Trap (9781476793177) (23 page)

Cordova nodded and faced the jury. “Chemical analysis indicated that for all intents and purposes they were exactly the same makeup. Like I said earlier, I can't one hundred percent say they were from the exact same batch, but it's pretty damn probable.”

“Objection,” Mendelbaum said. He rose stiffly from his seat. “Your honor, ‘pretty damn probable' is hardly something to ask a jury to base their opinion on.”

“Sustained,” the judge said. “Mr. Karp, would you like to rephrase your question?”

“Yes, your honor,” Karp replied, and turned back to the witness. “Sergeant Cordova, is it your opinion that the two samples of C-4 obtained from these two separate bombings are chemically identical as a result of scientific analysis?”

“Yes, we have a great laboratory—highest rated in the country.”

“And Sergeant Cordova, I believe that you told the jury you have worked as a bomb squad detective for more than twenty years and dealt with thousands of cases involving explosives, including C-4?”

“That's correct.”

“And is it therefore your expert opinion to a reasonable degree of certainty that the two samples of C-4 you just testified about are likely to have come from the same place?”

“It is.”

“No further questions, your honor.”

Rainsford looked over at Mendelbaum, who had remained standing after his objection. “Would you care to cross-examine this witness?”

“With pleasure, your honor,” Mendelbaum said as he walked quickly over toward the witness stand. “Good morning, sergeant.”

“Good morning, Mr. Mendelbaum,” the sergeant replied with a smile. Even the cops liked the old gentleman.

“I only have a few questions,” Mendelbaum said. “I don't remember Mr. Karp asking if there were any fingerprints found on any of these NY-Mobile cell phones.”

“There weren't any.”

“And so no one saw somebody use one of these cell phones to detonate either bomb?” Mendelbaum asked with a self-assured smirk.

Cordova then looked over at Karp and smiled. “I know from the investigation that Lars Forsling saw an individual using a cell phone at the moment of the explosion and that we believe that individual was Yusef Salaam, one of the co-conspirators in this case.”

During witness preparation, Sergeant Cordova had been prepared for this line of questioning. Karp laid the trap and Mendelbaum walked right into it.

Mendelbaum suddenly realized that he took the bait. Alarmed, he addressed Judge Rainsford, “Your honor, I ask that the answer be stricken. Neither Forsling nor Salaam will testify.”

“Mr. Karp, your response?” Rainsford asked.

“Your honor, Mr. Mendelbaum asked a very broad, open-ended question,” Karp said. “Sergeant Cordova properly responded.”

“Yes,” Rainsford said. “Mr. Mendelbaum . . . Mr. Karp and the court are aware that when you, Mr. Mendelbaum, open a door, it may very well be shut abruptly as this witness just did. You're right, Mr. Karp. Be more careful, Mr. Mendelbaum, your motion is denied. Please proceed.”

“Very well, your honor,” Mendelbaum said as he turned back to the witness stand. “Sergeant, you told the jurors that you believe that these bombs were sophisticated devices, but isn't it true that anybody with a computer can find out how to make them from the internet?”

Sitting in his seat, Karp made a note on his legal pad. Mendelbaum was somewhat unsettled by the last foray with the witness, and this was an atypical mistake on Mendelbaum's part that Karp would exploit later.

“Yes, you can find almost anything of this nature on the internet,” Cordova acknowledged. “We arrested several individuals this past year who had a blueprint for making a viable nuclear weapon they'd found on the internet. They lacked only the radioactive material necessary but were working on getting it.”

“Thank God you were able to stop them,” Mendelbaum responded. “You and your men are to be commended. But as you said, you can find almost anything on the internet these days. No further questions.”

Rainsford looked at Karp. “Redirect?”

“Just a couple questions, your honor. Sergeant Cordova, were you able to link any of these NY-Mobile phones together in any way?”

Karp smiled slightly when he noticed Mendelbaum take sudden notice.
Got ya
, he thought.

“Yes, the two NY-Mobile phones we were able to recover were bought from the same store though on two different occasions.”

“Obviously these purchases were made before the bombings?”

