by Неизвестный
Dr. Louden had thought long and hard about that couple of hours in September and her lab’s failure to identify the hypodermic injection site. She was prepared to fall on her sword if necessary, but somehow she sensed that was not where Buck was going. She recounted in detail, almost minute by minute, the exam.
Buck then asked, “Was there was any break in the exam or other distraction whatsoever?” He was skating on thin ice, but his instincts were now in control.
At that moment something immediately clicked in her mind. What was it that had been bothering her about the autopsy? She suddenly recalled the telephone call she had received and slipped away to answer due to a lack of a receptionist on duty at that hour of the day.
Responding to Buck’s question, she recounted, “Come to think of it, there was one thing. Early in the procedure, I stepped away to take a call. There was no receptionist on duty. When I answered the phone, there was no one on the line.”
“However, my senior assistant remained with the body at all times,” she added.
Buck let any further questioning of the autopsy procedure drop at that point. He had other pieces of the puzzle to fit into place. Buck thanked Dr. Louden. Kyra had no questions.
“The Court excuses Dr. Louden.”
Monday, November 14
Department 6 of the Superior Court, 10:30 a.m.
Out of an abundance of caution to have potential witnesses ready and not annoy the court with unwarranted gaps of time in the trial, Buck had several subpoenas served that morning, including one to Che Alvarez, Dr. Louden’s senior tech.
Still fishing, he sensed that setting the hook was in sight.
In light of Dr. Louden’s testimony, he decided to call Che Alvarez to the stand when his investigator, Joe Sontag, entered the courtroom and leaned over the rail to get Buck’s attention.
Buck asked the court for a brief moment to which Judge Goodman nodded her ascent. Sontag handed Buck a folder and whispered a few words in his ear taking a total of about thirty seconds.
Buck returned and said, “Thank you, Your Honor,” implying that he was ready to proceed. He then called Che Alvarez to the stand. All, including Kyra, were expecting a somewhat overlapping accounting of the autopsy procedure, but from Alvarez’s perspective.
“Would you please tell the court and jury about your educational and work experience?”
Some might have thought he was qualifying the witness as an expert rather than getting ready to examine him as to the apparent failure to discover the puncture spot. Buck always had a purpose in mind, even if the purpose was no purpose at all but to mainly take up time. This was not the case here.
Buck then went over to his papers on the table and picked up the folder that Sontag had given him. Holding it in his hand, he approached Che and asked him some time-wasting questions about his job.
“Mr. Alvarez, how do you like your job?”
“Do you see it as a long-term career path?”
Kyra was immediately suspicious but did not object at this point.
Che responded, “You know, it’s a good job, interesting and with pretty good pay. I enjoy working with Dr. Louden and learn a great deal from her. Whether medical school is in my future, I really don’t know.”
“Mr. Alvarez, does the job provide a satisfactory earning level for you?”
Kyra immediately stood up, “Objection, Your Honor, as to the relevance of such a question.”
Buck asked the judge if they could approach the bench. Judge Goodman granted the request and Buck and Kyra, along with Lisa Alexander, the court reporter, walked to the side of the elevated Judge’s bench. The jury had been told that this request to approach the bench, known as a sidebar, might occur throughout the trial.
Judge Goodman whispered to counsel so the jury could not hear, “Okay, Mr. Johnson, your response to Ms. O’Neill’s objection?”
“Your Honor, if you will allow me a brief amount of latitude in light of the seriousness of the charges and their consequences, I believe the relevance will become abundantly clear in one or two more questions at the most.”
Kyra gave an appropriate but token rebuttal knowing that Judge Goodman was likely to give extra latitude both to an experienced and credible lawyer like Buck Johnson, especially in a murder trial. Judge Goodman addressed Buck cryptically, “Let’s see some connection very soon.”
Buck further assured the judge, “These first questions are merely foundational in nature and the connection will be made.”
The sidebar broke up and Buck restated the question to Che.
Che being Che, with no filter, almost proudly blurted out, “I make $48,000 per year and that’s enough to pay for my share of my apartment and still leave me a few bucks for some social life.”
Buck commented, “Not exactly retirement money, is it Che?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” interjected Kyra.
Judge Goodman simply responded, “Move on, Mr. Johnson.”
Che merely chuckled. Buck then pulled out a few sheets of paper from the folder Joe Sontag had given him. He handed a copy to Kyra and one to Che. Buck continued, “I’d like to have these marked collectively as Defense Exhibit J.”
After handing a copy to the Judge, he then turned to Che and asked, “Can you identify these documents, Mr. Alvarez?” Che froze.
Kyra stood up again, “I object on the grounds that I have not previously been provided a copy of these documents and they are not on counsel’s Exhibit list.”
