by Noel Obiora
“Someone sent it to me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know,” Big said. “Can you use it?” Big asked again.
“It’s a time bomb.”
“Just try? Why can’t you just use the damn thing?”
“The judge might not even let me use it when I don’t know how you got it.”
“Just tell him a private investigator came up with it.”
“And if they wanna subpoena the investigator as a witness?”
“Then ask her agent, Didi Pare about it.”
“You think her agent had something to do with it?”
“Yeah.”
“He sent it to you?”
“I done told you I don’t know who sent it to me, but it might be him.”
“Why?”
“Why don’t you just ask him?” Big persisted, louder still.
“It is not that simple, Big. First, I need to get it past the judge, and he’s gonna need to know what you’re not telling me.”
Big said he would keep working on finding out who sent it to him if Kenneth would promise to try and use it in the courtroom.
Kenneth called Cassandra as soon as Big left.
“Casey, you won’t believe this.”
“I better believe it, Ken. You woke me up from a really good sleep.”
“Sorry. But Big just stopped by the hotel with a file for Rachel Johnson. Get this, she’s got a madam, and this file tells you how to reach her—at Goldie’s address, what she’s like on a date, comments from people who’ve been on a date with her. She prefers out-of-town dates, Vegas is okay—”
“Where did he get it?”
“Exactly, he’s not saying. Well, he says he doesn’t know. Someone just mailed it to him. He suspects Goldie’s manager, Didi Pare. There is a page of an article in a magazine in the file. Listen to this: ‘The average age of entertainment industry executives appears to fall every decade as the 18—25-year-old demographic continues to drive the industry’s search for that elusive blockbuster. With this growing youth in the ranks of executives, comes power and a tremendous amount of money and few familial responsibilities thus, spurning a new cottage industry in the world’s oldest profession—career prostitution or hit-and-run, high-priced escorts. It promises normal, innocent, beautiful young women the chance to make so much money on just one date that they never have to do it again.’”
“When she testifies, we’ll use it to impeach her and establish that one of her Johns might be the participant in the sexual activities in Goldie’s room.” Cassandra said, interrupting him.
“She is not going to show up,” Kenneth said.
“Then we use it to impeach Pare, just to get it into the record,” Cassandra said.
“We don’t know if the information is true yet,” Kenneth said.
“We can use any information to impeach the character of a witness regardless of how you obtained that information, even if it’s not true. This information is clearly impeachment evidence.”
“It could come back to bite us unless we can prove its authenticity.”
“Well, get somebody on it right away.”
“Sure,” Kenneth replied and hung up.
Kenneth surmised that Amy’s most important remaining witnesses were Officers Tse and Alvarez, Dr. Kio the forensic expert, Ola Mohammed, Didi Pare, and Rachel Johnson, and he wanted to examine every one of them to some extent on the contents of the file.
Thus far the case remained within grasp of the defense, but a certain madam, if located, could deliver it completely. “Jurors tend to have a puritanical disdain of victims with salacious associations in their past as though it were un-American to convict a man for killing a woman with a vibrant sexual history,” Cassandra had explained when she decided to appeal Judge Barney’s refusal to rule conclusively on the evidence of sexual activities in the bedroom.
Kenneth was not sure of what he was hearing Cassandra say. Her tone was full of contempt for the very approach she was suggesting they should take in the trial.
39
Every Trial Has A Moment
Amy came to work on Monday morning as anxious to end the trial as she was to win it, but more prepared than she had been the previous week. She had picked up a cup of coffee and was struggling with all she had to carry as she walked to her office. The police forensic officer, Tse, was scheduled to be her first witness, then the medical examiner, Dr. Kio, but it was Officer Alvarez who stood in the lobby of the district attorney’s office waiting for her with an urgent expression and a manila folder.
“Officer Alvarez, are you waiting for me?”
“Can we go somewhere we can talk?”
Amy led the way to the conference room.
“You can’t call Didi Pare,” Alvarez said as soon as Amy closed the doors to the conference room.
“Why not?” Amy asked.
Alvarez gave Amy the same file that Big had given Kenneth. “He called to give me this.”
Amy looked at the folder and raised her head back again, in shock. Alvarez shrugged.
“Son-of-a-…,” Amy swore, dropping much of what she was carrying on the table in an effort to keep the coffee from spilling. “Did he say where he got it?” Amy continued, unconcerned about the mess.
Alvarez shook his head.
“We still have to call Mr. Pare. This is about Rachel, not Goldie.”
“I think he is trying to tell us that this might smear Goldie, too.”
“How?”
“I was vice before I moved to homicide. We did stings on these high and mighty places targeting young students especially. Now, this is LA. The world capital of pretty, for women looking for a job, and sometimes the jobs they come to find don’t pan out and they have to pay bills. Any pretty woman could fall for a gig like that: Nurses, secretaries, married women. If there’s a fight in Vegas, not all that many women going there care about boxing. So, if Rachel is caught up in it, maybe Goldie was, too.”
