DB01 - Presumption of Innocence

by Stephen Penner

  Brunelle frowned. “If I don’t, Karpati might walk free.”

  “We know,” Mr. Montgomery. “But we don’t want both of them to walk free.”

  Brunelle pursed his lips as he considered for a moment.

  “She could still refuse to testify, you know,” Yamata pointed out to Brunelle. “Just because she doesn’t have a privilege to claim doesn’t mean she has to say anything. She could just sit there and refuse to answer questions.”

  “What would happen then?” Mr. Montgomery asked.

  “The judge would hold her in contempt,” Brunelle answered. “And put her back in jail until she agreed to testify.”

  “Or until the trial is over,” Yamata said. “The judge isn’t likely to hold up the whole trial for this late gambit. If she can last another week in jail without testifying, the case will be over and she’ll be released.”

  “That doesn’t seem worth it,” Mrs. Montgomery observed.

  Brunelle had raised a finger to his pursed lips. “Actually, there’s something even worse, I just realized.”

  “What?” Mr. Montgomery asked.

  “If she does testify,” Brunelle explained, “and says she did everything and Karpati did nothing, wasn’t even there. I can’t revoke the grant of immunity. She’d still walk. And most likely so would he.”

  “Mr. Brunelle?” the judge called out. “What is the State going to do?”

  Brunelle looked at Mr. Montgomery, Mrs. Montgomery, and Yamata in turn. Yamata frowned and shook her head. Brunelle agreed.

  “Nothing, Your Honor,” he announced as she stepped back to his table. “We’re done with Miss Sandholm. No immunity.”

  Then, under his breath, “Damn it.”

  Brunelle tapped on his legal pad and frowned as the bailiff went to collect the jury.

  “You know,” Welles leaned over and whispered to him, “you could still call that fake Holly of yours. You know, the one you unethically sent into the jail to entrap my client?”

  Brunelle looked out of the corner of his eye at his opponent but didn’t say anything.

  “I won’t even object to the late notice,” Welles went on. “Just tell me her name.”

  Brunelle finally turned to face Welles, and in so doing noticed that Karpati was looking at him as well, pen at the ready over his own legal pad.

  “You want her name?” Brunelle asked.

  Welles smiled. “Only to be properly prepared, I assure you.”

  Brunelle nodded thoughtfully. “How about initials?”

  “Better than nothing,” Welles replied.

  They all stood as the jury entered the room. Brunelle raised a hand to block his mouth from the jury’s view. “F.U.”

  Chapter 35

  The next morning found Yamata in Brunelle’s office. Brunelle hung up the phone and sighed.

  “Chen says they’re gone,” he reported. “All of them, just vanished.”

  “Every last No Blood?” Yamata confirmed. “I thought they were supposed to be tough? Stand their ground or guard their turf or something.”

  Brunelle shrugged. “I’m sure if it were a rival gang, they’d still be there, spoiling for a fight. But when being around means getting picked up on a subpoena and helping the Man put one of your brothers in prison? Guess not.”

  “So what do we do?”

  Another shrug. “We hope Chen can scrape somebody up while we’re in court today. We’re running out of witnesses.” Then he recalled who the morning’s first witness would be. “You ready?”

  Yamata smiled. “Oh yes. Let’s see what the good doctor has to say.”

  ***

  “Kat Anderson. Assistant Medical Examiner.”

  She identified herself for the jury with a pleasant smile, being sure to turn and address her responses to the jurors, not Yamata, who would be asking the questions. The decision to have Yamata do the direct exam had been easy. Yamata needed the experience examining a coroner.

  And Kat was still pissed at Brunelle. The last thing they needed was Brunelle asking to have the M.E. declared a hostile witness.

  “Are you familiar with the autopsy of Emily Montgomery?” Yamata began.

  “Yes,” answered Kat. “I performed it myself.”

  “Let’s begin at the beginning then,” Yamata directed. “What is the purpose of an autopsy?”

