by Noel Obiora
Judge Barney directed the jurors to take their morning recess. As the jurors filed out, the attorneys and everyone at the counsel table stood up.
“Who are the gentlemen in the suits and scarves in this weather, the ACDC people?” Judge Barney asked the calendar clerk in a stage whisper.
“I believe so, your Honor, the ACB people,” the clerk responded.
Judge Barney scribbled a note and left the courtroom.
“Counsel, Mr. Brown and Mr. Jones, do you have a minute?” the clerk called out. Kenneth and Omar walked up to her, and she gave Kenneth Judge Barney’s note. “No more than three members of the ACB are allowed in the courtroom at any one time during the proceedings, unless they can show they are also blood relatives.” Omar read it over Kenneth’s shoulder. Kenneth looked at Omar and, without exchanging words, Omar took the note and went to Mallam Jackson.
During the morning recess Omar walked up to Nancy, shook her hand warmly and said, “Your son is a better lawyer than anyone thought.”
Nancy smiled.
“I know, ma’am, except for you,” Omar said. Jo raised her hand. “I stand corrected, ladies.” He was leaving the courthouse as agreed, not to join them for the rest of the week.
Seeing no likely witnesses other than the officer sitting with Kate and Amy, Kenneth and Cassandra expected the officer would be Amy’s first witness. In all, Amy had listed twenty-six witnesses, but only eight of them were key to a verdict: Officer Gonzalez, Officer Fritz, Officer Tse, Dr. Kio, Didi Pare, Conrad Wetstone, Rachel Johnson, and Ms. Ola Mohammed.
•••
When the trial resumed, Officer Gonzalez took the stand and testified that around two o’clock on Friday afternoon, the manager of an apartment complex on Armacost Street in West Los Angeles had called the Los Angeles Police Department about a homicide. Motorcycle patrol officers were dispatched to the scene immediately to secure the area and upon entering the victim’s apartment, detectives discovered Goldie Silberberg’s body. Gonzalez introduced pictures of Goldie’s body on the bathroom floor in her underwear. Her legs were twisted under her, and she was looking up at the ceiling, bent a little to the side. Gonzalez also produced other pictures the police took at Goldie’s house on that day.
The police had collected a little skin residue from Goldie’s fingernails, but claimed they were unable to match it to Paul Jackson or any other man. They were able to recover impressions of shoes on the tile floor in Goldie’s guest bathroom. The tiles had been removed and taken to the lab. Every item collected, however small, had been placed in a separate container and catalogued. As Officer Gonzalez spoke, it was evident that Amy was just using him to identify and mark evidence. Kenneth did not object.
With about twenty minutes left before the afternoon recess, Amy dragged her examination to continue past the recess rather than turn the witness over to Kenneth for cross examination. She introduced what she thought were the most damaging prosecution evidence on either side of the recess.
Like three rapid shots, Amy examined Officer Gonzalez on the beer bottles found in the second bedroom, the impression of the shoe prints taken from a pair of Paul’s shoes, and the ATM photographs. Amy had placed a small table in front of the witness stand and opposite the jurors. On this table, she placed the beer bottles, the impressions of the shoe prints and Paul’s shoes, and left them exposed to the jury for as long as she examined Officer Gonzalez on them. The veteran officer understood and was in no hurry to give his answers either.
“Is this a good time to recess?” Amy asked Judge Barney when it seemed her delaying tactics were taking away from the impact of the damaging evidence. The clock was still about three minutes from the scheduled recess.
“I suppose it is as good as any,” Judge Barney replied.
•••
When the jurors returned to their seats after the recess, Judge Barney was already seated and Officer Gonzalez was waiting on the witness stand. Paul had still not said a word since the examination began, even during recess. His note pad was filled with doodles of squares and circles with thick boundaries of repeated drawing. Kenneth tried to reassure him that every murder trial had a measure of damaging evidence against the defendant—otherwise there would be no need for the trial.
Amy asked the judge to admit the evidence she had displayed before the recess and Judge Barney agreed. “This concludes the People’s direct of this witness, your Honor,” Amy said and sat down.
Kenneth decided to start his questioning on these items of evidence Amy had introduced while they were still fresh on the jurors’ minds. He asked Cassandra to keep an eye on his checklist, in case he forgot something.
“When did you first decide that Paul Jackson was a suspect in this case?”
“He was always a person of interest because he was her boyfriend.”
“When did you first learn that he was her boyfriend?”
“When the couple across the street told us they saw them arguing, and the lady next door told us they dated.”
“And what time during the investigation was that?”
“Early in the investigation, around four p.m. or so; we were still collecting evidence.”
“And after that time, when you arrived at her house and were collecting evidence from the scene of the crime, who else did you consider a suspect?”
“Like I said, he was just a person of interest, not a suspect at the time.”
“Very well, then. Who else was a person of interest?”
“We were talking to people, but he was the only person of interest at that time.”
“Ms. Ola told your investigators that Mr. Jackson was arguing with Footsie earlier that day, and an older man came in, is that correct?”