“If there was a direct connection, we would have found it, wouldn’t we?”
“The thing is, they don’t keep files like this…” He pointed to the folder in Amy’s hand. “There’s no number in the phonebook you call to join or to find them. You don’t call them, they call you, or they have someone call you. Trying to find those men would have taken far too much time than it is worth when we know they had nothing to do with the crime.”
“You don’t think Paul knew this all along, before this case?”
“No,” Alvarez said.
She examined the folder further. It was a thin brown manila folder with a page of biographical data, and a small 2-by-4-inch picture affixed to the upper right corner. There were three pages of articles on the trade, including the one Kenneth read Cassandra. She wanted Kate to see the file before Kate went to court and asked Alvarez to wait for her in the conference room.
Kate’s door was open and Amy walked in without knocking.
“Who gave you this?” Kate asked, getting up from her chair as she read the documents in the file that Amy had placed on her desk.
“Alvarez. Didi Pare gave these to him. He’s trying to ruin her and prevent us from calling him because I told him it was his semen on Goldie’s bed last Friday.”
“How the hell did we not have this information about her before now?”
“Alvarez said they could not have known about it. The business is only successful if it can be kept a secret, otherwise it is illegal.”
“Of course, he would say that, wouldn’t he?” Kate asked without taking her eyes off the file. After a few minutes, when it seemed like she had read enough, she looked up at Amy. “Can they at least verify if it’s true?”
“They can’t, not in time for this trial anyway. He thinks there is some truth to it.”
Kate walked out of the office and A
my followed her. They met Alvarez in the conference room.
“You’re telling me that we basically have Rachel Johnson using Goldie’s house for hooking and LAPD couldn’t figure it out. Is that what you’re telling me?”
“I wouldn’t put it that way.”
“It doesn’t matter how you put it. If I can see it that way, then you can bet there is at least one juror who sees it that way. Do you know what this does to our case?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Alvarez said.
“You still want to call this Rachel woman?” Kate asked Amy.
“If they let this document in, I don’t think we have a choice.”
“Then make sure the document doesn’t get admitted.”
“Lean on Didi Pare, see if he can tell us anything useful,” Kate said to Alvarez.
“I will,” Alvarez said.
•••
On resumption of proceedings, Judge Barney let only the attorneys, their assistants, Paul Jackson, and Helen Silberberg into the courtroom. Everyone else waited outside while Judge Barney conducted the hearing ordered by the court of appeals. The arguments Kate and Cassandra made during the hearing were not much different from the argument Judge Barney had heard before the appeal. However, his tone was more receptive to Cassandra’s argument than it had been before, and he approached every argument Amy made with more skepticism.
He looked from one counsel table to the other and sat back in his chair, appearing undecided. “I want to hear from the witness most knowledgeable about how this evidence is relevant,” he said.
“That would be the medical examiner for the People,” Amy said, standing up.
“Is he available?”
Amy looked at the paralegal sitting behind her, next to Helen Silberberg.
“I think so. In our office,” the paralegal whispered.
“I am told he may be waiting in our office, your Honor,” Amy said. Judge Barney called a short recess to allow Amy to call the medical examiner to the stand.
Minutes later, Dr. Ebenezer Kio was on the stand. Kenneth was meeting him for the first time, but Cassandra knew him from other trials. He had a very expressive face, perhaps because of his wide eyes. He always seemed about to smile though he never did. His hair seemed deliberately wild and unkempt. His suit was more fashionable than one would have expected from a county medical examiner. There was a welcoming air about him that seemed to suggest that he would not hurt a fly or discriminate against a fellow man. Looking around the courtroom as he walked to the stand, he seemed no more impressed by the judge as he was by the defendant.
Dr. Kio began his examination describing his education and qualifications. Amy took her time going through his training as a physician and fellowships in forensic pathology. When she was done, there could not have been a doubt that Dr. Kio was the most educated person in the courtroom, if not the smartest person. She then examined him on the crime scene, placing significant importance on where the body was found and using the crime scene photos as evidence. The items of a sexual nature found at the scene of the crime could not be conclusively tied to the cause of death, so he formed no opinion as to those items.
“Do you wish to examine this witness now, counsel?” Judge Barney asked Cassandra after Amy was done.
“No, your Honor, it would amount to preparing this witness for my impeachment before the jury takes the stand. I would prefer to introduce another opinion with an expert of my own,” Cassandra explained.
“Is that expert here?” Judge Barney asked.
“No, your Honor, I had not scheduled him for this hearing, but I could arrange to have him here by tomorrow.”
“Does either side mind if I ask this witness some questions?” Judge Barney asked looking from one counsel to the other. When neither side objected, he turned to Dr. Kio.
“Sir, you say that these items have no bearing on the cause of death, because they could not be conclusively tied to manner the victim died?”