Although Buck was clearly within his rights, he courteously responded in the direction of Judge Goodman, “Your Honor, I only came into possession of these documents when handed to me by my investigator, Mr. Sontag, a few minutes ago. Furthermore, Mr. Sontag only secured the documents this morning as a result of several subpoenas he served on our behalf this very morning.”
Judge Goodman simply advised, “Objection overruled.”
Buck asked again, “Mr. Alvarez, do you recognize the documents identified as Defense Exhibit J?”
Che quietly nodded his assent. Buck said, “Mr. Alvarez, you must answer audibly.”
“Ya, I know what it is.”
“Once again, Mr. Alvarez, will you please specifically identify them for the record.”
“Ya, this looks like a copy of my bank statement.”
Buck directed Che’s attention to an entry dated September 24 and asked Che, “Please read out loud what the entry reflects.”
“The entry shows a deposit into my bank account.”
“Please read the amount of that deposit out loud to the court and jury.”
“It says $15,000.”
“Isn’t that almost one-third of your annual salary?” No actual response was expected or necessary.
Buck inquired further, “Do you recall the source of that money? Did you get an annual bonus? Did you sell a car? Did you receive a gift from a relative? Did you hit a scratcher?”
Buck was going to add a few more suggestions of improbable sources of the money but stopped at that point.
Kyra saw that nothing good was coming out of this and was concerned about the direction of the questions and the testimony. However, she remained totally perplexed as to any motivation Che might have for misconduct in the performance of the autopsy.
Che’s eyes welled up and he blurted out, “No! No!”
He immediately launched into an apparent explanation of the deposit,
interjecting each statement with, “I’m so sorry, I really screwed up,”
He described his need for money to pay his mounting credit card debt.
“How can a young guy really survive on that salary?”
He gathered himself for a moment, but without real pause, “I was approached anonymously on my cell phone by some guy in the late afternoon of September 20. I had no idea how he got my number but he said it didn’t matter and did I want to earn some quick, easy cash.”
“ Then the guy says, there’s fifteen large in cash. All you have to do is cover
up a small injection puncture spot on a body that’s on its way to the morgue. No one will ever know. The guy’s a wetback with no ID.”
“There will be a phone call to your boss, the medical examiner, and all you gotta do is get her to take the call and while she’s away, you can do the job.”
Without interruption by Buck, Che continued, “When the phone rang that afternoon during the Molina autopsy, I told Doc Louden to go ahead and answer it and that I would continue the procedure. I was sure that the Doc would not think twice about the situation and that she would be comfortable letting me continue with the autopsy.”
“When she left, I finished up and just didn’t clean the body as thoroughly as I normally would and the little spot the guy told me about just didn’t show. I figured what harm. The guy had clearly been beaten to death anyway.”
“I had no idea what was going on and didn’t suspect nothin’ was up until that doctor of yours wanted to re-examine the body.”
“A few days later an envelope with ‘15 K’ in cool-looking one-hundred dollar bills was sitting under the doormat of my apartment when I arrived home that night. I just took out the cash and burned the envelope.”
In his naiveté, Che deposited the cash in one lump sum into his regular checking account. By this time, he was sobbing. Judge Goodman simply said, “Let’s take a 15-minute recess.”
With the how of Molina’s death now fully accounted for, the who
still remained a glaring mystery. Who killed Molina, and why?
Monday, November 14
Judge Goodman’s Chambers, 11:30 a.m.
When counsel and Judge Goodman returned, Judge Goodman asked if counsel would join her in a private conversation with the court before the jury was brought in. Judge Goodman asked Kyra and Buck to follow her into her chambers. Kyra and Buck sat down in the two red leather chairs opposite Judge Goodman’s desk. Not meaning to make light of the matter but looking directly at Buck, Judge Goodman couldn’t help quoting Oliver Hardy’s statement to his partner, Stan Laurel, “Well, it’s a heck of a mess you got us into this time!”
With a mischievous look on his face, Buck responded, “I don’t make up the facts. I just find them.”
Kyra spoke up, “Your Honor, in light of the events that just occurred, perhaps an adjournment for the day would be warranted to allow me to reassess the charges pending.” Judge Goodman directed both sides to look carefully at their options. She candidly cautioned Kyra, “You need to discuss with your colleagues what case, if any, you want to proceed with.”
She equally cautioned Buck, “At the same time Mr. Johnson, I don’t want you to become overly enamored with your case in that someone clearly inflicted a serious beating on an apparently innocent victim and while no one is easily going to conclude that the boys injected the toxin, there still is no answer to who committed this murder.”
The judge and lawyers returned to the courtroom and Judge Goodman formally announced that court would be adjourned for the rest of the day and that the jury would be excused until 1:30 p.m. the next afternoon.
Buck and Kyra gathered their papers following the excusing of the jury. The courtroom had emptied out. Buck said to Kyra, “Look, please take a look at the case as I promise I will.”
