“So, gentlemen, why don’t you enlighten me and my client as to exactly what you think you have against her?” Ms. Hunter asked.
“The ADA has outlined what our evidence is in this packet. Detective Beals shoved the packet across the table to April. “But since I have questions I’d like Miss Jennings to answer, I’ll also explain our theory which ties the evidence together,” Beals offered, though he knew he had to share it anyway.
“Oh my! How generous, Detective Beals,” Ms. Hunter sarcastically replied.
“I do what I can. Besides, I really don’t like how this one has turned out.”
“Well, then help us find a way out of this mess,” Ms. Hunter stated.
“I can only share what we have and what we think we know. Finding a way for your client to avoid jail is your job, Counselor.”
“So, let’s hear what you have,” Ms. Hunter curtly snapped.
“Okay, we’ll start at the beginning. On Sunday morning the seventeenth of May, a Miss April Jennings was found passed out behind the wheel of a car owned by her sister, a Mrs. Wendy Stone. She had no ID, no license and appeared to the EMTs to be intoxicated. Miss Jennings it seems had driven into the ditch on Beverly Street after having sideswiped two parked cars. Miss Jennings was semi-conscious when found, but while in transit to the hospital she slipped into a coma. The ER doctors determined she had been poisoned and began administering the antidote.
After four days, she had recovered enough to speak with us about her situation and she confessed to us that she killed a man named Tyler Stone, her brother-in-law. She stated she had killed him in self defense and that we would find the bodies of her sister and brother-in-law at his home. We contacted Mr. Stone and verified he was alive and well.”
Ms. Hunter interjected here. “So you did not personally verify that Mr. Stone was alive?”
“Not at this time. We took his word for it.”
“Okay, please continue.”
“After having called and verified Mr. Stone was alive and well, we interviewed him the following day at his home and did a cursory search of the dwelling. He also had no idea in regards to what we were talking about since he wasn’t home at the time Miss Jennings claims to have been there. We checked his alibi and it is, pardon the pun, solid as stone.” No one, not even Williams, chuckled. Beals moved on.
“The doctors attending to Miss Jennings tell us the drug she had in her system is an extremely dangerous drug. It kills in very low quantities and is used by rural tribesmen in Southeast Asia for recreational and ceremonial reasons. April had ingested just slightly less than the amount needed to kill her.
“This particular drug has very strong side effects. Hallucinations to be precise. At the level she ingested, she would have suffered extreme hallucinations for several days. It is possible that she may have come to believe that her hallucinations were actually real, the drug is so strong.
“This drug has been a favorite for assassinations for hundreds of years because it leaves no trace after it metabolizes, which happens within twenty-four hours. But what we find interesting is the fact that the doctors believe the amount of the drug she had in her system is consistent with a self-administered dosage and that they also found traces of cocaine in her system.
“Miss Jennings freely admitted to having killed a man she believed to be Mr. Stone that Saturday night, while suffering from the effects of the poison. She also stated she had been with her sister at the time and that the two of them had been poisoned by Mr. Stone by mixing it with iced tea. April admitted to having gotten a glass of iced tea from Mr. Stone’s refrigerator herself and shared it with her sister.
“After a short period of time, they became sick. Mr. Stone supposedly at this time left them alone. While they were alone, April claims to have wanted to call 911 but couldn’t find a phone so she grabbed a large knife from Mr. Stone’s kitchen. Then, when Mr. Stone returned, she stabbed him in the chest. She then claims to have left the house using Wendy Stone’s car and doesn’t remember anything past that point until she awoke from the coma in the hospital.”
“My client has shared basically the same story with me. Let’s move on, shall we?” Ms. Hunter suggested.
“Sure. In the course of our investigation we discovered Miss Jennings and Tyler Stone, her brother–in-law, had once dated each other, but her sister had stolen him away from her and married him. Both Mr. Stone and Miss Jennings expressed a deep dislike for the other when we interviewed them…” Beals hesitated when April started to say something, but her attorney placed her hand on hers and she quieted.