Dr. Kio seemed puzzled for a moment and his expression even more on the verge of laughter than usual. “Yes, your Honor, the items did not have a bearing on my determination of the cause of death, but the manner of death is a completely different determination I do not make. May I explain?”
“Please do,” Judge Barney said.
“The cause of death is the medical reason why someone died, and that determination is made by a medical examiner or forensic pathologist like me. The manner of death is the legal determination of how the victim died. There are five different manners of death: Natural, homicide, suicide, accidental, and undetermined.”
“So, to my question then, you did not use the items to make a determination of the cause of death but whether the items were used to make a determination on the manner of death is not up to you.”
“Exactly, your Honor.”
“And what was the cause of death?” Judge Barney asked.
“Strangulation.”
“Was the victim on drugs?” Judge Barney asked.
“There were no drugs in her system.”
“Any redirect?” Judge Barney asked Amy.
“None, your Honor.”
“May I ask a question, your Honor?” Kenneth asked.
“I was just getting to you,” Judge Barney said.
“You found semen on the victim, did you not?” Kenneth asked, without standing up as was typical.
“There was donor genetic material in the form of semen on the victim, yes.”
“Who was the donor?” Kenneth asked.
“I don’t know. That information was not available from the evidence collected.” Dr. Kio answered.
“Thank you, your Honor,” Kenneth said.
“Did you check the donor semen against Mr. Jackson to try to get a match?” Judge Barney asked.
“It was not Mr. Jackson’s, your Honor,” Dr. Kio said.
“Thank you,” Judge Barney said, and turned to Amy. “Do you wish to start with this witness or some other witness when trial resumes, counsel?” Judge Barney asked.
“I can start with him,” Amy said.
Judge Barney directed the bailiff to call the jurors and the rest of the audience into the courtroom. Then he stood up and left.
With everyone seated in the courtroom, including the jurors, Judge Barney returned.
“Thank you, members of the jury. I apologize I had to keep you waiting a little longer this morning. The reason for the delay is that we were trying to sort out what evidence will be allowed in with the next witness, and it is always important to do these things outside the hearing of the jury,” Judge Barney turned his attention to the counsel tables. “The defendant may examine this witness on the disputed evidence, and the People may consider their objections reserved, should they choose not to repeat them during the cross-examination. I find that the issues of proximity of the items found and their relationship to the crime are all matters of fact for the jury to weigh and consider.”
Kenneth looked at Cassandra with a sigh of relief. Paul jotted a note to say he did not understand, to which Kenneth replied that he would explain it later. Cassandra seemed satisfied.
Judge Barney reminded Dr. Kio that he was still under oath.
Amy asked Dr. Kio the questions she had asked him earlier outside the presence of the jurors and got the same answers, describing the way the body was found and the conclusion that Goldie was killed right where she was found. Dr. Kio also introduced additional photographs of the autopsy and some of the items described, in exactly the manner they were found. She asked Dr. Kio if he could describe how Goldie was strangled, and Dr. Kio said it appeared a hand had been placed over her mouth to smother her that her neck had been grabbed and likely shaken.
“What evidence did you find to support your determination that the victim was strangled by strong hands that were wrapped around her neck?” Amy a
sked animatedly.
“There was bruising around the neck consistent with fingerprints and semi-lunar abrasions—if I may show my pictures again…” He requested and Amy again introduced the pictures and marked them. “This bruising is consistent with two hands wrapped around the neck during strangulation. I did a dissection of the skin across the breastbone, from which I raised the skin, peeling upward to reveal the neck muscles. This layer of muscles also shows additional bruising consistent with strangulation as described. I then raised the first layer of skin muscle under the skin, which also revealed bruising, as did the next layer of muscle, and the next, showing the amount of force that was used to strangle her.”
“When you say there was bruising inside the muscles after you raised the skin, is that the same as bruising one would usually see on the skin?”
“Yes, bruising occurs wherever there are capillaries that burst. On the layers of the skin and beneath them, on the muscles, there are numerous capillaries that burst when one is strangled.”
“And how did you determine that she was shaken in the course of this strangulation?”
“The hyoid bone in the victim was broken. This bone is the horseshoe-shaped bone at the top of the neck.” Dr. Kio brings out another picture to show Amy, which was again introduced and marked. “This bone could break by the exertion of force from the hands wrapped around the victim’s neck, but between two adults, even when the victim is a woman and the perpetrator a man, I conclude it took some shaking to break it as was shown by the evidence.”
When Amy completed all this examination she had planned, she asked a series of questions she had not planned.
“Did you find any genetic material on Ms. Silberberg’s body?” She was glad to use the medical term for semen because it sounded less prurient.
“Yes, ma’am. We found donor genetic material in the form of semen indicative of recent sexual activity within her genitalia.”
“What do you mean by donor genetic material?” Amy asked.
“There are five types of genetic material you can find on a victim—semen, saliva, blood, mucous, and vaginal secretions. To distinguish the genetic material of the victim from any foreign genetic material we find on her body, we refer to the foreign genetic material as donor material.”