True Intent
Page 24
“It is.”
“Did you find any evidence that any teabags had been used?”
Pearson nodded. “We found several damp teabags in the trash.”
“Did you find any evidence of who might have drunk the tea?”
“Not from what we found in the room, no ma'am.”
“Did you find anything else in the kitchen?”
“I found a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle and two bottles of red wine. All had been drunk to some degree.”
“Did you question Ms. Vila that night?”
“No. It didn't seem appropriate and there didn't seem to be a reason to.”
“Did you have occasion to speak with her again later that weekend?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“I spoke to her on Sunday and asked in more detail about what had happened. She indicated that Mr. Phillips had collapsed on the dance floor which was consistent with what we’d been told by other witnesses.”
“What happened next?”
“In the week following Mr. Phillips’ death, while the autopsy was being performed, I received a call from Mr. Phillips’ daughter, Bre. I assumed it was in follow-up to my looking in the room but instead she was asking me to investigate Ms. Vila.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” I said.
“I'll rephrase, Judge,” said Victoria. “What did Ms. Phillips tell you?”
“She said that I should investigate Ms. Vila because she—”
“Objection. Hearsay once again, Your Honor.”
“Sustained.”
“Detective Pearson, as result of your conversation with Ms. Phillips, did you begin an investigation of Mr. Phillips’ death?”
“Technically, I suppose there was already an investigation underway. As result of my conversation with her, I continued it rather than closed it.”
“Did you take that request seriously?”
Pearson straightened and became his most Pearson-y. “I take every investigation seriously, Ms. Vance. However, I did not think it likely at the time that it would reveal anything.”
“So did you speak to Ms. Vila again?”
“After the autopsy was complete, yes.”
“And what did you learn as a result of that conversation?”
“I asked Ms. Vila if she was a member of certain organizations.”
“What organizations are those?”
“There were several. The Humane Society. PETA. The Last Auk. The most significant was The Forest Initiative.”
“Why was her membership in the Forest Initiative of interest to you?”
“Because it had taken positions publicly that were in direct conflict with Doprava, the company that Mr. Phillips ran.”
“And did Ms. Vila admit that she was a member of that organization?”
“She did.”
“And did she also admit that she knew Richard Phillips was the head of Doprava?”
“She did. In fairness to her, she pointed out that everyone in Missouri knew that he was the head of Doprava.”
“Did she tell you anything else?”
“She told me that she had known Mr. Phillips for a short time, several weeks, and that she didn't know of any medical conditions that he had.”
“What did you do next in your investigation?”
“Several things. First, I ordered a test on the tea to find out what was in it. Next, I did background research on Ms. Vila. Last, I waited for the toxicology results from the autopsy.”
“Let’s start with the tea. Did you send the tea to Dr. Newt Wrigley for analysis?”
“I did.”
“We’ll be calling him later today and ask the specifics of what he found. I have a report marked here as State’s exhibit 49.” She handed him a paper. “Did he give this to you?”
“He did.”
“What was the primary thing you took from that report?”
“That the tea was an herbal tea with a variety of supplements in it.”
“And was there more of one thing than any other?”
“I was told that it contained St. John's wort.”
“You also mentioned that you did background research on Liselle Vila. What did you find out?”
“I confirmed that Ms. Vila was in fact a member of the Forest Initiative and that that organization had organized a protest against Doprava near the Mark Twain National Forest where Ms. Vila worked.”
“What kind of protest?”
“Apparently, Doprava was going to allow fracking on property that it owned near the forest. The protest was purportedly organized to stop that.”
“Objection, Your Honor,” I said. “We can’t take testimony on every organization that every witness is a member of.”
“We are getting pretty far afield here, Ms. Lance,” said Judge French.
“I’ll narrow it down, Your Honor,” said Victoria. “Detective Pearson, did you find evidence that Ms. Vila participated in that protest?”
“I did.”
“And what evidence is that?”
“From photos on the Forest Initiative's website.”
I objected and we approached and we spent the next fifteen minutes arguing about whether the photos from the website could come in. Eventually, Judge French ruled that sufficient foundation had been laid and allowed it.
When she started again Victoria said, “And what pictures of Ms. Vila did you find?”
“These,” said Pearson and the first picture went up. It showed a woman, clearly Liselle by her blonde hair and light eyes, linking arms with eight others in front of a piece of heavy equipment. A second picture showed her with her fist up and her mouth open, clearly chanting or screaming.
She looked angry.
Victoria let the picture sit there for a while before she said, “So what did you investigate next?”
“So, after I had conducted this research, I waited a few more weeks for the toxicology results to come back. I spoke with Dr. Gerchuk about it once his results were complete.”
“Now Detective Pearson, Dr. Gerchuk has already explained to the jury that the toxicology results found the presence of alcohol and metoprolol, a beta blocker, in Mr. Phillips’ bloodstream. Did he relay similar information to you?”
