she might be implicated in his death? Isn't that correct?"

"I suppose," he says. ,qbat it could well have been due to other factors, the shock pt this news inflicted on her system, the variations in individual gmofional makeup, all those things that, not being a physician, YOU wouldn't know about?"

I look at Nelson, who's trying to put a face on it, nonchalant, Wawled in his chair, playing with his pencil. 11 don't know," says Canard. "I suppose."

"Fine," I say. I allow a breather, a little punctuation to let the Juiy know I'm moving on to other subjects, that I consider this ampaign finished. I Now I turn on the charm, easing back, signaling Canard that lrr,7;; the worst is over. Canard's I ease into the next phase and get a quick admission. I dmd of being beaten on. He concedes that it could take considlonger than two hours to travel between Capitol City and It;, and back again if any portion of the trip was during rush hour. In doing so he gives up any plausible argument '7 this would have been possible given the time of death in c ase, about seven in the evening. Nelson scratches another from his score card. )@I@ ask Canard whether in the inventory of the personal effects 71, on the victim the police found his keys‐to his car, the and his house. He confirms that these were on the body it was discovered in the office. Canard, you testified earlier that during the course S Izi. os, you exan‐fined the defendant's gasoline credin t state en as a means of verflying her alibi, her trip to I orrect." VJV also testified that the distance between Capitol City and which the defendant toured in Vacaville was approximiles, making for a rough hundred‐mile round‐trip. Is V11 411‐ @F know what kind of vehicle the defendant was driving in question, the day her husband died?"

"I believe it was a Mercedes, the small two‐door it;11L Five hundred SL," he says. "During the course of your investigation did you I TT

check the capacity of the fuel tank on that vehicle9l, "No," he says.

"Would it surprise you to team that the model will in n t one point one gallons of fuel, that it gets seventeen wir‐1 gallon on the highway, that it has a range of over im", fifty miles, that it could have traveled between Vacaville more than seven times without refueling?"

"If you say so," he says. "But you didn't check these facts?"

"No," he says. "So why are you surprised that you didn't find card slips for the trip in question?"

"I didn't say I was surprised, only that we looked. "I see," I tell him,

"checking out a real long shot 'i He doesn't answer this. I don't expect him to. el", jurors are smiling in the box. Like a trip to the dentist, this is not for Canard to I ask him how many days elapsed before they lockbox. for Talia's prints. He doesn't know, but browo_" several.

V, I ask him if he has any idea how many real estate X@ have fingered that box in the intervening period. JW no idea. "Did you bother to ask the defendant whether Is eat during this trip, either coming or going?"

"No," he says. "I see. It was easier to come here and tell this jury to verify the defendant's alibi but could not, is that Canard?"

"No," he says. "We did an up‐front job. We I'm, and couldn't."

"But you never asked the defendant whether she in, maybe paid cash for a meal, or maybe she wasn'[email protected]' she wanted to wait until she got home to have a rf, her husband? You never asked her, did you? You assuming that because she didn't cry on command of murder."

"No," he says. "Objection, Your Honor. Counsel's badgering M"

: ready to and white tops, like spats. He looks on stage. polished.

There is no This time Hampton is Mor hat is expected. als from Nelson as to W go overt sign A 1,;e Script Wellis one of composed protession I I At dreams Of In a four‐dollar‐and‐thirty‐cent‐an‐hour @ ‐1 61 Welson extracts from him the * I 0111ce 11 after the time of death the ty rnin@les determine.

nutes of MWITH that Hampton has had his fifteen mi . and I waive off.

The Ot@lrl cross‐exhampton has done us no 1: ed talk about the blood in the elevalm cing 111‐2M that looks like Talia's., caught in the locli shotgun. ator,‐ says Nelson, "from

"This blood in the elev .. or being

moved 171, "Y's", he says. uld anne

"You can tell all ingle V of blood

available witness box for the jury chart is a picture of a nim‐11‐ ‐IF

blood in I, ; A a magnified drop i backgro un I A the edges n e,@ Oils Ro Isc kach. Arou ts radiating it om the dr . 0 S elike ‐ characteristi CS of the 0 , e that e ate the d ng ir 'etion of travel whe m hi n s ex oth horizonj surface. Flu @T71,var,@ elevator, Johnson can conclude that Ben was already A& @, and that he was being carried out from the elevator as the A"1@ A few friendly questions from Nelson,*and Johnson puts '@,i the pointer and returns to the box. *17‐@L‐ chan@ed their tune on the sample of hair since the L hearing. Nelson has been busy trying to shore up piece of evidence, one of the few items linking Talia to the crime scene. What he doesn't know is that we are from the same sheet of music on this one either." !r'j 17g;; Johnson, can you tell the jury how you discovered this the laboratory examination of the shotgun found at the we performed a routine examination for fibers and hair on 7 J" I'ss) i," A, W1. what did you find?" AA‐IMP t.‐ strand of human hair lodged in the breech of the ., 11 "i4i .@Zxysii have an opportunity to perform any kind of a corn‐ .1 :‐, Of that hair with samples taken from the defendant, Talia we took several exemplars of hair from the defendant

