T. Marvin Stritch cocked his head but quickly recovered. “Sheriff Dushane, did you have the opportunity to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack on Abby Ackerman?”
“I did.”
“How did that occur?”
“At approximately 7 a.m., my office received a call from the staff at Century Quarry stating that they had found a woman who was severely injured.”
“Was it originally reported as an attack?”
“I don’t believe so,” said the sheriff. “I believe the ambulance was called first.”
“Was the rescue squad there when you arrived?”
“I believe we got there about the same time.”
“And what did you find?”
“We found the victim, Abby Ackerman, at the foot of the abandoned stairs at the Quarry.”
Stritch put the map up on the screen. “Sheriff Dushane, the manager of the Quarry testified yesterday. We’ve been calling the stairs right here the twelve o’clock stairs or the abandoned stairs. Are those the stairs you are talking about?”
“They are.”
“Using this map as a guide, where did you find Ms. Ackerman?”
Sheriff Dushane used the laser pointer. “Here. Just to the left of the pad if you’re looking from the water.”
“And what was Ms. Ackerman’s condition?”
“She was unconscious. She was in shock and her temperature had dropped. We didn’t know the extent of her injuries, but it was clear they were severe.”
“I take it your first priority was to get medical attention for Ms. Ackerman?”
“It was.”
“What did you do?”
“There was some thought of stabilizing Ms. Ackerman and carrying her back up the stairs. Then one of the lifeguards indicated that they had several rafts and we decided that it would be easier to float her over to the beach area and take her up that stairway, which was wider and in better condition.”
“Now Ms. Ackerman could not speak to you that morning, could she?”
“She could not.”
“So when did you begin to consider that this may have been the result of an attack?”
“When we saw the streak of blood on the railing at the top of the stairs.”
“And why did that indicate a possible attack to you?”
“Its placement did not seem consistent with the fall. As a result, we treated the area as a crime scene.”
“How so?”
“We secured the area, limited access to the stairs, and used evidentiary protocols to take samples and investigate the surroundings.”
“Did you and your men take pictures?”
“We did.”
“I'm going to direct your attention to State’s Exhibit 21. Can you identify that for the jury, please?”
“I can. It's a picture of the railing at the top of the abandoned stairs.”
The picture flashed up on the screen. It showed a bloodied streak right at the top of the railing. “And what is this right here?”
“That's the blood I was referring to.”
“And why did you immediately think that this was not related to a fall?”
“Do you see how the blood curls around the underside of the railing?”
“I do.”
“That indicated to us that it was a handprint rather than an impact injury. Ms. Ackerman's hands and arms were not bloodied. Her head was. As a result, we believed that this was not from her.”
“What did you do?”
“We took pictures. We took samples of the blood. We took fingerprints.”
“I see. What did you do with the blood?”
“We had it tested for type and DNA.”
“And were you provided with those test results?”
“I was.”
“And what were they?”
“The blood was O positive. The DNA matched that of the defendant.”
“That being Archibald Mack?”
“Yes.”
“And the fingerprints? What about those?”
“Those matched Mr. Mack as well.”
“I see. We’ll come back to that. You did not know any of that yet on the morning you assisted in the rescue of Ms. Ackerman, did you?”
“I did not.”
Stritch put another picture up. “Sheriff Dushane, this is State’s Exhibit 22. Could you tell us what that is?”
“It is a picture of the abandoned stairway, about halfway down.”
“And what is that on the stairs themselves?”
“That is blood.”
“And did you also have that blood tested?”
“We did.”
“And whose blood is that?”
“That is Ms. Ackerman's. It was left there when her head struck the stairs.”
Stritch flipped a picture. “And State’s Exhibit 23?”
“That is another stair with Ms. Ackerman's blood on it, about four stairs down from the previous picture.”
“I see, and this? State’s Exhibit 24?”
“This is a picture of another stair farther down, but do you see how the vegetation is smashed down next to it?”
“I do.”
“That is where Ms. Ackerman tumbled off of the stairs and began to fall down the hillside of the Quarry itself.”
“I see. And State’s Exhibit 25?”
“That is almost to the bottom of the stairs. Do you see the strip of matted and broken vegetation?”
“I do.”
“That was created by Ms. Ackerman's body as she fell. It was actually quite fortunate that she went off the stairs.”
“How so?”
“Because there were no longer sharp edges of metal and concrete to hit her head on. Also, the vegetation served to break her fall and slow her down while the stairway ends in a flat cement pad.”
“And why is that significant?”
“Because if she had continued down the stairway, I believe she would have sustained additional injuries and could very well have slipped into the water and—”
I stood. “Objection, Your Honor. Speculation.”
“Sustained,” said Judge Wesley.
