Obstruction of Justice

by Perri O'shaughnessy

"So what was the motive, in your opinion?"

  "Well, the defendant’s mother, Sarah de Beers, had changed her mind, which meant that the exhumation order would likely issue. The defendant thought his grandfather had pressured his mother into withdrawing her opposition. That made him angry at his grandfather."

  "How do you know that?"

  "His mother told us."

  Jason, who had sat quietly up to now, muffled some sound.

  "She said when he found out she was going to let them go ahead, he told her it would never happen. That’s in her statement."

  Now Nina was in a quandary. If she attacked the statement Sarah had signed, Collier would put Sarah on the stand and emphasize it. If she didn’t attack it, it would certainly appear that Jason had a motive, however far-fetched, to murder his grandfather. She decided to let it pass.

  "Let’s say he was angry with his grandfather," she said. "Are you telling us he went to the cemetery and dug up the grave, knowing his grandfather would follow and planning to hit him with the shovel?"

  "No. That would not be my reconstruction from the crime scene. I would say he was digging up the grave to frustrate the grandfather’s plan to exhume the body. The grandfather followed and tried to stop him. The defendant attacked him with the shovel. It’s all linked to animosity."

  "So you don’t feel Quentin de Beers’s death was planned before the events at the cemetery that night?"

  "I couldn’t say that at this time, no. It was more a situational thing."

  "All this is a reconstruction from what you call the motive evidence?"

  "From all the evidence I’ve mentioned."

  "Which is all really just supposition, isn’t it?"

  "Objection. Argumentative."

  "Sustained."

  "Just a house of cards?"

  "I wouldn’t say—"

  "Same objection."

  "Sustained."

  "You don’t have a single solitary piece of real evidence, do you?"

  "Objection!"

  "Withdraw the last question," Nina said. "I have nothing further."

  "We’ll take the midafternoon break," Amagosian announced.

  The courtroom cleared. "Now I’m starting to feel like I have a chance," Jason said.

  "In spite of yourself," Nina said, gathering up her papers.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Never mind. Collier!" Collier was just walking out. He waited for her, but he didn’t look happy. Close up, it was evident to her that he was working from some reserve of energy that was draining away his health.

  "I just wanted to say... I know the hearing isn’t going well for you..." she said.

  "You shouldn’t have pushed me into a ten-day hearing," Collier said. "You know how short-staffed we are. In spite of what the law says, the other defense attorneys work with us, give us time to prepare. That’s the way it’s done, Nina. As usual, you’ll do whatever it takes to win, to hell with protocol."

  "I have to make strategic decisions based on what’s best for my client."

  "That may work for you this time around. But at some point in some case you’re going to need an accommodation from our office. And you won’t get it. That’s how it works."

  "So I’m not even supposed to use the one advantage the defendant has, a quick hearing," Nina said. "You have all the other advantages. Look, I don’t want to get into an argument."

  "What do you want? Hoping I won’t take it personally?"

  "I suppose so. I, uh, value our friendship."

  Collier snorted. "Excuse me, Counsel," he said, and disappeared into the hall.

  28

  "CALL DR. STEWART CLAUSON."

  The little man in the white shirt with the white skin and sparse white hair mounted the stand with his briefcase. Doc Clauson looked just like always, bloodless, bespectacled, and brisk, except for one thing—the habitual pack of cigarettes in the breast pocket was gone, replaced by Juicy Fruit gum.

  Collier quickly established that Doc Clauson was the duly certified medical examiner for the County of El Dorado, in charge of all autopsies over the enormous area of the four-thousand-square-mile county; that he had performed more than five hundred autopsies within the last ten years, and that he taught forensic pathology at the University of California in San Francisco.

  "On or about August twenty-third of this year, did you perform an autopsy on the body of a person subsequently identified as Quentin de Beers?"

  "Yes. I knew who he was when I got him on the table. The skull was badly burned, but I recognized the features and body build. We played golf now and then at Edgewood for the last twenty years."

  "And you prepared an autopsy report, a copy of which has been provided to Ms. Reilly?"

