Trap (9781476793177) (31 page)

“Good morning,” Mendelbaum began, “I know this has been hard on you, so I'll try to keep my questions few in number. I'll start by asking if you knew all of your son's friends.”

Burns looked confused. “He didn't have many, he was a loner. But I don't remember him talking about any in a long time, except for his lady friend.”

“So you don't know whether or not he knew Lars Forsling?”

“I never heard of him.”

Mendelbaum walked over to the jury rail and put one hand on it as if to steady himself. “Mrs. Burns, I believe your testimony is that my client once, many years ago, represented your son in a juvenile case. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“And that they met a few times over the course of some months, including court hearings?”

“That's correct.”

“And these photographs on your son's computer,” Mendelbaum said, “there's no way of knowing for sure who took them or even if they were downloaded from another source?”

“I don't know enough about computers to answer that.”

Mendelbaum pursed his lips. “There was nothing on the photographs that indicated who took them, correct?”

“Not that I saw.”

Moving away from the rail, Mendelbaum came to stand in the well of the court with his hands stuck in his pants pockets. “Mrs. Burns, you testified that you don't know what your son was doing or where he went when he wasn't home. Isn't it possible that he died because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a bomb intended for someone else went off?”

For a moment, Karp saw a glimmer of hope in the witness's eyes. A mother still wanting to believe that she hadn't given birth to a killer. But the hope faded as quickly as it appeared, she wasn't falling for it. “Mr. Karp told me that the detectives said my son was carrying the bomb when it went off.”

“That's what you were told by the people who are trying to convict my client for murder,” Mendelbaum pointed out.

“Yes, that's true.” Burns was starting to look confused.

“But you don't know the circumstances, or what proof they have, that your son was carrying this bomb, do you?”

“Well, no, I haven't seen any proof.”

“Did your son ever tell you who he was visiting in Atlantic City?”

“No, he said it was just a friend.”

“Did he say it was his girlfriend?”

“No. He didn't.”

“And did he ever identify this important white girlfriend of his?”

“No. He never told me her name.”

“And as a matter of fact, until this trial, you thought he was making it all up, didn't you?”

“Yes, I thought he was lying. He lied a lot.”

“Yes, he lied a lot, on that we agree. Thank you, Mrs. Burns, no further questions.”

Rainsford looked over at Karp. “We're closing in on the lunch hour. Do you have any questions for redirect?”

“No, your honor, no redirect.”

“M
R.
N
EWBURY, IS IT POSSIBLE
to determine the exact computer that is used to send an email?” Karp asked his question standing in the well of the courtroom with his arms crossed, looking up at his longtime friend and colleague, Assistant District Attorney Vincent Newbury.

Dressed immaculately, as always, in a dark blue Brooks Brothers suit, light blue button-down shirt, and a bright red silk tie with a diamond stickpin, Newbury was clearly enjoying his role as an expert witness for the People. The lines around his eyes and mouth had not eroded his boyish good looks, though the WASPy blond hair was thinning and there were hints of gray throughout. But his mind and wit were as razor sharp as they had been when he and Karp were both rookies finding their way around the New York DAO.

Although he was in the same generation as Karp, Newbury gravitated toward the modern technology of the younger generation. The chief of the DAO's White Collar Crimes Bureau, he'd always been a meticulous prosecutor known for assembling the most intricate cases in such a way that a jury could easily see the big picture when he laid it out piece by piece. But he'd really found his niche when personal computers became a tool for prosecutorial investigations. As he'd explained to the jurors a few minutes earlier, he'd assembled quite a team—he called it the DAO Geek Squad—of forensic computer experts, accountants, and tech-savvy detectives. “Among our caseload are a lot of identity theft cases, and cases in which computers are used in the commission of crimes or to investigate and prosecute such crimes.”

“Yes,” Newbury answered. “Although there are some caveats and exceptions, the basic answer is that we can identify a specific computer as the sender or receiver of an email message, even if the message itself no longer exists.”

“Without losing us in the internet jungle,” Karp continued, “could you give the jurors a basic computer course?”

“I'll try,” Newbury replied before turning to look at the jurors like a professor preparing to lecture a class of freshman students. “I'm going to explain this as simply as I can, not because you're unintelligent—indeed, some of you may know more than I do—but just so we're all clear on the basics. You may have heard that computers using the internet have ‘IP addresses,' or more specifically Internet Protocol addresses. An IP address is a number assigned to each device, such as a computer, printer, iPad or iPhone, that is part of a computer network. That number is the ‘address,' sort of like 100 Centre Street is the address for this building. We good so far?”

Newbury looked from face to face, all of whom nodded. “Good. Now I won't bore you with all of the details—though it really is quite fascinating how the internet works—but essentially when someone sends or receives an email part of the information included in that email, though usually hidden from view, is the IP address where the message originated, and the IP address to which it was sent. Sometimes a message sent from one IP address may actually pass through other IP addresses before reaching the final destination, sort of an internet Pony Express, changing riders at each station along the way, but it can still be traced back to the originating device.”

“And to reiterate, this IP address is specific to a device, such as a particular computer?” Karp asked.

“It can be, and most often is,” Newbury said. “But say there is a large company office that has a number of computers all using the same network, they may have the same ‘external' IP address, but they will also have an internal IP address for each computer that a message can also be traced back to.”

As Newbury was talking, Karp glanced over at the defendant Olivia Stone. Her expression was one of mild boredom. He knew she was aware of it when he now turned to look directly at her instead of Newbury to ask his next question, though she kept her eyes on the jurors.

