“Yes,” Fulton replied pleasantly. He and Karp had gone over this very scenario knowing that Clooney would walk right into it. “I assigned one of the detectives who works for the District Attorney’s Office, Fran Verbeyst, to do just that. It was actually easier than I would have thought, because the cigarettes are imported and not widely distributed like an American cigarette, at least not in Verbeyst’s canvassing of more than fifty New York tobacco product distributors.”
“Thank you,” Karp said and looked at the judge. “Your Honor, I’d suggest that for the general answer to my question, Detective Fulton, through one of his colleagues, has done his homework enough to render an informed opinion.”
“Objection overruled, but unless he also wants to get into more detailed data, let’s keep this short and general,” Judge See said, looking at Karp from under his bushy eyebrows.
“We’ll be brief, Your Honor,” Karp replied and turned to Fulton. “Detective, you were about to answer my question as to the availability of Belomorkanal cigarettes in the greater New York City vicinity.”
“Well, it is possible to order these cigarettes online,” Fulton noted. “However, they are a cheap brand, even in Russia, so it would seem to defeat the purpose. As for over-the-counter sales, they are mostly confined to traditionally Russian immigrant communities.”
“Such as the neighborhood known as Little Odessa in Brighton Beach over in Brooklyn?”
“That would be a good example. There are several shops in that area, as well as two vending machines we could locate, that carry that brand.”
“Thank you,” Karp said. “Now, let’s move on to People’s Exhibit Nineteen marked for identification. Please explain its contents.”
Again, Fulton carefully picked up the envelope from the ledge of the witness stand and looked inside. “Sure, this exhibit found in front of the Carlotta residence contains a single cigarette butt, also Belomorkanal.”
Karp retrieved the envelopes and brought them back to the prosecution table. “Detective, is there a reason the cigarette butts are in paper envelopes as opposed to, say, a plastic bag?”
“Yes, plastic bags retain moisture that can damage DNA evidence.”
With another CSI moment locking in the jury, Karp turned back to the witness stand. “Detective, in a moment I’m going to ask you where the contents of each envelope were located, but could you first explain why you happened to be in New Rochelle on that particular evening?”
“I received a telephone call from the Carlotta residence indicating that some evidence pertaining to this case may have been located.”
“Who placed the call?”
Here it comes, Karp thought, though his face gave no indication.
“Marlene Ciampi.”
“And that is the same Marlene Ciampi who just happens to be my wife?”
“She sure is,” Fulton shot back with a full-moon-sized grin that gave rise to titters throughout the courtroom.
Judge See interrupted the moment. “Sometimes in these matters of extreme importance, tension breakers do occur. Let’s hope that they serve as an aid helping us refocus our undivided attention on the testimony we’re about to hear.” The courtroom was hushed as Judge See smiled and said, “Please proceed, Mr. Karp.”
“Okay, Detective Fulton, do you know what she was doing at the Carlotta residence?”
“It’s my understanding that she was working as the attorney for Nicoli Lopez, the girlfriend of William ‘Gnat’ Miller.”
“Why would she have been at the Carlotta residence?”
“Apparently, her client had indicated that her boyfriend might have implicated himself in this crime, and she was attempting to interview the victim’s wife, Antonia Carlotta, to help determine if that was true or not.”
“Please explain the circumstances that caused you to go to New Rochelle after you received her call.”
“She discovered what she felt was evidence related to the case,” Fulton explained. “She immediately called me as the head of the district attorney’s detective squad so that I could ensure the chain of custody and secure the evidence.”
“And did you meet with Ms. Ciampi when you arrived on the scene?”
“Yes. She was standing in front of the Hudson Day School.”
“What was she doing?”
“She had just located one of the cigarette butts contained in People’s Exhibit Eighteen.”
“Why was she at that particular location?”
“Mrs. Antonia Carlotta had indicated to Ms. Ciampi that one or more of the men was smoking when she and her family passed them on the night of December second. Marlene had asked the victim’s wife to take her to where the men were parked.”