“Counsel raises a good point, Sheriff Dushane,” said Stritch. “You aren't allowed to speculate or guess in court. Now you can give an opinion to a reasonable degree of probability, which means more likely than not. Sheriff Dushane, do you have an opinion to a reasonable degree of probability regarding what would have happened if Ms. Ackerman's fall had continued down the stairs to the cement pad?”
I stood. “Same objection, Your Honor.”
“The question is properly phrased counsel. Overruled.”
“You may answer,” said Stritch.
“I believe, to a reasonable degree of probability, that Ms. Ackerman would have slipped into the water.”
“Ms. Ackerman was unconscious when you found her, correct?”
“She was.”
“And if she had been unconscious when she slipped into the water?”
“I believe to a reasonable degree of probability that she would've drowned.”
“How deep is the water at that end of the Quarry?”
“At least thirty feet deep. In sections, it’s fifty.”
“Goodness, that’s deep. In fact, deputies in your office do scuba training there, don’t they?”
“They do. We practice recoveries. Fortunately, that wasn’t necessary here.”
“Indeed. And State’s Exhibit 27?”
There was a sharp gasp from the jury box. Stritch had sprung it on them with no warning. It was a picture of Abby Ackerman, lying twisted among the rocks at the water’s edge. Her hair was matted with blood and stuck to her face.
Stritch raised a hand. “Sheriff, I'm not trying to be needlessly graphic here, but we had Kirby Granger on the stand yesterday and he identified some video for the jury in which a woman was seen walking. So I need to ask you, when you found Abby Ackerman, she was wearing these cowboy boots?”
�
�She was.”
“And a white shirt and jean shorts?”
“She was.”
“Sheriff Dushane, I can't help but notice that Ms. Ackerman's hand is dangling in the water. Is that how she was when you found her?”
“It was.”
“So she was that close?”
“She was.”
“I see.” Stritch left the picture up for another moment then clicked it off. “What did you do next?”
“After waiting to make sure that there were sufficient rescue personnel to get Ms. Ackerman to safety, I secured the scene and supervised the gathering of evidence such as the fingerprints and blood that we discussed.”
“I see. And after that?”
“I spoke with the manager, Kirby Granger, to obtain the Quarry’s security video.”
“Right. Anything else?”
“I dispatched an officer to the hospital to assist in gathering evidence from Ms. Ackerman herself.”
“Evidence from Ms. Ackerman? What do you mean?”
“At that point, we were not sure if she had been sexually assaulted. We dispatched an officer to the hospital to find out and gather evidence, if necessary.”
“I see. And was she sexually assaulted?”
“Thankfully, no.”
“And then what?”
“Over the next several days, we evaluated the security video and interviewed witnesses. This eventually led us to identify Archibald Mack as the man in the video behind Ms. Ackerman.”
Stritch click a button. A freeze-frame from the Quarry video showed Archie. Two more clicks blew up his face beneath a “Mack Farms” hat. “Now we've gone through the video extensively with Mr. Granger. Is this the man you're speaking of?”
“Yes.”
“And you concluded this is Archibald Mack?”
“We did.”
“And that was confirmed by fingerprint evidence?”
“Yes.”
“And DNA evidence?”
“Yes.”
Stritch paused as if thinking of something. “Did you ask Ms. Ackerman to identify her attacker?”
“Not at first.”
“And why is that?”
“She was unconscious after the attack, so we could not speak with her. After that, she was undergoing several surgical procedures for her injuries.”
“Really? What did the doctors do for her?”
I stood. “Objection, Your Honor. Hearsay.”
“Sustained.”
“Where was Ms. Ackerman when you attempted to speak with her?”
“In emergency surgery the first time. Sleeping in her hospital bed the second.”
“We’ll leave it to the doctors to explain the mechanism of injury but it was your understanding that they were severe and required several procedures?”
“Yes. We tried to speak with her as soon as we could but it was a couple of days before that was possible.”
“But eventually you were able to speak to Ms. Ackerman directly?”
“I was.”
“And what did she tell you?”
“Ms. Ackerman told us that she had followed her fiancé, Hamish Mack, toward the back lot. That the two of them had spoken and argued. She told us that she was upset and sat for a time on the stairs that included a call to her fiancé. She told us that she eventually stood up and, as she did a voice said, ‘Hey,’ and she was knocked down the stairs.”
“Was Ms. Ackerman able to identify her attacker to you?”
“She was not.”
“Why is that?”
“She did not see him.”
“What else did she tell you?”
“She recalled falling down the stairs and through the brush until she landed on the rocks at the bottom of the Quarry. She said the pain in her hip was so severe that she couldn’t move and that she cried out. She said she heard someone on the stairs and cried for help. She heard the person coming closer and cried out again.”
Sheriff Dushane paused. I knew him. He was angry.
“Then what did she report?”
“Then Ms. Ackerman reported that the person stood over her and then she saw a flash and woke up in the hospital.”