“We also discovered Miss Jennings had dated Danny Conners at one point and he was the reason her sister had left her husband.” Again, April started to say something but Ms. Hunter stopped her with her hand. Beals, after waiting a moment to let the tension build, moved on.
“Upon searching Miss Jennings’ apartment we found torn clothing we were able to link to Wendy Stone. The knife used to shred them had Miss Jennings prints on it. We also found the bedding for the apartment’s only bed saturated with bodily fluids of a sexual nature. Testing indicated there had been at least three contributors, but the fluids were so degraded by time and the mixing thereof, we were unable to determine whose bodily fluids they were. We did, however, find toiletries belonging to Danny Conners in the bedroom and bathroom of Miss Jennings apartment.
“We found Miss Jennings’ purse at her apartment, and inside we discovered a small vial of the same poison found in her system by the hospital doctors. We also found a disposable credit card and receipt showing the drug was purchased from a pharmacy in Southeast Asia. Wendy Stone’s purse was also discovered in the apartment along with Danny Conners’ wallet.
“In Danny Conners’ apartment, we discovered two glasses with lethal amounts of poison mixed with a cola- flavored soda. One glass was half empty and one appeared slightly less than full. There was also a beer bottle with approximately three ounces of beer still in it that was also heavily laced with the poison.” Beals stopped and looked at Ms. Hunter and then asked, “You getting all this? I’m not going too fast?” She had been looking at her nails when he had stopped.
“No, Detective, I’m getting it all. You can continue,” she stated.
“Okay, where was I? Oh, yes, Danny Conners’ apartment and the three ounces of beer. In addition to the beer and glasses, we discovered more toiletries belonging to the three parties of interest in this case. We found lipsticks for both Mrs. Stone and Miss Jennings. We also found clothes with DNA from both women on them. But the most telling piece of evidence we found was a large carving knife with Miss Jennings fingerprints and Mr. Conners’ blood on it.”
Beals stopped talking and waited for a reaction from April, but her attorney was holding her hand tightly, obviously the signal for her to remain silent. Slowly, Ms. Hunter leaned over and whispered to April.
“Don’t say anything. They are trying to goad you into making a mistake. It only takes one mistake for them to hang you, so we’ll keep quiet. Remember, they don’t know what we know about Mr. Harcorte.”
“But it’s a lie. I didn’t stab Danny,” April whispered back.
“I know. We’ll address that later. Trust me. I know how to play the game,” Ms. Hunter stated and April nodded.
Ms. Hunter sat back up and looked at Detectives Beals and Williams and asked, “Is that it? Is that all you have and you’ve charged my client with murder? Gentlemen, you don’t have a case. What motive could she possibly have for killing Mr. Conners and her sister? Where are the bodies? My client could hardly have carried them off by herself. She only weighs a hundred and ten pounds. Both Mrs. Stone and Danny Connors outweigh her easily. Mr. Conners has to weigh at least a hundred pounds more than she does.”
“Counselor, your client has plenty of motive. She was jealous of her sister who first stole Tyler Stone from her and married him, and then when she became bored with her husband, she stole her boyfriend Danny Conners. That gives her all the motive in
the world. She killed them in a fit of jealousy. The clothes ripped to shreds in the bedroom at her apartment clearly indicate this.”
“How do you explain the assorted fluids found in the bed at her apartment?” Ms Hunter asked.
“We believe Miss Jennings was involved in a three way affair with Conners and her sister, of course. It was her way of getting them to lower their guard towards her.”
“That’s ridiculous!” April blurted. “I wouldn’t have a threesome with my sister,” April crabbed loudly and Ms. Hunter grabbed her arm to quiet her.
“If it wasn’t a threesome between you, your sister and Danny Conners, who was it then?” Detective Williams inquired.
“Detective, I’m surprised that you would stoop so low as to try and bring my client’s personal sex life into question just to bolster your flimsy case.”
“If she had other lovers, then they are also suspects in the crime, because as you say, she would have needed help to drag the bodies out of Conners’ apartment.