“Yes, she did.”
“And based on that you began to consider Mr. Jackson a person of interest, is that correct?”
“We also had information from her neighbor –”
“I am getting to that, but first focus on my question,” Kenneth interrupted him, before continuing. “The first information you had that made him a person of interest based on your testimony here was that Ms. Ola saw them arguing, is that correct?”
“Yes, I suppose.”
“But the older man who came in while he was arguing with her was never made a person of interest, is that correct?”
Officer Gonzalez paused a while with apparent displeasure before answering, “No.”
“This older man, was he white or Black?”
“Objection,” Amy said but was quickly overruled, as she expected.
“He was white.”
“What were Mr. Jackson and the victim arguing about?”
“We don’t know.”
“The older man did not tell you?”
“We did not get the chance to talk to him.”
“Wait a minute. LAPD never spoke to the older man?”
“He relocated after the incident.”
“Did he move before or after you arrested Mr. Jackson?”
“We are not sure. It could have been before.”
“And still he was never a person of interest or a suspect, even though it was clear that the only time anyone saw Mr. Jackson in that apartment, the older gentleman was there as well?”
“All our leads showed that Mr. Jackson committed the crime.”
“And the older white man got away?”
“Objection,” Amy said.
“Sustained,” Judge Barney agreed.
“Do you have any evidence, Officer, that conclusively eliminates the older white man, who was also seen at the apartment at the time Mr. Jackson was there, as the person who committed the crime?”
“I could ask the same question about you or anyone in this room. If we conducted our investigations in that way, we would never solve a crime. There was nothing tying him to this crime.”
“He was at
the apartment at the same time Mr. Jackson was at the apartment, isn’t that something?”
Officer Gonzalez could not hide his displeasure with Kenneth’s question. “I’ve got twenty-five years of my life invested in this job, and it informs every lead in every investigation. That ought to count for something.”
“Over and above the United States Constitution?”
“Objection,” Amy said. “This is a deliberate mischaracterization of testimony.”
Judge Barney sustained the objection.
“We did not charge the defendant for this crime because he was at her apartment earlier in the day.”
Kenneth and Officer Gonzalez continued their exchange on what the officers did besides arresting Paul. Kenneth asked about Ms. Ola Mohammed, and what was done to eliminate her as a person of interest, and then he went through the same questions with regards to Rachel Johnson, Conrad Wetstone, and Didi Pare. The longer the examination stayed on the subject, the more it seemed to frustrate Officer Gonzalez, especially when it got to Didi Pare, at which point Kenneth paused and took a deep breath before he continued.
Kenneth walked to a rack holding the defense exhibits and picked up a poster-sized exhibit, which he placed on the easel, but left it covered.
“Your Honor, the defense wishes to mark an exhibit at this time.”
“What is it?” Judge Barney asked.
“It’s a picture of the building on Armacost across from Ms. Silberberg’s building, identifying the apartments with views onto the street and corresponding names of tenants.”
“Any objections?” Judge Barney asked, looking at Amy’s table.
“None, your Honor,” Amy said.
“Your exhibit is marked as the next in order according to our pre-marking discussion. You may proceed.”
“Thank you, your Honor. Officer Gonzalez, do you recognize the building in the picture as the building across from Footsie’s apartment complex on Armacost Street?”
“I do.”
“Do you recognize the names on the exhibit as the names of all the residents of the building as well?”
“I do.”
“Which of those apartments in the building across the street was Ms. Ola’s boyfriend’s?”
Office Gonzalez identified the building directly opposite Goldie’s. Kenneth then asked him if the LAPD spoke to the tenants in the next apartment with a similar view to Ms. Ola’s and her boyfriend. Gonzalez said they did not speak to any other tenants at that apartment complex.
Kenneth decided to change his line of questioning and brought out the listening device found in the apartment. He asked Officer Gonzalez who placed it there and without hesitation, Gonzalez said Rachel Johnson placed it there. When asked what Rachel was doing with the device, Officer Gonzalez stated that she was an actress and was using it for her work. Kenneth thought the answer absurd and wanted to explore it, but Cassandra felt it was a rabbit hole that would completely diminish the suspicious element of the device. Kenneth decided not to pursue the discussion with this officer.
“Officer, the investigating officers already made up their minds that Mr. Jackson committed this crime before they even left the scene of the crime, isn’t that true?”
“No, sir, but we had strong leads pointing to him.”
“And you ignored the leads pointing to the older white man, without even talking to him?” Kenneth asked.
“Objection, mischaracterizes the testimony,” Amy said, and Judge Barney sustained the objection.
“I have nothing further for this witness,” Kenneth said.
“Any redirect?” Judge Barney asked.
“Yes, your Honor,” Amy said and was eagerly on her feet.