Karp walked over to the prosecution desk and picked up two photographs, which he then handed to Fulton. “Detective, I’ve handed you People’s Exhibits Fourteen and Fifteen. Are you familiar with these photographs?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Starting with People’s Exhibit Fourteen in evidence, would you please tell the jury what each depicts?”
Fulton held up the first photograph and showed it to the jury. “This shows three small flags attached to wire stakes that have been stuck in the ground. Each flag represents the place where a cigarette butt was located.” He put that photograph down and picked up the other. “People’s Exhibit Fifteen in evidence shows two more stakes indicating where two more butts were located, a little closer to the curb.”
“I see,” Karp said, “and why would these cigarette butts interest you?”
“Several reasons,” Fulton said. “One was to corroborate Mrs. Carlotta’s account of what she saw in regard to the parked car and its occupants. We also knew from talking to Nicoli Lopez that William Miller’s car had smelled like cigarette smoke after the nights of December second, the night the defendants drove to New Rochelle, and December fifth, the night of the murder. But according to Miss Lopez, neither Miller nor the defendant Frank DiMarzo smoked. We were trying to establish the identity of a third man, a man with a Russian accent, who may have been with the other two. We hoped that there might be traces of DNA left on the butts to help identify him.”
“Your Honor, with the court’s permission, may Detective Fulton step down and help us view the diagram, People’s Exhibit Two in evidence?” Karp asked.
“Yes, he may,” Judge See replied.
Walking over to the easel with the detective, Karp said, “Detective Fulton, do you see on the diagram where the cigarette butts were located?”
“Yes.”
“Please indicate.”
“Right where the letter ‘B’ is already marked on the exhibit. That’s the approximate area where I located the cigarette butts contained in People’s Eighteen, and the location of the stakes in the photographs in People’s Exhibits Fourteen and Fifteen.”
Walking back to the prosecution table again, Karp held up a plastic bag and its contents. “Detective, can you identify People’s Exhibit Twenty-Four for the jury, please?”
“Yes, it’s a beer bottle.”
“And did you collect this beer bottle?”
“I did.”
“Please indicate on the diagram, People’s Two in evidence, where you retrieved this beer bottle, People’s Exhibit Twenty-Four?
“Right here in this area,” Fulton said, pointing. “Right on the hedge area there.”
“Would you please write the letters ‘BB’ for ‘beer bottle’ on the diagram?”
“Was there a reason for you to be looking for evidence by the hedge?” Karp asked.
“Mrs. Carlotta indicated that when she and her husband passed the parked car, one of the men was outside standing near the hedge.”
“Was there anything else you noted at that spot?”
“Yes, there was an area beneath the hedge that contained snow left over from the previous week’s snowfall in the area,” Fulton replied. “And I noted a spot that was yellowish in color.”
“Did you happen to collect
a sample of the yellowish snow?”
“I did.”
As Karp walked over to the prosecution table, Guma handed him three envelopes, which Karp took over to Fulton. “The record should reflect that I’ve given the witness People’s Exhibit Nineteen marked for identification, can you identify it and its contents?”
Fulton opened the envelope matter-of-factly and looked up and nodded. “Yes, it is an envelope containing a single Belomorkanal cigarette butt I collected from the lawn of the Carlotta residence.”
Karp held out his hand for the envelope and exchanged it for the other two. “Can you identify People’s Exhibits Twenty-One and Twenty-Two?”
Fulton looked at the envelopes carefully, then glanced inside them and appeared to be counting.
“Would you please describe the contents?” Karp asked.
“The first, with my initials and date, contains three cigarette butts,” Fulton replied. “The other contains nine cigarette butts.”
“Where did you locate the cigarette butts, and describe the circumstances that led to your finding them?”