“Or perhaps, someone else killed them and then tried to frame my client. Someone like, Tyler Stone, perhaps,” Ms. Hunter suggested.
“Counselor, there is no evidence to back that statement up. Your client was stoned on a drug she purchased in order to kill her sister and had hallucinations because of it. She has admitted she hates Tyler Stone as much or more than she hated her sister for stealing him away from her.”
“I can’t believe that you, of all people, Detective Beals, let this case sit idle for a week before following up on the lead that Miss Jennings provided you.”
Beals knew right then what angle Ms. Hunter was going to play. The police were incompetent and waited too long to get any accurate facts or evidence. He remembered what Tyler Stone had said about the Harcorte guy having been in the apartment and how it looked staged. Had Harcorte also told April he had been there? If he had, the entire crime scene body of evidence may get tossed as it was possibly tainted.
“Counselor, your client was in a coma for four days before we were brought in on the case. At which time, she claimed to have killed Mr. Stone. Only, Mr. Stone was still alive and well. She claimed she had stabbed him with a large kitchen knife. Except the large kitchen knife she claims to have used is still in Mr. Stone’s possession and the knife found at Conners’ apartment was covered in Conners’ blood and Miss Jennings fingerprints. That’s conclusive proof she killed him and that’s what she is being officially charged with, the murder of Danny Conners.”
“I see,” Ms. Hunter stated as she looked off into the distance for a moment. “Gentlemen, you stated earlier that my client was comatose and suffering from delusions when she was admitted to the hospital after her accident. It hardly seems plausible that the ADA could sustain a charge of murder.”
“Nevertheless,” Beals stated, “the ADA has chosen to charge her with murder in the first degree. The purchase of the poison is proof it was premeditated. The fact that she had ingested some of the poison herself suggests she may have been overcome with remorse and was perhaps attempting to commit suicide after the fact, but it doesn’t change the fact she committed murder.”
“I see. She’s a cold blooded ruthless killer, who in the end tried to commit suicide due to remorse over killing her own sister. Very interesting theory, but I haven’t seen the body yet. In fact, doesn’t the forensic report state that there wasn’t enough blood at the scene to be consistent with a stab wound to the chest?
“It also stated that the uncontaminated samples collected from the scene were too small to even get a viable sample for testing. It appeared to them that the amount of blood would be consistent with a flesh wound of some sort, as the blood loss was insufficient to cause death,” Ms. Hunter stated, quoting from the report.
“I don’t believe that the forensic report went that far, Counselor. But it was good theater for your client,” Williams snapped at Ms. Hunter. “April, she’s selling you a bill of goods. She’ll get your hopes up only to have the ADA smash them. Your best chance of getting any leniency is by cooperating and telling us the rest of the story. Like where the bodies are?”
“Detective Williams,” Ms. Hunter stated as she lifted her briefcase on to the table top and opened it. “I’ve taken the liberty of highlighting the paragraph where the forensic tech stated his conclusions about the blood evidence,” she informed Detective Williams.
“Plus, they were unable to get a DNA sample from Danny Conners’ father which would have allowed them to conclusively determine the blood was indeed Danny Conners’ blood,” she concluded and slid the paperwork across the table in front of Detective Beals.
“That’s all very interesting, Counselor, but the blood is still Danny Conners’, the tests run on his personal belongings such his hairbrush and toothbrush concluded that. Plus, the knife is still covered with your client’s fingerprints,” Beals stated and ignored the papers before him.
“You can keep that copy for your file, gentlemen,” Ms. Hunter stated as she stood and April followed. “I believe we’re done here. Expect my filing by tomorrow. Miss Jennings will be home within forty-eight hours unless you have something a bit more substantial,” Ms. Hunter stated as she and April walked away with big smiles on their faces.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ms. Hunter managed to get a hearing the following afternoon where she caught the ADA completely off guard by asking to have all the evidence gathered at the apartments ruled inadmissible.
“Further, your Honor, I move for all of the tainted evidence be ruled inadmissible,” Ms. Hunter stated. Before she could continue, she was cut off by Ms. Amanda Bellinger, the Assistant District Attorney.