“He did.”
“And did you relate information to him?”
“I did. I told him that we had found an herbal tea supplement in the room that contained St. John’s wort and other chemicals in it and I asked if that could have played a role in Mr. Phillips’ death.”
“And what did Dr. Gerchuk say?”
“He said he would get back to me.”
“And did he?”
“The same day.”
“Detective Pearson, Dr. Gerchuk has also explained to the jury how St. John's wort can speed up the elimination of a beta blocker from a person's bloodstream. Did he relay that same information to you?”
“He did.”
“And what did you do?”
“I turned all of that information over to the prosecutor's office.”
“I see.”
Victoria was silent for a moment and walked over next to the screen, one finger on her chin. She stood there, as if thinking, and the jury’s eyes naturally gravitated to the screen where Liselle stood, fist upraised, screaming, angry. Victoria stood there another moment, then pointed to her associate and the prescription bottle of medication popped up on the screen again. “And, just so the jury is clear Detective Pearson, this bottle of Lopressor, a beta blocker, was sitting in plain sight at the bathroom sink.”
“It was.”
“And there was only one sink in that bathroom?”
“That’s right.”
She started to walk away then she stopped and turned back to Pearson. “And how many toothbrushes were in the glass next to the sink, Detective Pearson?”
“Two, Ms. Lance.”
“Thank you. No further questions, Your Honor.”
I stood. “Detective Pearson, your office doesn’t investigate every heart attack that happens in Carrefour, does it?”
Pearson smirked. “Mr. Phillips didn’t die of a heart attack.”
“No, he didn’t. Thank you for correcting me. Detective Pearson, your office doesn’t investigate every sudden cardiac death caused by a fatal heart arrhythmia in Carrefour, does it?”
“We do not.”
“Instead, you investigated this one because of Mr. Phillips’ high profile, right?”
“I don't like what you're implying,” said Pearson.
“I'm not implying anything, Detective. I am saying that six other people died of cardiac related causes over that weekend in Carrefour, Ohio, the same weekend as Mr. Phillips, and you didn't investigate any one of those did you?”
“There was no implication of foul play in the other cases.”
“How can possibly know that if you didn’t investigate?”
“Well, we didn’t receive any complaints in any other cases.”
“And that's exactly what happened here, isn’t it?”
“Excuse me?”
“Bre Phillips called you and complained, right?”
“She did.”
“And she encouraged you to search her father's room for drugs, didn't she?”
“That’s standard operating procedure in a case like this.”
“And you did not find any illegal street drugs in Mr. Phillips room, did you?”
“We did not.”
“That's what you went in there looking for, wasn’t it?”
Pearson's eyes hooded. “We were looking for anything that might shed light on the situation.”
“At the time, there was no situation to shed light on was there? You just had a fifty-nine-year-old man who had experienced a cardiac arrhythmia, didn’t you?”
“We didn't know that yet. The autopsy was still pending.”
“So, at Bre Phillips’ direction, you searched my client’s room, didn't you?”
Pearson bristled. “With Bre Phillips’ consent, we searched her father’s belongings.”
“And anything you thought was in plain sight.”
Pearson smiled. “If it was in plain sight, we couldn't avoid seeing it.”
I nodded. “You testified that there was a pill bottle sitting next to the bathroom sink, correct?”
“That's correct.”
“And that there were two toothbrushes in the glass next to the sink?”
“That's right.”
“You’re implying that both Mr. Phillips and my client used that sink, right?”
Pearson shrugged. “It's not my place to say. What I can say is that there were two different toothbrushes that had been used sitting in a glass next to the prescription bottle of Lopressor.”
“I see. You don't know when the bottle of Lopressor was placed next to the sink, do you?”
“I do not.”
“You don't know who brushed their teeth first that morning, Mr. Phillips or Ms. Vila, correct?”
“I do not.”
“So Mr. Phillips could have used the sink after Ms. Vila, correct?”
“That's true.”
“In fact, it's possible that Ms. Vila could've used the shower first and then gone to the other room to do her hair and makeup while Mr. Phillips showered and brushed his teeth in the bathroom, correct?”
“I don't know what they did or the order they did them in.”
“Exactly. You don’t know who was in the bathroom first and who was in it last, do you?”
“That’s what I just said.”
“So there's a fifty-fifty chance Ms. Vila used the bathroom sink first, right?”
“I suppose.”
“And if it takes Ms. Vila longer to get ready than Mr. Phillips, it's more likely that she was in there first, right?”
“I can't say that’s true.”
“You also can't say it's not true, can you?”
Pearson nodded.
“You have to answer out loud, Detective Pearson.”
“Yes.”
“And it's possible that Mr. Phillips didn't set the medication on the sink until he used the bathroom, right?
“Not necessarily.”
“You mean he could've set the medicine on the sink when he wasn't in the bathroom? How would he do that?”