@MMTIITMMICROSCOPIC comparisons." what were the results of those comparisons?" strand of hair found lodged in the shotgun matched in all the microscopic characteristics of the exemplars taken defendant, Talia Potter." are dismal looks in the jury box with this news, several liwi‐, glancing at Talia with certain disappointment. Robert alpha factor, is sitting in the back row, dispassionate, 1'@ the witness. ',;,q Johnson, can you explain to the jury exactly how this ‐t@her was lodged in the shotgun?" and I have been waiting for this one. Nelson is working i= to I a our theory that there is nothing unusual about a 4 ' ,@'hair from the &fetidant being found on an item which stored in her home. ;1 starts off on a lecture about firearms. I object on that the witness has not been qualified as an expert in Nelson meets this with a litany of courses taken and earned by the detective, including a stint at Quantico, Academy, where Johnson weathered a course in balfirearms. This is good enough for Acosta .4100,; 302 STEW MUTINI "if we might continue, then," says Nelson. Like a broken record Johnson picks up where 77 "Most breech‐opening long guns, including the 17@71* at the scene, have what is called a boxiock, the soz@,4ql,‐4% seals the breech when the weapon is ready for fin*ng..‐4' small metal strap on the barrel end of the breech that into a groove in the stock end of the weapon. pieces are locked in position, the shotgun is ready The strand of hair was found in the groove, held by.;,; metal, protruding down into the breech itself."

Nelson has a microscopic photograph of this, F‐I macro lens before they lifted the hair from the Johnson identify this, and it is marked for later ‐wo .01, 11 "In your professional opinion, Officer Johnson, experience and training in firearms, is it possible 11TIT" of hair could have casually found its way into dw say, when the gun was on a rack, or in a gun case in homer

"No." Johnson is adamant, instantaneous on strand to have become lodged in the firearm as it of the weapon would have to be opened, the MMTORO in it, and the breech closed again:' "As if the gun were being loaded and fired, is 19.1 "That's correct."

The jury is giving Talia harder looks. Rath is on the top tow. Nelson considers for a moment, exploring every Q4 of escape. "Officer Johnson, assuming for purposes of 4 a su=d of hair had become innocently lodged in sometime prior to the day that Mr. Potter was VVYLIKELY thatwhen the weapon was opened in order NIAII it was fired in Mr. Potter's office, die strand Of 711 fallen out and therefore not been found on the aj,1‐',èxamined the firearm later?"

"This is possible," he says. "It

would depend ‐cic" factors, the amount of oil or grease on the hold the hair."

"But in your opinion there is no way this sr4l; casually found its way into the weaponr Nelson safe ground. "No." ‐Mank you lnelson has done all the damage he can with this witness. XFT'r,M of asking one question too many, turning the tide, he @77‐T‐, his seat. t I get up, a legal pad in hand, a few dozen questions. Without J@l pain I get Johnson to repeat his concession, made during Nomp‐i ‐‐j hearing. He tells the jury that hair, unlike a fingert does not possess a sufficient number of unique individual ‐r,7NR‐VM(r*, to be linked positively to any given individual, or ,ftprar;; all other individuals as the possible source.

He concedes that he cannot say with absolute certainty that this (of hair belonged to Talia. '.1rcut him off before he can repeat his opinion as to microscopic :w‐.,IIP Mow., He clearly would like to reinforce this with the jury. "Xo7,i,r‐rw Johnson, can you tell us what kind of condition this 77T,., of hair was in, the one found in the shotgun?"

looks at me, confused. M‐ mean, was it fragmented, was the end split, was it all in one was in good condition." He says this as if to assure me that 714‐ fine specimen to examine, and there is no basis to impugn , in, Of evidence here. wasn't broken or fragmented?" ,joi;‐ fact wouldn't you say that this strand of hair was in excepgood condition given the apparent trauma it had suffered, ‐4, caught in the mechanism of this weapon and presumably ",O'l out?" was in good condition." He sticks to the original answer, where I'm taking him. is, it seems, a cycle of life for hair as there is for @11k: Harry and I have been busy researching follicles. As 1 Pit I things in science, this cycle is classified into stages. last, or telogen phase, before hair falls out, it is fully and is anchored in the hair follicle only by the club j.'

@dt root end, like a ball and socket. Below this club new hair is already starting to form. When the old hair falls .‐Dew hair begins to replace it, and the cycle starts again, @%R @@, not for Harry, who says his follicles have shot their 4 Johnson on a verbal tour. He agrees that this little scegospel in the life of a human hair. 'op 01 00, 000 1400 f 00, 00@ "Officer Johnson, can you tell us, did the hair i I,.. T;@ in the locking mechanism of the shotgun include s ' known as the 'telogen root'?" This is the club end of 1‐" He asks for the photograph again and studies it. 17@there, big as life. "It did," he says. ‐1This telogen root, was it fully intactt' "Yes. "Isn't it unusual to find the telogen root of a hair I rf sumably been pulled forcibly, as this one was, from 1 "It could happen," he says. "That's not my question. I asked you if it was iwikv the telogen root still attached to a hair which was to) I"