“What tainted evidence? All the evidence was collected via a legal warrant,” Ms. Bellinger stated.
“Yes, your Honor, the evidence was collected under a legal search warrant, but the place from which the evidence was collected may have been tampered with.”
“What? Your Honor, this just another one of Ms. Hunter’s theatrical games she likes to play. There’s no precedent for a ruling of inadmissibility due to a crime scene having been visited by unknown persons prior to the arrival of the police,” Ms. Bellinger exclaimed.
“Oh, but there is, your Honor,” Ms. Hunter stated and rattled off three case numbers for three different cases which dealt with evidence and tainted crime scenes. “Each of these cases dealt with the planting of evidence and the fact the police had waited in excess of a week to search a location.”
She went on to point out the ADA would most likely argue the detectives had no reason to begin an investigation until after her client had regained consciousness four days after the alleged incident took place, when in reality the investigation should have begun the moment the accident was discovered—if not as a murder investigation then as a DUI.
“Your Honor, my client, upon regaining consciousness, confessed to killing a man and told the officers how she and her sister had been poisoned by the same man she had killed. Having been made aware of these facts, the detectives in charge called Tyler Stone instead of going to the suspect’s residence. They spoke with him for several minutes, determining during the conversation that he was alive and unharmed.
“The detectives then discounted my client’s story and began trying to make the evidence fit their conclusion as to her guilt. However, during the time they were debating the truthfulness of my client’s story, they discovered that Danny Conners was also missing and his car had been dropped off at the train station by an unknown person. At the time of the drop off, my client was comatose in a ditch several miles away. In addition to that fact, Your Honor…”
The judge held up his hand at this point and said, “Ms. Hunter, get to the point about the evidence and stop trying the case.”
“Yes, sir. In addition to the fact about Danny Conners’ car, the detectives didn’t seek a warrant to search either Danny Connors’ or April Jennings’ apartments for another four days. Upon arriving at April Jennings’ apartment to conduct the s
earch, the door was found open. The official forensic report reads, and I quote…” Ms. Hunter held up the report and began reading word for word, “First impression is that apartment had been staged for our benefit. Evidence found was circumstantial in nature. It could have been here for weeks or months, or planted today. The apartment’s main areas were wiped down, leaving no fingerprints. The amount of evidence is inconsistent with most crime scenes and was considered by the forensic investigators as far too circumstantial.”
“So what does that prove?” Ms. Bellinger interjected.
“Your Honor, it is the basis for the corroboration of my client’s testimony and of Detectives Beals’ and Williams’ own daily reports that stated a Mr. Harcorte had stopped by the hospital to interview Miss Jennings. He was allowed entry to the room and access to Miss Jennings, based upon the duty officer’s belief that he was an attorney there to talk with her about her case,” Ms. Hunter explained how Mr. Harcorte became involved in the case.
She then added, “My client informed Detectives Beals and Williams about having been visited by Mr. Harcorte and yet they took no action to find him. In fact, they still haven’t made any effort to find him. My client also informed the detectives that Mr. Harcorte had stated the apartments, as in plural, looked to be staged to him as well. Exactly the same statement the forensic tech put in his report dealing with his observation of the apartments.
“My petition for the suppression of all evidence collected from the apartments is based upon the fact there had been someone wandering around the crime scene unsupervised. Still, as of this morning, that person has not been indentified and has not been cleared as to the nature of his visit to the apartments, prior to the police searching them. My investigators could find no listing for Nate Harcorte in the States Attorney’s Guide or the phone book. The man’s business card simply has his name followed by the abbreviation for esquire, and an invalid phone number.”
The judge looked at Ms. Hunter and shook his head slightly before looking at Ms. Bellinger. She was busy looking through her notes and didn’t realize the judge was watching her for several seconds. When she finally did realize he was looking at her, her startled response was, “Oh, I’m sorry, your Honor.”
Cliff Roberts Thriller Box Set Page 29