“No, obviously he had to have been in the bathroom when he set the medication on the side of sink.”
“So he might have set it there after Ms. Vila used the bathroom, right?”
“I don't know.”
“Detective Pearson, you can't tell the jury for sure that Ms. Vila saw that medication bottle, can you?”
“For sure? No. I think it's likely though.”
“Okay, Detective Pearson, why don’t you tell the jury how you know it's likely.”
“Well, because it was sitting right there.”
“Ms. Vila didn’t see you in the room, did she Detective Pearson?”
Pearson scowled. “Not that I know of.”
“But you were right there by the sink! Next to the medicine bottle!”
Pearson didn’t reply. I let it hang there for a moment, then said, “Detective Pearson, you mentioned that my client belonged to an organization, the Forest Initiative, that supports conservation, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“And you found that the Forest Initiative opposed certain decisions and policies of Doprava Corporation, true?”
“True.”
“And you were implying that my client has a motivation to see Mr. Phillips come to harm, because an organization that she belonged to opposed his company, right?”
Pearson shrugged. “That's not for me to decide. I'm just saying that she protested against his company.”
“Membership in an organization like the Forest Initiative is not illegal, is it?”
“No.”
“In fact, it supports a variety of environmental causes, true?”
“From what I could tell.”
“It seeks to preserve forests and clean water and wildlife, right?”
“From what I could see.”
“That's entirely consistent with her job, isn’t it?”
“I suppose.”
“I see. You investigate a lot of murders don't you, Detective Pearson?”
“As many as we have here in Carrefour.”
“You investigate motives for crimes as part of your job, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“On the night of Richard Phillips’ death, Bre Phillips told you to search his room, right?”
“She consented to it.”
“And Bre Phillips gave you information to start your investigation of Ms. Vila, is that right?”
“That's true.”
“Who received Mr. Phillips’ shares in Doprava when he died?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” said Victoria.
“The jury has the right to know whether Ms. Vila received any monetary benefit from Mr. Phillips’ death, Your Honor,” I said.
“Overruled,” said Judge French.
“It was Bre and Andrew Phillips, wasn’t it, Detective Pearson?”
“As far as I was able to determine, yes.”
“Ms. Vila did not receive any shares or money upon Mr. Phillips death, did she?”
“She did not.”
“Detective Pearson, besides being the Chief Detective for Serious Crimes here in Carrefour, you also supervise the Carrefour Police Recreation League, don’t you?”
“I do.” Pearson straightened and looked at the jury. “I believe that by intervening early with schoolchildren, we can avoid drug overdoses and drug-related crimes later.”
“As part of that program, you also provide sports equipment to kids in need, right?”
“We sure do. We donated over ten thousand dollars in equipment last year alone.”
“That’s great. And did the Carr
efour Police Recreation League receive a donation of twenty-five thousand dollars late last year from the Children’s Future Foundation?”
Pearson hesitated. “We did.”
“I assume you're aware that the Children’s Future Foundation is funded the Doprava Company?”
Pearson cocked his head. “I didn't think it was directly.”
“Oh. So you knew Doprava funded it indirectly?”
Pearson opened his mouth, shut it, and opened it again. “I guess I don't know where it came from.”
“I see. That's all I have, Detective Pearson. Thank you.”
Victoria stood. “Detective Pearson, was the bottle of Lopressor that you saw next to the bathroom sink visible from outside the bathroom?”
“It was. If you were standing in the hallway, you could see the sink.”
“Was Bre Phillips ever a suspect in her father’s death?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Is that a ridiculous suggestion?”
“It certainly is.”
“Did the donation to the Carrefour Police Recreation League affect your investigation in any way?”
“No, it did not.”
“Thank you, Detective.”
It was my turn. “You couldn't see in the bathroom if the door was closed, right Detective?”
“Obviously.”
“And you couldn't see it if you were in the other room of the suite, right?”
“That's true.”
“And is wasn’t visible from the bedroom?”
“No, it was not.”
“And you certainly couldn’t see it if it hadn't been placed there yet, right?”
“I think we covered that, Counselor.”
“So it should be easy to answer.”
Pearson rolled his eyes. “No, you couldn’t see it if it hadn’t been placed there yet.”
“Now Detective Pearson, I wasn’t suggesting that Bre Phillips killed her father.”
“Good.”
“I was suggesting that you didn’t investigate that possibility. That’s true, right?”
Pearson glared. “That’s true.”
“You had different theories for why Mr. Phillips died throughout your investigation, didn’t you?”
Pearson shrugged. “Investigations always evolve.”
“Why don’t you tell the jury the theory you told me the first time you met Ms. Vila.”
Pearson’s head jerked. “What?”
“You remember. The first time Ms. Vila and I came to see you at the police station so you could question her. You told me your theory about Mr. Phillips death. Do you remember what you told me?”