  "I have it right here to refer to." Clauson adjusted his bifocals.

  "Describe the condition of the decedent at the time of autopsy."

  While Collier did his work, Nina looked around the courtroom, gathering her strength for the next big push. Sarah and Molly were still out in the hall waiting, where they would have to spend most of the hearing. She was relieved they wouldn’t hear this. She squeezed Jason’s hand, murmuring, "Stay cool."

  "The skin was severely charred and much of the soft tissue of the arms and legs was gone. The body was in a supine position with both legs pulled up, probably from constriction of the tissues after death. The contents of the abdomen, including the large intestine, were visible. Other than some shoe leather on the feet, the clothing had been burned away. A stainless steel Swiss Army knife could be seen in the abdomen. Fell in during the fire, I’d say."

  Clauson reviewed the crime scene photos that had previously been admitted into evidence and identified and described the body in additional detail, saying at one point, "I’m just giving you a gross summary now." Nina thought, It’s gross all right.

  "Please, continue," Collier said politely. "And you then performed an autopsy of the body?"

  "I did. Took longer than usual, about three and a half hours. Took a lot of blood samples and tissue samples we don’t have back yet, so all I can talk about is findings available at the time of the autopsy."

  "Please summarize your findings for the Court at this time," Collier said.

  "Well, first of all, I found fat globules in the lungs."

  "What significance would fat globules have?"

  "It’s an indicator of soft-tissue injury. Everybody has a certain amount of fat deposited underneath the skin, in the abdominal cavity, and in the bone marrow. If you’re struck by a violent blow, some of the fat will be dislodged. It’s taken up by the bloodstream and carried back to the heart. From there it goes to the lungs, but here the blood passes through blood vessels so small that these fat globules are strained out. When I look at the lung tissue under a microscope I can identify the globules using a special stain. I found some in the victim’s lungs."

  "And what can you conclude from that?"

  "Just from that, two things you’re interested in. One, the victim suffered direct violence to some portion of his body. Two, he was alive when the wound was inflicted."

  "Could the bleeding you observed have occurred in the fire?"

  "I would say not, because the victim was dead at the time of the fire. I’ll get into that in a minute."

  "Go on."

  "The next interesting thing I found was also in the skull area. The relevant findings are as follows: The victim had been struck from behind, at the base of the skull. No fracture, but the scalp at the base was bruised. Under the skin I found what you’d expect, an area of subdural bleeding about three centimeters in diameter. The scalp bore an imprint indicating contact with a sharp edge, not breaking the skin like a knife cut, but sharp like a metal tool edge. Here are the pictures." They were truly gruesome. While Nina consulted her copies, Jason kept his head turned away.

  The imprint on the shaved skull had been photographed next to a ruler, which showed the length and width of the contusion and the sharp edge Clauson was testifying abo
ut. Clauson was now, in his blunt way, concluding that the wound imprint matched the edge of the shovel. Ginger had already told Nina not to waste her breath attacking that finding. Without much doubt, the shovel and Quentin de Beers’s skull had come into contact.

  "Did you observe any other wounds on the victim?"

  "Some superficial contusions with dirt in ’em. Consistent with the victim being dragged some distance. The victim must have just died, because there was less subdural bleeding than you’d expect if he was alive."

  "Any other wounds?"

  "Well, not wounds. But let me go back to the base of the skull. I already mentioned the subdural bleeding. Well, there was a much more extensive area further in, in the subarachnoid space. Bleeding and several large clots, exactly underneath the point where the shovel hit.

  "There was so much bleeding that I looked for another source of hemorrhage. Found a cerebral aneurysm on the right upper portion of the circle of Willis, usual spot for berries. Confirmed by the fact that he had a couple of others, a cluster of them, really."

  "Perhaps you should explain what a cerebral aneurysm is."

  "It’s a dilated blood vessel. Several arteries meet in an almost circular pattern at the base of the brain. That area’s called the circle of Willis, and aneurysms are common there. The veins swell out in a weakened area of the vessel wall for any of a number of reasons: atherosclerosis, congenital weakness, other things.