“Yes, the day before in each case.”

“Are there any other links to the bombings?”

“Well, of course each phone has its own number, and these numbers are sequential to the phone purchased before and after it. And they have to be activated at the store.”

“And what's the significance of that?”

“First, the folks at NY-Mobile were able to tell us which store sold the phones,” Cordova said. “Then we were able to determine from store records that each of the phones purchased was bought with a second phone with sequential phone numbers. These were the last numbers dialed by the phones we were able to recover.”

“And, if you would please tell the jury what that means to you?”

“That the second phones were destroyed in the blasts.”

After Rainsford adjourned for lunch, Karp saw Mendelbaum in the hall. “So, boychick, you're killing me in there,” the old man complained. “That stuff with the phones. Of course, you know I'm going to have to go for the second blast was a setup to take the blame off Forsling . . . evil charter school types trying to get even. No disrespect to you.”

“I think it's time for you to start writing novels, Irving. The evil charter school types? You've got to be kidding me,” Karp said.

Ending the banter, Mendelbaum said, “You know I'm calling Marlene to the stand?”

“You do what you need to do, Irving. But be careful, my friend, she's much more clever than I.”

After lunch Karp called Captain Bo Loselle of the New York Fire Department to the stand to describe the circumstances surrounding the fire that killed Forsling's mother and subsequent investigation into its cause.

“The call came in about 3 a.m.,” explained Loselle, a big man with a thick salt-and-pepper mustache. “By the time the crews arrived, the top floor was engulfed.”

“Were you aware that someone was trapped upstairs?”

Loselle nodded. “My men heard a woman screaming for help,” he said. “One of my guys, Firefighter Kevin Gilbert, tried to reach her but couldn't because the roof collapsed. He was a real hero—suffered burns and a significant back injury.”

“Were you able to determine the cause of the fire?”

“Yes. The investigation concluded that there were no accelerants used, which is the first clue you look for in arson. But we were able to determine that the victim had been smoking in bed and apparently fell asleep. The cigarette ignited trash on the floor and it spread pretty quickly from there.”

“Later that afternoon were you still at the scene when you were contacted by a young male?”

“Yes, we were just wrapping up when we had to stop a young man from entering the domicile. He subsequently identified himself as an occupant of the house. He said he lived there with his mother.”

“What, if anything, did you tell him at that point?”

“I informed him that his mother was deceased.”

“And what was his reaction?”

“He became distraught,” Loselle said. “And angry.”

“Did he blame anyone for his mother's death?”

“Yes, excuse my language,” Loselle apologized to the jury, “he blamed a ‘fucking Jew and his nigger cop.' Then he said, ‘I'll show that bastard Karp that two can play this game.' ”

“What was your response?”

“I asked him if he meant you. But he took off.”

Karp handed Loselle a photograph. “Captain, I'm giving you a photograph, People's Exhibit 21 in evidence. Do you recognize the individual in the photograph?”

Loselle looked at the photograph and nodded. “Yes, that's him.”

“Your honor,” Karp said, “the record will reflect that the witness identified a photograph previously identified as Lars Forsling. I have no further questions.”

Mendelbaum was on his feet and had positioned himself in front of the jury before Rainsford finished asking if he wanted to cross-examine the witness. “Captain Loselle, did this individual, Mr. Forsling, seem rational to you?”

“No, he didn't.”

“Did he threaten to get even with a, and I quote, ‘fucking Jew and his nigger cop'?”

“Yes, he did.”

“And Captain Loselle, did he strike you as the sort of individual who might plant a bomb to kill Jews?”

“Objection,” Karp protested, rising to his feet.

“I'll withdraw the question,” Mendelbaum said with a smile. “And I have no more questions.”

After Loselle left the stand, the judge adjourned early, saying he had some other docket matters to attend to. “See you all tomorrow morning?”

“T
HE
P
EOPLE CALL
D
ETECTIVE
C
LAY
Fulton.”

