by Jae
Dawn took a few deep breaths as the DDA returned to her table and sat back down.
Judge Linehan leaned forward. "The prosecutor has completed her opening statement. Does defense counsel wish to give his opening statement now?"
"Yes, Your Honor." The defense attorney rose from his seat, buttoning his suit jacket. "Victor D'Aquino representing Mr. Ballard. Your Honor, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, the prosecution wants you to believe this is a case about hate, but it's not. My client is not a hateful man."
Dawn glanced toward Ballard, who sat behind the defense table with his hands folded, looking to the world as if he couldn't even hurt a fly.
"Garett Ballard is just a man who supports himself with hard work as a security specialist. In this line of work, he's used to protecting and helping people, to prevent danger and harm, not to cause it," D'Aquino continued to paint his client in glorious colors.
Dawn shuddered with disgust. He's equating that bastard with honest cops who are out there every day, risking their lives to protect innocent people?
"Mr. Ballard has no previous criminal record; he never caused anyone any problems, and his employer will testify that he held no ill feelings toward lesbians. So, what this case is about is an innocent man wrongfully accused of crimes he didn't commit." D'Aquino gesticulated as if he had just uncovered a conspiracy against his client.
"As Her Honor instructed you, an opening statement is not evidence. The prosecution simply told you their theory about what happened on the night of October 6th, but the problem with the prosecution's case is – they don't have one. There – never – was – a – rape," the defense attorney emphasized every word. "Mr. Ballard had sex with consenting, adult women, which is not a crime. All so-called evidence to suggest otherwise is circumstantial at best. The prosecution has neither eyewitnesses nor substantial pieces of evidence to prove a rape. The only thing they've got is the testimony of the alleged victims – the unverified accusations of women who decided to sleep with my client despite their self-claimed identities as lesbians and then, after the heat and passion of the moment was over, were too embarrassed to admit to a heterosexual affair, claiming it a rape instead."
Dawn stared at him in disbelief. Since when is it embarrassing not to be gay?
"You heard the prosecution mention how Mr. Ballard allegedly tried to resist arrest," D'Aquino addressed the other charge against his client. "What it actually was is a man just doing his job, like those police officers did, too. What Ms. Matheson failed to tell you is that on the evening of his arrest, two plainclothes detectives – not uniformed police officers – came up to my client at the front door of the club he had been assigned to watch over. And that was exactly what he did. He didn't recognize them as police officers but thought of them as troublemakers trying to get into the club, and he acted accordingly."
Troublemakers? Dawn looked at Aiden, then at Ray Bennet, who sat somewhere behind his partner in the second row of the gallery. Every inch of them spoke of dedicated police officers. No one could mistake them for troublemakers trying to get into the club without paying.
Victor D'Aquino held up his index finger. "Remember, my client is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. I am confident that, after hearing all the evidence and testimony in this case, you'll agree with me that the prosecution has not been able to prove Mr. Ballard's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and find him not guilty. Thank you."
Judge Linehan lifted her gavel. "Before we hear the case for the prosecution, we'll take a ten minute recess so that all witnesses who will be called later can leave the courtroom."
Dawn immediately stood, glad to leave the courtroom and the whole trial behind her for as long as she could.
* * *
Ruth Linehan waved to her clerk. "Bring in the jury, please." She waited until all the jurors had taken their places and then nodded at Kade. "Call your first witness."
Kade rose, glancing back toward the double doors. "The People call Officer Jonathan Riley to the stand." She watched in dissatisfaction as the young officer walked toward the witness stand. His more experienced partner, Officer Trent, was out with the flu, leaving Kade with the rookie at the last minute. She wasn't looking forward to his cross-exam by D'Aquino, but there was nothing she could do about it now.
Kade waited until Riley had been sworn in before she rounded the prosecution's table and stepped in front of the witness-box. "Officer Riley, you are a police officer with the central precinct, responsible for the area Dr. Kinsley lived in, is that correct?"
Riley fiddled with the tie of his uniform. The nervousness he displayed didn't bode well for his testimony and the impression he left with the jurors. "Yes, that's correct."
"On the night of Saturday, October 6th, you and your partner, Officer Trent, responded to a call at 228 Northwest Everett Street, did you not?"
"Yes, ma'am, we did. The call came over the radio at approximately three thirty-five. Dispatch reported an assault at that location."
Kade nodded. "When you arrived at the crime scene –"
"Objection, Your Honor!" The defense attorney sprang up from his seat before Kade could finish her question. "Assumes facts not in evidence. Ms. Kinsley's apartment is not the scene of any crime that's been proven yet."