He further stated, “I hope we will both have more options for the judge
and each other tomorrow morning in our conference.”
Tuesday. November 15
Judge Goodman’s Chambers, 9 a.m.
The next morning at 9 a.m., Kyra, and the DA herself, Alexa Rathburn, entered the courtroom. Moments later Buck came in with Joe Sontag and a man Kyra did not recognize. They were escorted by Judge Goodman’s clerk past the bench, through the hallway, and into Judge Goodman’s chambers. She sat them all at the conference table
she had in her chambers. She asked for introductions, even though she knew all but the man accompanying Joe Sontag.
Buck spoke up and said, “May I introduce to Your Honor and Counsel, Special Agent Jack Thomas, San Diego Office of the FBI.” Buck continued, “I am prepared, along with agent Thomas’s assistance, to lay out for the court and counsel the entire circumstance of Javier Molina’s death.” Buck turned to Jack Thomas and nodded.
“I’m here today both to repay a courtesy with Mr. Johnson and in support of the system we all work within. The matter and the discussion that I have with this group must remain under the utmost secrecy and I ask Judge Goodman that you honor this request and order it’s confidentiality in the Court record.”
Judge Goodman nodded her assent.
“We have in custody in the Metropolitan Correctional Center one José María Cardozo. Together with the DEA, we had been working this case for almost 18 months before an arrest was made. Although a great deal of our evidence was circumstantial, we developed enough to secure an indictment, arrest warrant and the cooperation of the Mexican Government in the capture and extradition of this man.”
“We are convinced beyond a doubt that Mr. Cardozo is the family patron of one of the largest and most feared drug cartels in all of Mexico. While I cannot reveal the details of the clandestine nature of Cardozo’s arrest and transfer to the United States, we have had him here since July of this year awaiting trial.”
“In August, we were approached by an individual who was prepared to trade first-hand testimony against Cardozo and his operation in exchange for a new life in the United States. This was an incredible break for us and was the missing link to put the final nail in Mr. Cardozo’s coffin.”
“That person was no other than the individual you all know as Javier Molina.”
“We planned the key meeting in San Diego that certain Friday night with Molina who was coming from Calexico.”
Thomas left out the embarrassment of him not forcing Molina to allow himself to be picked up in Calexico and escorted to San Diego, but simply went on to tell of Molina’s trip from Calexico to San Diego which, unfortunately, turned out to end in Boulevard, California outside of Dante’s Tavern on a hot, dusty Santa Ana afternoon.
He continued to describe, “Based on my off-the-record discussions with a trusted colleague in the San Diego legal community, leads were developed and the picture came into focus.” His “trusted colleague” was recognized by all in the room to be a reference to Buck Johnson.
“I then took those discussions and connected them upon learning of the location and circumstances of Molina’s demise on the news the evening of September 20.”
He went on, “We spread our information net within Calexico. Thanks to the violently competitive nature of the assassination organizations that operate there results followed pretty quickly.”
“My agents’ work then yielded another snitch coming forward and telling of the murder of Javier Molina outside of Dante’s Tavern in Boulevard.”
Buck then turned to Joe Sontag and nodded. Sontag picked up the monologue. “Here is how we believe the events went down. The assassin likely entered the picnic area, slipped into the melee, and administered the toxin without the boys even realizing he was there.”
While there would still be questions as to how someone slipped into the fray without the boys fully knowing about it, that was not critical at the moment. It was clear that somehow the assassination was completed.
What was clear now was that, while Eddie McDermott may well have been guilty of participating in an assault and battery, and a senseless one at that, it was becoming clear that neither he nor his buddies had been the primary cause of Molina’s death and likely not even a contributing cause.
DA Rathburn spoke up, “Your Honor, could Ms. O’Neill and I step out a moment?” Judge Goodman nodded.
They returned to the Judge’s chambers in about five minutes. Kyra spoke up. “While the enhancements to even the assault and battery could raise the offense to at least second degree murder, in light of these circumstances, and in the interest of justice, the People are willing to bring an end to this matter to offer a reduction to felony of assault
and battery with 60 days in the county jail, credit for time served, one year in a supervised youth camp and one year of community service.
She continued, “Upon completion of serving the sentence, the People will move to dismiss the felony counts.”
Johnson asked for an hour to meet with Eddie and his parents, but indicated that he was prepared to recommend this disposition of the case. Buck called Eddie’s parents and asked them to meet him as soon as possible at the jail to discuss the latest developments and the offer from the prosecution. Due to the extremely sensitive nature of the assistance from the FBI, Buck had not been able to discuss the evolving details before now and would have to be very guarded in his discussion with Eddie and his parents at this point. He would be able to tell them enough to evaluate the plea bargain that had been offered by the prosecution in the People of the State of California vs. Eddie McDermott.