“Is it possible to use this to trace an IP address to a specific computer even if the emails have been erased, as well as the internet history,
and
the computer then ‘wiped' to further expunge the record?”

Stone furrowed her brow, and her already pale complexion blanched further still. Her eyes fixated on Karp, she leaned over and said something to Mendelbaum, who shook his head.

“It's more difficult, but there are a few tricks of the trade that make it possible, especially if the effort to remove the information was incomplete,” Newbury replied. “We've all heard that nothing ever really disappears from the internet, and for the most part that's true. But the majority of casual computer users, even those who consider themselves to be security conscious and have all the latest removal apps, believe that by taking these steps, they can permanently remove information from their computers. However, if you know what you're doing and where to look, even some of these more sophisticated efforts to eliminate the information don't remove it all.”

“So can you retrieve emails that have been deleted?”

“Usually not the email itself, though sometimes if we get to them right away before they've been permanently deleted and are cached somewhere,” Newbury said. “But unless the user is really sophisticated and understands how it all works—and is worried about someone equally sophisticated—we can tell when and where an email was sent and where it was received.”

Karp noticed that Stone's face had grown whiter still when he asked, “What is browsing history?”

“Browsing history on the web is a list of web pages the computer user has visited recently as well as such things as the page title and the date and time of the visit,” Newbury said. “For instance, if someone searched the web for information on the New York County District Attorney's Office, they'd find a webpage—manhattanda.org—and that would be recorded by their web browser software as part of their browsing history. It makes it easier to locate the page again the next time, and is mostly for the benefit of repeat visitors.”

“Can this web browsing history be removed from a computer?”

“Well, it can be deleted and then purged from easy discovery if the user wants, and there are a number of programs that can be downloaded to carry it a step further,” Newbury said. “But once again, unless the user knows all of the different places and ways that computers store information, it can often be retrieved by someone with the expertise.”

Karp moved over to the jury box and leaned against the rail. “Moving from the theoretical to the practical matters involved in this case, were you and your ‘Geek Squad' asked to examine three computers?”

“Yes, we were.”

“Would you identify for the jurors each computer you were asked to examine?”

“A Toshiba laptop belonging to Yusef Salaam,” Newbury replied. “And two Hewlett-Packard desktop computers taken from the work offices of Thomas Monroe and Olivia Stone.”

Karp noticed that Stone suddenly turned to her attorney and said something. Mendelbaum scrambled to his feet. “Your honor, may we approach the bench before this line of questioning goes any further?”

Rainsford nodded. “By all means.”

Reaching the sidebar with Karp, Mendelbaum immediately voiced his objection. “My understanding, and granted I am an old man so all of this boggles my mind, is that given the lead-up to where we're at with this witness now is that the People will claim to have information related to these IP addresses that will connect my client to either of these gentlemen named.”

“That's exactly what we're going to do,” Karp replied. “And then some.”

“Your point, Mr. Mendelbaum?” Rainsford interjected.

“We have no record of this information from the prosecution regarding these IP addresses or Google histories . . .”

“Browsing histories,” Karp corrected.

“Yes, of course, browsing histories. So I'm objecting on the grounds that this is new information that should have been turned over to us. And since it wasn't, this line of questioning should be prohibited.”

The judge turned to Karp. “And how do you plead to this accusation of withholding new information?”

“Not guilty, your honor,” Karp replied. “The defense was given as much access to the computers as they requested, and they did have them examined by their own forensic computer experts. We didn't allow them out of the DA's office with the computers, and they had to work in the presence of Mr. Newbury and his associates, but they were given the opportunity to see everything our people saw.”

Rainsford turned back to Mendelbaum. “Did you have someone examine the computers?”

“Yes, your honor, and the report I received was that there were no emails indicating any connection between these parties or incriminating browsing history. They did see some photographs on Mr. Salaam's computer that taken out of context might appear to be questionable, but I didn't hear anything about IP addresses or locating hidden material. And if the DA found such information, we should have been informed.”

Rainsford looked disapprovingly and shook his head at Mendelbaum. “You know better, counselor. This isn't information that the prosecution was hiding from the defense, even if your experts didn't find it. In this case, both parties had access to the computers. I'm going to allow Mr. Karp to pursue this line of questioning. However, if you care to have your expert look at the machines again, I'm sure Mr. Karp will make them available to you.”

Mendelbaum sighed. “I'll reserve my right to do that until after I've heard Mr. Newbury's testimony. I tell you what, though; I miss the days of typewriters and telephones you dial.”

“Well, Mr. Mendelbaum, evidently computers do have some virtues,” the judge replied.

Returning to his seat, Mendelbaum quickly conferred with Stone over the results of the conference with the judge. Karp was gratified to see her face tighten and fists clench; the chess pieces were moving exactly as he intended.

“Mr. Newbury, would you please give the jurors a synopsis of what the examination of the three computers revealed, such as it pertains to this case?”

“I can do that,” Newbury said, and faced the jurors. “We'll begin with our examination of the laptop belonging to Yusef Salaam, also known as Henry Burns. Some of the information was easy to obtain as there'd been no attempt to delete or encrypt the material. That includes approximately twenty-five photographs we believed were of interest to the Rose Lubinsky homicide in New York County, as well as the attempted murder charge for the subsequent events outside the Jay Street Bar in Brooklyn.”

As Newbury spoke, Karp walked over to the prosecution desk, where he retrieved the photographs he'd shown Burns. “Mr. Newbury, I'm handing you five photographs marked People's Exhibit 30 A through E. Were these among the photographs you just described as having been found on Salaam's laptop computer?”

Newbury quickly glanced through the photos and then looked up. “Yes.”