Kade looked at him over the rim of her glasses. Nitpicking and bickering like that won't bring you any points with the jury or with Linehan, you little idiot, so by all means keep it up. "I'll rephrase, Your Honor," she offered before Linehan could rule. "Officer Riley, would you please tell us what you encountered when you arrived at the location in question?"
"The apartment was a mess," Riley blurted out. "Through the bedroom door, I could see a knocked-over chair and a lamp, I think. There were some objects – books, figurines, a pair of broken glasses and such – scattered across the floor."
Kade turned and lifted a photograph from the prosecution table, carrying it to the witness stand. "I'm showing you what's been marked as People's exhibit one for identification. Can you tell the jury what is pictured in this photograph?"
"It's a photograph of Ms. Kinsley's bedroom. It was taken on the night in question."
Kade carried the photograph to the jury box, letting the jurors see the destruction in Dawn's apartment with their own eyes, before she returned to her witness. "What about Dr. Kinsley? How did she appear?"
Officer Riley fingered his tie again. "Her clothing was torn, and a bruise was forming on her cheek."
Kade held up two transparent evidence bags. "Officer Riley, have you ever seen these exhibits before?" She laid the evidence bags down in front of the young officer.
"Yes," Riley answered. "I believe this is the clothing Dr. Kinsley wore on October 6th."
Kade turned, showing the torn T-shirt and panties to the jury members. "What conclusions did you draw from the state Dr. Kinsley and her apartment were in?"
"Objection!" came the expected interruption from the defense table. "Your Honor, she's calling for a conclusion on the part of the witness."
"Overruled," Linehan said as Kade had thought she would. "The witness is a trained police officer. I want to hear his conclusions. Please answer, Officer Riley."
"I thought it likely that an assault had occurred," the officer answered.
Kade nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you, Officer. No further questions." She sat down and watched defense counsel rise for his cross-examination.
"Officer Riley," D'Aquino stepped close to the young cop so he would tower above him, "how long have you been a police officer?"
Kade had seen it coming. She held back a grimace.
"Since last year," Riley answered.
"Just last year," D'Aquino repeated, in case one of the jurors hadn't caught it the first time. "And how long have you been working in the field?"
Riley seemed a little embarrassed now, well aware of his inexperience. "Two months."
"And in those two months, have you ever been summoned to the site of a sexual assault before?" the de
fense lawyer continued his questioning.
"No, sir," the young officer had to admit, "this was my first."
D'Aquino nodded. "Have you ever met Ms. Kinsley before that night?"
"No, of course not."
"Is it safe to say then, Officer Riley, that you have no frame of reference to assess her appearance or her behavior?"
Jonathan Riley hesitated. "I guess not."
"In your direct examination, you said that you saw the objects on the floor through the open bedroom door, so you weren't actually in the bedroom, were you?"
"Ms. Kinsley didn't want me to," Riley stammered. "She was pretty shaken, and we were waiting for a female detective –"
"A simple yes or no, please," the defense attorney demanded. "Were you or were you not in the bedroom?"
The officer's shoulders slumped. "No, I wasn't."
"So, not having seen the evidence at close range, how could you be sure that the objects scattered about the bedroom floor hadn't simply gotten there by two people having passionate sex, tumbling into the apartment, kissing and tearing each other's clothes off?" D'Aquino asked.
"It didn't look like that," Riley answered weakly.
"From the distance," D'Aquino muttered.
Kade stood. "Objection! Is there a question?"
"Withdrawn. No further questions." The defense attorney returned to his seat.
The judge looked at Kade. "Redirect, Ms. Matheson?"
"Yes, Your Honor." Kade knew she couldn't leave it like that. D'Aquino had destroyed Riley's credibility. "Officer Riley, how did the living room of Dr. Kinsley's apartment look when you arrived?"
"Tidy, ma'am. No signs of a struggle," the man sweating on the witness stand answered.
"How would you expect a living room to look if two people having passionate sex, tumbling into the apartment, kissing and tearing each other's clothes off, had stumbled through on their way to the bedroom?" Kade asked, consciously quoting the defense's argument. She hoped that even the inexperienced officer had caught on to what she was trying to get him to say by now.
"If that was the case, there would have been some scattered objects in the hallway and the living room, too," Riley answered.
"Thank you. Nothing further." Kade sat back down.
* * *
"I call Detective Aiden Carlisle to the stand."
Aiden strode into the courtroom, careful to hide any trace of her nervousness as she placed her left hand on the Bible the bailiff held out for her. She hadn't been this nervous before her testimony since her very first time in court as a rookie fresh from the academy. She swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth and took her place on the witness stand.
"Would you please state and spell your name for the record?" the bailiff asked.