  Kat nodded and turned again to the jury box. “The purpose of an autopsy is to determine the manner of death.”

  Yamata checked off the questions on her notepad. “And what are the possible manners of death?”

  “There are four,” Kat answered. “Natural causes, accident, suicide, and homicide.”

  “Were you able to determine the manner of death of Emily Montgomery?”

  Again a look to the jury. “Yes.”

  Yamata nodded. “And what was the manner of Emily’s death?”

  “Emily Montgomery’s death was a homicide.”

  Although expected, this response elicited a confirmatory ripple through the jury. But Brunelle knew it wouldn’t be enough. There was no real question that it was a homicide. ‘Homicide’ just meant being killed by someone else. Self-defense and lethal injection are homicides too, but they’re legal. The real question was whether it was murder—unlawful homicide. And if so, did Karpati do it?

  “Thank you, doctor,” Yamata continued. “So the manner of death was homicide. What was the cause of death?”

  “The cause of death,” Kat answered, “was cardiac arrest brought on by an acute loss of blood.”

  “And were you able to determine what caused this loss of blood?”

  “Yes,” Kat replied to the attorney, then turned to tell the jury, “The only injury to the body was a laceration to the neck, impacting the carotid artery.”

  Kat illustrated the location of the artery by pointing to her own throat, on the right side, just below the corner of her jaw.

  “How large was the laceration?” Yamata asked.

  “Actually, it was rather small. Just enough to open the artery.”

  Yamata nodded thoughtfully as she checked off another question and answer on her pad. “So did it appear to be expertly made?”

  Brunelle expected an objection from Welles. ‘Objection! Calls for speculation,’ or something like that. But Welles ignored it; he didn’t even look up from his note-taking.

  “Well,” Kat considered, “in my opinion, yes. The incision was large enough to open the artery and no larger. It’s exactly the cut I would have made to sever that artery.”

  “And were there any other pre-mortem wounds to the body?”

  Kat shook her head. “None.”

  Yamata paused as she turned a page. But really, the pause served more to signal a new, and important, direction in her examination. “Can you please explain the significance of the carotid artery?”

  “The carotid artery leads directly from the heart to the brain.” Again Kat turned to the jury and indicated locations on her own body. “It’s the first place blood goes when it leaves the heart. You see, as blood travels through the body delivering oxygen, it also takes away waste products like carbon dioxide. When the blood gets back up to the heart, the carbon dioxide is deposited into the lungs to be exhaled and fresh oxygen is put into the blood. When the freshly oxygenated blood leaves the heart, the first place it goes is up the carotid artery to the brain.”

  “So in a way,” Yamata translated, to make sure the jury got it, “that’s the purest blood in the body.”

  Kat nodded. “I think that’s a fair statement.”

  “So what effect would a laceration to the carotid artery have?

  “Absent immediate medical care, it would be fatal. It’s not a survivable injury.”

  “Would a person’s heart continue to beat?”

  “Absolutely,” answered Kat, “and that’s the problem.”

  Brunelle leaned back and watched. These two were feeding off each other perfectly. A glance to the jury box confirmed the jurors were interested to
o.

  “Why is that a problem?” Yamata asked, even though she knew exactly why.

  “As I explained,” Kat told the jurors, “the heart pumps blood directly into the carotid artery. But if the artery is severed, the blood can’t reach the brain. Instead, it would spurt out of the body with each heartbeat.”

  “And would a person die from that?”

  “Absolutely.” Kat confirmed. “In a matter of minutes.”

  Yamata set down her legal pad. “You saw Emily’s body at the murder scene, is that correct?”

  “Yes, that’s correct.”

  “And she was suspended upside down, is that correct?”

  “That’s correct,” Kat answered. “I assisted in lowering her body to the ground. She was already dead by the time I arrived on scene.”

  “Would being suspended upside down impact the rate of blood loss from incision to the carotid artery?”

  “Yes, it would.”

  “Can you explain how?”