Stritch shook his head. “Was Ms. Ackerman able to get a look at the man when he approached her?”
“No. It was too dark and frankly, I believe she was in too much pain at the time.”
“Once you became aware of Archibald Mack’s potential involvement, were you able to ask her about him?”
“I did. She knew the defendant. He is her fiancé’s brother. She knew he was planning on attending the concert but had no memory of seeing him there.”
“And was she able to identify Mr. Mack as the man in this video?”
I stood. “Objection, Your Honor. Hearsay.”
“Sustained.”
“Did you eventually arrest Archibald Mack?”
“We did.”
“That's all I have at this time, Sheriff. Thank you for your long service to our community.”
I stood. “Good morning, Sheriff Dushane.”
“Good morning, Mr. Shepherd.”
“You’ve been kind enough to tell the jury about the evidence that you found on the morning that Ms. Ackerman was rescued. I'd like to ask you some questions about evidence you didn't find.”
“Sure.”
“You never found anyone who claimed to see my client with Ms. Ackerman at the abandoned stairs, true?”
“That’s true.”
“In fact, you never found any witness who claimed to see my client and Ms. Ackerman together at any time, did you?”
“We did not.”
“You also did not find video of my client and Ms. Ackerman by the stairs, right?”
“That's right.”
“And you did not find any video of Archibald Mack and Abby Ackerman together at any point that night, did you?”
“We did not.”
“You certainly never found anyone who claimed to see my client attack Ms. Ackerman that night, true?”
“That's true, although I think the evidence points to his involvement.”
“I understand that you think that, Sheriff, but what I asked was whether you found anyone who claimed to see my client attack Ms. Ackerman that night. And the answer is, you did not, did you?”
“We did not.”
“My client is not the only person who is seen on video heading toward the back lot, is he?”
“No.”
“Hamish Mack passed that way, right?”
“Right.”
“Kirby Granger passed that way, true?”
“True.”
“Will Wellington went that way, didn’t he?”
Sheriff Dushane paused. “I don’t recall that.”
“You don’t dispute it if the video shows it though, do you?”
“Of course not.”
“You have just as many witnesses of those men attacking Ms. Ackerman as you have witnesses of my client doing it, right?”
Sheriff Dushane stared at me.
“Zero for each of them, right?” I said.
“That's technically correct.”
“That's actually correct, isn’t it?”
Sheriff Dushane's mouth twitched. “Yes.”
“That includes Ms. Ackerman, true?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that Ms. Ackerman can't say who attacked her.”
“That’s right.”
“To be fair though, you believe that Archibald Mack did attack her that night, right?”
“I do.”
“That's based in part on the fingerprints and the blood on the handrail, right?”
“That's right.”
“You say that the fingerprints on the handrail match those of my client, true?”
“True.”
“It would be more accurate to say that one of the sets of fingerprints on the railing match those of Archibald Mack, wouldn’t it?”
“I'm not sure w
hat you mean.”
“I mean that your office lifted fifteen different and distinct sets of prints from the handrail that day, didn't they?”
“I'm not sure of the exact number.”
“I'd be happy to give you the inventory. Sheriff Dushane, I'm handing you what's been marked as State’s Exhibit 31. How many separate and distinct sets of fingerprints does it state were lifted from the handrail?”
Sheriff Dushane looked at it. “Fifteen.”
“My client’s turned out to be set number 12, correct?”
“That's right.”
“One set turned out to be from one of your deputies, true?”
“True.”
“You don't think he was there the night of the incident, do you?”
“No. That print was most likely left when rescue efforts were underway.”
“That’s sloppy, isn’t it?”
“That’s not ideal. But rescuing Ms. Ackerman was our initial priority.”
“I see. So of the fifteen prints you took, one was a deputy’s whose prints were on file, correct?”
“That's right.”
“One set was my client’s, right?”
“That's right.”
“And you didn't have my client’s prints on file, you were able to match them after you printed him the night you arrested him, correct?”
“That's right.”
“And you had thirteen other distinct sets of prints on the railing, true?”
“That's true.”
“So at least thirteen other people had touched the railing recently enough to leave prints, right?”
“That's right.”
“But you don’t know who those prints belong to, do you?”
“I do not.”
“Because they didn’t turn up as a match in your data base, right?”
“Right.”
“Now, I assume you took prints from the entire forty feet of railing so that you could get a complete picture of everyone who had left evidence on the abandoned stairs, right?”
“No, Mr. Shepherd that's not right.”
“Oh? You didn't take prints from the entire railing?”
“We did not.”
“So you took them from the top half of the railing then?”
“We did not.”
“From the first four sections?”
“We did not.”
“Well, what section did you take prints from, Sheriff?”
“From the first section of railing, where the bloodstain was.”
Blind Conviction (Nate Shepherd Legal Thriller Series Book 3) Page 22