  "Berry aneurysms in the brain are common. I see ’em once in a while in the autopsies I perform. Unruptured, that is. Usually too small to cause symptoms, and seldom diagnosed while the patient is still upright. Little ticking time bombs. So one of the berries had torn, which caused most of the subarachnoid bleeding, I reckon. The victim would have probably suffered severe pain, then passed into unconsciousness quickly."

  "And what causes an aneurysm to burst?"

  "Sometimes no reason. They blow when they blow. Or trauma. I judged the skull trauma to have occurred at just about the same time as the aneurysm went. Cause and effect. Trauma, in this case."

  He said it so casually. Trauma. Amagosian made a note. Trauma caused aneurysm, the note undoubtedly said. Nina held her fire.

  "Could the bleeding that occurred after the rupture of the aneurysm have been fatal?" Collier asked.

  "It was fatal. That’s what killed him."

  "What about the fire?"

  Clauson shook his head, said, "It was all over before the fire started."

  "And what specific findings do you base that conclusion on?"

  "Well, no matter how badly the victim’s been burned, you can usually determine whether he was dead first on autopsy. Two ways. First, if the victim was alive at the time, smoke will have been inhaled into the lungs. Small carbon granules will be found deposited in the bronchial passages and other air spaces. There was still plenty of lung tissue and I was able to make the determination that there was no smoke inhaled. Ergo, since there was no inhaling going on, the victim was already dead."

  "And the second way?"

  "Quickie blood test we did for carbon monoxide in the blood. It’s produced in the fire. Has a strong affinity for red blood cells. If there was any breathing after the fire started, there would be an elevated CO level in the blood. There was no elevation. Ergo, same conclusion. The victim was already dead."

  "Thank you, Doctor." While Collier consulted his notes, Nina jotted Clauson’s statements down on her pad.

  "Okay. Did you find anything else of significance relating to the cause of death?"

  "Quentin was sixty-eight," Clauson said. "He had shoulder bursitis from his bad golf swing and he ate too much aspirin. Tended to make the hemorrhaging worse. He did have atherosclerosis from all those steak houses he used to eat at, all those martinis he liked to pour down, but I don’t think that had anything to do with the cause of death."

  "Anything else?"

  "Time of death was hard to figure. I guessed it at somewhere between midnight and two A.M. That’s it."

  "Based on your findings during the autopsy and the additional information you were aware of, do you have a conclusion as to cause of death?"

  "Problem is, I don’t have all the lab results. Drugs, for instance. I don’t know. But even if he was doped out of his mind, drugs would only have been a contributing factor."

  "Keeping in mind that certain lab tests are not complete, and that you do not feel at this time they will materially affect your conclusions ..."

  "Correct."

  "What is your conclusion as to the cause of death at this time?"

  "Extensive subarachnoid hemorrhage, secondary to ruptured berry aneurysm, precipitated by blunt trauma."

  "If the trauma hadn’t occurred, would the aneurysm have ruptured, Doctor?"

  Clauson’s eyes went opaque behind the glasses. "No," he said.

  It was Nina’s turn. Armed with Ginger’s comments on the autopsy report, she felt ready.

  "Doctor Clauson, we met again recently out of court, did we not?"

  "Yes, ma’am, at my informal inquiry into the death of the victim’s son."

  "Actually, you autopsied two bodies from the same fire on August twenty-third, did you not?"

  "I did. Quentin de Beers. Raymond de Beers."

  "How did Raymond de Beers die?" Nina asked as casually as she could, but Collier was already up and objecting that she had gone beyond the scope of the direct examination.

  "What is the relevance of this line of questioning?" Amagosian asked.

  "Well, there has been testimony that Quentin de Beers believed his son had been murdered," Nina said. "I believe the Court will want to know if that is true."

  "Why?"

  "If he was murdered, the defendant could be a suspect in such a murder, and would appear to have a strong motive to dig up his father’s body before an exhumation," Nina said.

  Jason tugged at her jacket. She leaned toward him. "What are you talking about?" he whispered fiercely.