  “Certainly.” Kat again exposed her neck to the jury as she explained. “The heart is designed to pump blood throughout the body, including pumping up against gravity into the brain. Hanging a body upside down would only accelerate the blood loss through the carotid artery, as the heart pumped hard enough to defeat gravity, but really was being aided by it.”

  Yamata crossed her arms. “Can you estimate how long to took Emily Montgomery to die?”

  Kat frowned in thought. “Based on her size and the amount of blood lost, I would say not more than five minutes.”

  Yamata nodded. She paused just long enough for everyone to wonder what her next question would be, so they were paying attention when she asked it. “Would she have felt the blood loss?”

  “She would’ve felt every spurt of blood with every beat of her heart.”

  Brunelle stole a glance at the jurors to confirm at least some of them winced at the thought. They did.

  “Doctor,” Yamata continued after a moment, “you’ve been to a large number of death scenes, is that correct?”

  “I’ve been to literally thousands of death scenes,” Kat replied.

  “How many of those,” Yamata asked, “involved a significant loss of blood?”

  “I would say most of them,” Kat replied. “Gun shots, stab wounds, industrial accidents. Those can all involve a significant loss of blood.”

  “And where is that blood usually found, doctor?”

  “It’s usually found at the scene,” Kat nodded. “Under, on, and all around the victim.

  Yamata stepped to the projector and flashed a previously admitted photo of the crime scene up on the courtroom’s screen. “Was there any such blood at this death scene?”

  “No,” Kat confirmed what the photograph showed. “There was no blood at all.”

  “How is that possible?” Yamata pretended not to know.

  “Well,” Kat explained to the jurors, “given the amount of blood loss and the location of the injury, blood would have been spurting out of her body with every one of Emily’s heartbeats. The only explanation for the lack of blood is that the blood was collected as it came out of her body.”

  “And then removed from the scene?”

  “Precisely.”

  “Thank you, doctor,” Yamata nodded to Kat. “No further questions.”

  She sat down next to Brunelle and they both looked over at Welles. The defense attorney took a moment to stand up. He slowly set down his pen. He carefully smoothed out his suit. Then, facing the jury more than Kat, he asked that same damn question, almost like he was bored with it himself.

  “You have absolutely no information that connects my client to this murder, isn’t that correct, doctor?”

  Kat let the smallest smile creep into the corner of her mouth. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Mr. Welles.”

  Everyone in the courtroom looked up. Welles’ record of witnesses answering ‘No’ had been perfect up to that point. Which just made Kat’s response that much more amazing.

  It surprised Brunelle. It surprised Yamata. It surprised the jury. It even surprised the judge. But most importantly, it surprised Welles.

  And it was never good for a trial attorney to be surprised.

  Brunelle knew, every trial attorney knew, that one ironclad rule of cross examination: ‘never ever ask a question you don’t already know the answer to.’ The number two rule was never, ever ask an open-ended question. Lead, lead, lead.

  But when you’re surprised, sometimes you don’t think straight. Sometimes you forget the rules. Especially when everyone in a crowded courtroom is staring at you.

  “Why would you say that?” Welles stammered at the doctor.

  Brunelle saw the grimace on Welles’ face as he finished the question and realized what he’d done.

  “I’m glad you asked that,” Kat smiled. “Allow me to explain.”

  “Your Honor, I’d like to withdraw the question,” Welles tried.

  Yamata immediately stood up; it was her witness. “The witness should be allowed to complete her answer.”

  Judge Quinn smiled down at the defense attorney. “You asked the question, counsel. I’m going to allow the witness to answer it.”

  And she did.

  “I was there when the body was lowered down. It took three of us: me and two patrol officers. And that was working with gravity. In addition, Emily’s hands had been bound behind her back prior to death, and the rope was only removed post-mortem. I know it was removed post-mortem because the rope left impressions and blanching that would have dissipated if her heart had still been pumping blood at the time of removal. Based on those two things, I know that whoever was responsible for Emily’s murder was strong enough, first, to overpower her and tie her hands behind her back, and second, to hoist her body from the ceiling.”