On Amy’s examination, Gonzalez explained that the older white man was not a person of interest because Goldie asked him there, so she would not have to be alone with Paul. Didi Pare and Rachel Johnson could verify this testimony, Gonzalez said. In fact, it appeared Paul waited for a time when he was sure that the older white man would not be at Goldie’s to return. Gonzalez stated that the older white man who walked into the apartment when Goldie and Paul were arguing was Monsieur Arnot, an elderly French gentleman of some means who was seeking an anonymous regular life in the quiet West Los Angeles neighborhood.
“Where did he move to?” Amy asked.
“We have information that he went back to France,” Gonzalez said.
“In your experience, was it unusual that a person living in such a complex would move immediately after a crime like that was committed in the apartment next to his?”
“No, once something like that happens in a high-end neighborhood like that, people move. He wasn’t a suspect or a person of interest, and we don’t believe he had the opportunity to commit this crime.”
“Nothing further,” Amy said and sat down.
36
The Manager
Conrad Wetstone’s demeanor reminded Kenneth of Jed as he took the stand on Friday morning. Pleasant, quiet, and even-tempered, a studious mind of somber disposition who always seemed occupied with some technical matter, even when he was picking up milk for the family at a grocery store. They were also about the same height, but Conrad was a thin rack of a man in his clothes, with a strong lower body. His cheeks were sunken, his jaw was square, and his eyes deep set, which made his small forehead more pronounced. Jed filled out his clothes more, with a body that, though not fat, made his southern-Italian ancestry proud. Cassandra agreed with Kenneth’s observation about Jed and Conrad. She and Kenneth had both met Conrad before without noticing the resemblance.
Conrad testified that he had held the position of apartment manager for three years and knew Goldie well. He had been happy with her as a tenant. Goldie’s rent was fully paid for the year, and she never quarreled with anyone, except Mr. Jackson. She had arguments often with him, and one very recently. Asked if he knew what the quarrels were about, he said that in one instance, Mr. Jackson had been parking outside her house and watching her apartment.
“He was stalking her?” Amy asked.
“Mostly he would park outside, across the street until very late at night to see who was in her apartment,” Conrad said.
The day before he discovered the body, Goldie had asked Conrad to come by her apartment anytime during the day because her garbage disposal wasn’t working properly, and her sink seemed to have a leak underneath. He went into the apartment the following day and found her body twisted in an unnatural position, and naked except for her underwear. At first, he was shocked and sick to his stomach. He called the police when he recovered.
“Did you touch the body?” Amy asked.
“No, I did not,” he answered. “I called out her name, but I knew as soon as I saw her that she was dead. I was too shocked to even go near her.”
Amy knew that the defense team would go after Conrad for how long it took him to call the police, but she also knew that no one on the defense team had asked Conrad if he called the owners of the apartment complex that day or if they called him. So, she had told him how she would ask the question about how long he waited before calling the police and how he might want to answer it, if he didn’t want the defendant’s attorney to suggest he had anything to do with the murder.
“Mr. Wetstone, after you saw the body of one of your best tenants, you waited almost three hours to call the police. Why didn’t you call them immediately?”
“It was a shock and I was really sick, I felt like throwing up and had to run out of the apartment so I wouldn’t throw up in her house. I threw up in my apartment. Then I sat down and called the building owners to tell them.”
“Did you call the owners of the building before you called the police?”
“I think so. I didn’t even know it took me that long to call the police. Everything happened so quickly. I was sick until the next day. Goldie was one of the nicest people th
at ever lived there since I became manager. She would travel and say if I knew anybody that needed an apartment while she was away, they could have hers if they’d stay away from her bedroom and bath.”
“Thank you, Mr. Wetstone,” Amy said and sat down.
As Kenneth stood up, he looked at a man in the gallery. The man left the courtroom and returned pushing a video screen and a laptop on a cart into the area where the counsel sat. He positioned the screen to be seen by the witness, the jury, and the judge. Kenneth and Cassandra had informed Judge Barney that they might need the video accompaniment for this part of their case and the judge had approved it.
Kenneth placed a large blueprint of the floor plan of Goldie’s apartment on the easel and stepped back to cross-examine Conrad Wetstone.
“Mr. Wetstone, do you recall what name Ms. Silberberg used when she performed?”
“Footsie.”
“You wouldn’t mind if I call her Footsie in my exchanges with you, would you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Mr. Wetstone, you said you do not recall whether you called the owners of the apartment before or after you called the police, is that correct?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Would your telephone records help you recall.”
“I thought so, but I looked at them before coming to court today and didn’t see their number. I think they may have called me to check in on something and I told them what happened.”
Kenneth turned to look at Cassandra over Conrad’s explanation and she smiled at him, as though to say she understood. Amy smiled, too, because she thought it would be a good idea to do so for the jury.
“Do you recall what you told the owners of the apartment building had happened and what they said back to you?”
“Yes, I told them one of the tenants had died in her apartment and they wanted to know if she was an elderly tenant.”
“Was that all they wanted to know?”
“They also wanted to know which apartment, what happened, and how much the other tenants knew. I told them I didn’t think the other tenants knew.”
“Do you recall how long you were on the phone with them?”