"Aiden Carlisle. A-i-d-e-n, C-a-r-l-i-s-l-e," she spelled out for the court reporter.
She watched as Kade moved close to the witness-box and gave her a small nod. "Tell the jury your profession, please."
"I'm a detective with the Sexual Assault Detail of the Portland Police Bureau," Aiden answered, keeping her head up and her shoulders squared.
"How long have you been a police officer, Detective?" Kade obviously wanted to establish Aiden's experience after the defense had poked holes into Officer Riley's credibility.
"Nine years," Aiden answered.
Kade nodded with an impressed expression on her face as if she hadn't known the fact before. "How many of those years have you spent investigating sex crimes?"
"Seven years."
Another impressed nod from the Deputy DA. "For comparison, what is the average time a detective works with the Sexual Assault Detail before transferring out?"
"The average's two years," Aiden answered patiently. Okay, now everyone should have noticed that I know my stuff.
"Detective Carlisle, would you please describe for the jury what you found when you arrived at Dr. Kinsley's apartment on the night in question?" Kade asked, purposely leaving out why Aiden had been present at the apartment in the first place. They both knew that the jury would assume she had been called in by Officers Trent and Riley.
"In the bedroom, furniture had been knocked over, and a series of broken objects and trampled books were scattered across the floor," Aiden answered. "In the living room, nothing was out of order, except for a wide-open window and a ripped-out phone cord."
Kade nodded. "Did you actually enter the bedroom?"
"Yes, I did."
Kade directed her gaze at D'Aquino for a moment, silently emphasizing for the jury that this witness had seen the damage up close. "Where was Dr. Kinsley when you arrived?"
Aiden knew this was her cue to report the physical and emotional state in which Dawn had been since Kade couldn't ask directly without drawing an objection from D'Aquino. "She was sitting in the living room, too scared to return to the bedroom."
"How do you know she was scared?" Kade threw the ball back to her.
"She was very pale – except for the bruise on her right cheek – and trembling, obviously in a state of shock," Aiden said. There were days where she couldn't get that picture out of her head.
"What did Dr. Kinsley tell you –?"
"Objection, hearsay!" D'Aquino interrupted.
Linehan nodded. "Sustained."
Aiden pressed her lips together for a moment. The defense had just successfully prevented her from explaining to the jury how Dawn had immediately told her she had been raped.
"Detective Carlisle, you were the lead investigator in Dr. Kinsley's case, correct?" Kade moved on to the next question.
"My partner, Detective Bennet, and I, yes."
"Tell us a little about the investigation, please," Kade said.
Aiden looked at the jury members, speaking directly to them. "The first solid lead came when we noticed similarities between the cases of Ms. Kinsley, Ms. Matthews, and Ms. Riggs." She decided to leave out their useless attempts to get a DNA hit in one of their databases because it would only draw attention to the fact that Garett Ballard had no previous criminal record. "All of them frequented a lesbian club known as Rainbows."
"And after that discovery, what was the next step in your investigation?"
"We went to the club to show around the sketch our police artist had drawn from Dr. Kinsley's description of her rapist." Aiden fixed a steely gaze at Ballard. "But that didn't prove necessary because before I even reached the front door, I identified the defendant, Mr. Ballard, as the man we were searching for. Dr. Kinsley had described him in detail, right down to the scars on his chin and above one eyebrow."
Kade turned and regarded Ballard for a second, giving the jury the opportunity to do the same, before she held up a sheet of paper. "Is this sketch, which I've filed as People's exhibit four, the sketch you're referring to, Detective?"
"Yes, it is." The resemblance of the portrayed man to Ballard was obvious.
Kade walked the sketch over to the jury for closer inspection. "What happened next?"
"We waited for a warrant, as the law requires, and then went to arrest Mr. Ballard. As I started to read him his rights, he called me a 'bitch' and hit me in the face with his fist," Aiden reported.
Kade handed her a photograph, taken the day after the arrest when the bruise on her jaw had been the most colorful. "I'm showing you what's been marked as People's exhibit five. Detective Carlisle, is this the injury you sustained during the arrest?"
"Yes, it is." Aiden gave the photograph back so Kade could show it to the jury.
"Detective Carlisle, how many suspects have you arrested during your career?"
Aiden shrugged. "I don't know the exact number; must have been hundreds, though."
"And how many times has a suspect hit you during an arrest?" Kade asked.
"Most don't try to resist, but I've been hit, kicked, spat on, and sworn at more times than I can count." Aiden looked across the courtroom at Ballard. You're nothing special, you bastard.
Kade stepped c
loser. "And how often have you been hit, kicked, spat on, or sworn at by a suspect whose innocence was later established?"
D'Aquino shot up from his seat. "Objection!"