  “I fail to see how that implicates my client directly,” Welles sneered. “There are plenty of people strong enough to do that.”

  “Then let me finish,” Kat replied with a sharp, sweet smile. “I don’t just cut open bodies. I am tasked with determining the cause of every death in the county. Often, the most valuable information comes not from an autopsy the next morning, but from the eyewitnesses the night before. As part of my investigation I reviewed every police report generated in this case. Every one. I know a young woman named Holly Sandholm witnessed the murder. And I know there’s no way she was strong enough to overpower Emily or hoist her still struggling and very much alive body from the balcony by her ankles.”

  Kat paused and nodded toward the defense table. “But your client, Mr. Karpati, is strong enough … and that’s exactly what Holly said happened.”

  Welles narrowed his eyes. “And do you always take the word of a teenage girl?”

  Anderson shook her head and laughed lightly. “Oh, no. I have a teenage daughter myself.”

  The jury laughed too. Perfect, thought Brunelle.

  “I know not to believe anything until I can confirm it,” Kat continued. “I’m a pathologist, a scientist. And I’m telling you that what Holly told the detectives is wholly supported by the indisputable physical evidence. So when you asked me that there was absolutely nothing connecting your client to the murder, well, the answer is no, just the opposite. Your client had the strength and opportunity to commit it, and that’s corroborated by the only witness.”

  Kat thought for a moment. “Well, the only surviving eyewitness.”

  Welles just stared at her for several moments.

  “Wanna ask me another question?” Kat grinned.

  Welles smiled too, but a cold, hateful smile. He turned and stepped back to his table. “No, thank you, doctor. No further questions.”

  Yamata jumped up to press her advantage, but Brunelle grabbed her arm. “No questions,” he whispered.

  “What?” she whispered back. “but—”

  “The judge won’t let us,” Brunelle explained. “It’s one thing if a defense attorney steps in it. It’s another to let us elicit rank hearsay.
And anyway, we don’t need to. She killed him. Let it lay as is.”

  “Any redirect examination, Ms. Yamata?”

  Yamata hesitated but only for a moment. “Er, no, Your Honor. Thank you.”

  “The witness is excused,” the judge announced. “We’ll take our morning break now. Please reconvene in fifteen minutes.”

  Once the jury filed out, Brunelle walked up to Kat as she stepped down from the witness stand. “I love you.”

  “Shut up,” she laughed. “I’m still mad at you.”

  “I said I was sorry.”

  “You also said you wouldn’t do it,” Kat reminded him.

  “What I said was,” Brunelle raised a finger, “she wouldn’t wear a wire.”

  Kat crossed her arms. “Really? You’re sticking with that?”

  Brunelle grinned. “Words matter.”

  “And talk is cheap.”

  “Okay, let me make it up to you.”

  Kat shook her head. “Good luck with that.”

  “Dinner. This Friday. My treat.”

  Kat hesitated

  “Come on,” Brunelle encouraged. “What’s the worst that can happen?

  “The worst that can happen is I give you a second chance.”

  “Parker’s Grill?” Brunelle pressed on.

  Kat raised an eyebrow. “That pretentious, overpriced place? You can’t afford that on your government salary. I should know. Make it Jordan’s.”

  “That’s not much cheaper,” Brunelle observed.

  “Hey, Sherlock,” Kat tapped him on the forehead. “I just said yes.”

  “You did?” Brunelle beamed. “Hey, how about that?”

  “Yeah, Lizzy’s still grounded for pulling that stunt for you,” Kat explained. “So, she can stay home and watch TV while her mom gets a free dinner.”

  “Hardly seems fair if it’s bought by the same guy who put her up to what got her grounded.”

  “Are you arguing against the date you had to talk me into?”

  Brunelle shook his head forcefully. “No, ma’am.”

  Kat put her hands on her shapely hips. “Ma’am?”

  “I think I better shut up now.,” Brunelle said.

  “I think you’re right,” Kat laughed. “See you Friday, David.”