  "Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing," she whispered back, then straightened up.

  "Well, spit it out, Doc. My understanding is that Raymond de Beers was killed by lightning," Amagosian said. "Did the autopsy change that finding?"

  "No, sir," Clauson said. "The man was directly struck by lightning. His heart stopped. No foul play there."

  "All right. Does that cover it, Mrs. Reilly?"

  "It does indeed, Your Honor." She glanced back at Jason. He had leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

  "Now, Dr. Clauson. You say the blow to the head caused the aneurysm to rupture. Do I have that right?"

  "It stands to reason. Cause and effect." Clauson looked startled. He apparently hadn’t expected her to zero in on what he must consider a secondary issue.

  "You also said aneurysms sometimes just choose their time for no known reason."

  "Yes, but there was a contemporaneous blow to the head."

  "Contemporaneous? What do you mean by that?" Nina said, springing. She felt almost giddy, blood-thirsty, as she leapt upon the word.

  "Well, at just about the same moment."

  "Just a moment ago, you used the phrase cause and effect to describe your notion—your notion!—that the contact with the shovel came first. But now you use the word contemporaneous," Nina said. "What I want to know, Doctor, is, Why do you think you know which came first, the contact with the shovel or the rupture of the aneurysm?"

  Clauson looked down at his notes as if some new words might come.

  "Are your findings consistent with the notion that the deceased suddenly suffered an incapacitating headache and fell on the shovel, suffering the head trauma you’ve mentioned?"

  "Fell on the shovel? Wouldn’t that be quite a coincidence, that he’d fall right on the spot where a sharp-edge shovel was lying?"

  "He had to fall somewhere, didn’t he?" Nina said. "The area was circumscribed to a few feet around the grave, and the shovel was within that area, am I right?"

  "Objection! Argument
ative!"

  "Overruled. Look here, Doc, could the victim have suffered that contusion falling on the shovel, rather than being hit with it?" Amagosian said, leaning forward.

  "Would be quite a coincidence."

  Amagosian’s face suffused into a brick-red hue. He bellowed, "I don’t want to hear any more editorializing! Answer the question!"

  Clauson shrank back in the witness chair. "It’s possible," he said.

  Amagosian said with deceptive tranquility that fooled no one, "This cause of death issue is troubling. We have some evidence of a shovel strike, of a ruptured aneurysm, of a fire—it’s not easy to figure out what happened, is it, Doc?"

  "I never said that," Clauson said quickly, licking his thin lips. "Cause of death was the ruptured aneurysm. Caused by a blow."

  Amagosian sat back, took a handkerchief from somewhere in his robe, dabbed at his forehead. His face had faded like a rainbow after a tempest. "Proceed," he told Nina.

  "Dr. Clauson, we appear to be clear on one thing, that the bleeding in the brain caused by the ruptured aneurysm was the immediate cause of death."

  "Well, heart failure was the immediate cause of death. Due to a sudden loss of blood pressure due to the bleeding."

  "The question still remains, did trauma cause the aneurysm to rupture?" Nina said. "Or did the aneurysm rupture, leading to a fall?"

  "Far more likely he was struck," Clauson said. "The shovel makes a good weapon in a sudden fight. I’ve autopsied several deaths where a shovel was a weapon."

  "But we’re not looking at those deaths. We’re looking at this death. The question is, What can you determine from the autopsy? It seems to me you’re trying to make the autopsy findings fit the police theory, come hell or high water."

  "As coroner, I have to consider the environmental circumstances. Graveyard, late at night, grandson holding a shovel, discovery—"

  "And all this entered into your thinking in deciding that trauma caused the aneurysm to rupture?"

  "Naturally."

  "Isn’t it true that berry aneurysms are not nearly as susceptible to trauma as other types of aneurysms?"

  "Doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen," Clauson said, his voice as sparse as his hair.

  "Isn’t it true that the weight of medical authority is that even a crushing blow to the head, such as might be found in a car accident, won’t generally cause such an aneurysm to burst, because of the surrounding protective structures?"