As soon as Fulton, who'd been sitting in the first row behind the prosecution table as the trial resumed the next morning, stood up, Mendelbaum jumped to his feet. “Your honor, the defense objects to this witness being allowed to testify. The defense believes that my esteemed colleague, Mr. Karp, will be attempting to elicit testimony that will be based on hearsay.

“The witness will be asked to testify about the interrogation of one Lars Forsling, who as you know we contend should be the defendant in this case, not Mrs. Stone. As you also are aware, Mr. Forsling is dead, and therefore he can't be cross-examined as to his statements, nor as to the veracity of Detective Fulton's recollection of those events.”

The judge looked at Karp, who had remained on his feet, waiting for Fulton. “Mr. Karp?”

“First, your honor, it is important to note that I, the prosecution, turned over to the defense the dying declaration made by Forsling; such a statement is an exception to the hearsay rules of evidence.”

Karp continued, “The defense wants to persuade the jury that Forsling is the bomber who murdered the deceaseds in this case. Hearsay is an out-of-court statement made by the declarant and offered for the truth of the matter asserted. However, in order for the jury to decide if the Forsling dying declaration is trustworthy, all the facts and circumstances must be known to the jury so that the dying declaration can be scrutinized with all the other evidence in context. The chief of the District Attorney's Office detective squad will assist the jury by providing that context. I ask the court to admit this testimony, subject to connection on this crucial evidentiary issue.”

Looking over at Mendelbaum, who regarded him with arched eyebrows like one of his former law school professors looking for a weakness in his arguments, Karp smiled and shook his head. “One last point, your honor, Mr. Mendelbaum is trying to have his cake and eat it, too. He wants Forsling's ‘dying dec' introduced as an exception to the hearsay rule, but wants to exclude other statements made by Forsling to Detective Fulton, our office steno, Mrs. Carole Mason, and me.”

“Ah, but those statements were not made with the Grim Reaper and all of eternity looming over Mr. Forsling's tattooed head, and therefore under the law are considered inherently untrustworthy, and do not carry the same weight as those of a man who knows that the moment of judgment is at hand,” Mendelbaum replied.

“The evidence in this case will demonstrate, your honor, that Forsling from his own statements and actions was obsessed with seeking vengeance against Detective Fulton and me because of his delusional, wrong-headed, far-fetched belief that we were responsible for the death of his mother,” Karp countered. “That's why he kidnapped my two sons, and Mrs. Goldie Sobelman, and made clear he did it to seek vengeance. In furtherance of that delusional belief, he was in the process of trying to kill all three of them. We will learn from the evidence that his dying dec was nothing more than his last-gasp effort to get back at me.”

Rainsford looked from one attorney to the other and nodded. “I'm going to allow Detective Fulton to testify with the caveat that you prove, Mr. Karp, all that you just said. Mr. Karp, you may now proceed.”

Mendelbaum, as he passed Karp on the way back to the defense table, whispered, “Sometimes you have to throw the matzo balls against the wall to see what sticks.”

Shaking his head, Karp smiled. Fulton, who'd waited calmly for the lawyers to argue, now stepped up onto the witness stand. A seasoned pro at testifying, he stood tall as he was sworn in by chief court clerk James Farley. He then settled his large frame into the seat and turned toward the judge.

“One moment, Mr. Karp, before you question the witness I want to take a moment with the jury,” Rainsford said. “Ladies and gentlemen, generally these legal type arguments are heard at sidebar on the record, outside the hearing of the jury. However, since Mr. Mendelbaum objected to the witness testifying and initiated his legal argument in front of you, the jury, I permitted the legal argument to be fully aired for all of you to hear and I'm sure to understand. I determine the admissibility of evidence, and if it is trustworthy, I permit you to decide whether or not you will accept it in your final determination in this case. In making that determination you should take into account the demeanor of witnesses and the context in which evidence is offered. You may now proceed, Mr. Karp.”

Karp then quickly walked the detective through his career with the NYPD up to his current position as the head of the special unit of NYPD detectives assigned to work for the district attorney as investigators. He then brought him to the night of Rose Lubinsky's book signing at Il Buon Pane. “Was there a reason why you and other police officers were at this particular event?”