Fulton turned to look at the jury. “Following my trip to New Rochelle, where I took custody of the evidence from Marlene . . . Mrs. Ciampi . . . I returned to Hell’s Kitchen. I was thinking about the witness statements that the robbers jumped out of the alley. I thought if one or more of them were heavy smokers, they might have left cigarette butts behind in or around the alley that could be matched to those found near the Carlotta residence.”
“Tell us what, if anything, you found.”
“Well, I located twelve cigarette butts near the entrance to the alley and collected all of them in that first envelope,” Fulton said.
“Were you able to determine the brands?”
“Three were Belomorkanal, and the other nine were different brands,” Fulton said.
Karp now walked quickly over to the prosecution table, where Guma had one last envelope waiting. “And do you recognize this envelope and its contents? People’s Exhibit Twenty-Three?”
Fulton checked out the proffered envelope. “Yes. It contains a cigarette butt found on the floor behind the front seat of the car registered to William ‘Gnat’ Miller.”
“What brand is it?”
“Belomorkanal.”
“Have you seen the car?”
“Yes.”
“Please describe it for us?”
“It’s a Delta 88, four-door sedan, a little banged up. It appears to have been green, but the paint is pretty faded. . . . There’s a lot of gray primer on it.”
“Where was the primer located on the Delta 88 sedan?”
“On a large area of the trunk.”
“Did you record the license plate number of that car?”
“I have it written down here on my notepad,” Fulton replied. “FPB eight-one-nine-six . . . registered to William Miller at a Brooklyn address.”
“Thank you. Now, returning to the evidence you collected—the cigarette butts, beer bottle, and yellowish snow—what was done with these items?”
“I sent them to the Jack Swanburg’s Baker Street Irregulars office for DNA testing.”
“Your Honor, no more questions,” Karp said.
“Detective Fulton, would you please return to the witness stand?” Judge See asked. “Would the defense like to question the witness?”
“Indeed, Your Honor,” Conrad Clooney announced as he rose from his seat and walked over to the witness stand. “Detective,” he began with a knowing smile, “if I understand your testimony, you got a call from Marlene Ciampi saying she’d located evidence at the Carlotta residence.”
“That’s correct.”
“And this evidence pointed to three young men, two of whom are seated here as defendants.”
“Eventually, yes,” Fulton agreed.
“But this was the first the police had heard about three young men visiting the Carlotta residence?”
“Not exactly,” Fulton said.
“What do you mean, not exactly?” Clooney said with a scowl.
“The day after the shooting, Mahlon Gorman, the attorney for the deceased, Vince Carlotta, paid a visit to the District Attorney’s Office and—”
Clooney interrupted. “But suddenly Mrs. Carlotta remembered the visit?”
Karp jumped up. “Your Honor, Mr. Clooney just clipped Detective Fulton’s answer. Mr. Clooney opened the door and needs to let Detective Fulton finish his answer.”
Emotionally, Clooney argued, “This is a profound setup. A conspiracy of lies. It’s entirely inadmissible.”
Judge See frowned. “That’s quite enough, Mr. Clooney. First of all, I’ve already advised you, you must be more careful about asking questions to which you may get surprise answers. And secondly, while I’m presiding, I will decide the admissibility of evidence. Is that clear, Mr. Clooney?”
Red-faced and humiliated, Clooney didn’t answer and just stood looking down at his shoes. Judge See waited patiently before finally saying, “I will interpret your silence and failure to respond as acceptance of my ruling. The witness may finish his answer.”
“As I said, the day after the shooting, Mr. Carlotta’s attorney, Mahlon Gorman, came to the District Attorney’s Office and told us about the three men who visited the Carlotta residence in New Rochelle.”
“But suddenly Mrs. Carlotta remembered the visit, and Marlene Ciampi happened to find all these items that are now being used to convict the defendants?” Clooney demanded incredulously.
“No, not suddenly. She said she never forgot that visit, because it was unusual and she feared for her husband’s safety.”
“I ask that answer be stricken as not responsive,” Clooney said.
“Mr. Clooney, there you go again, your objection is overruled,” Judge See said.
Infuriated, Clooney snapped at Fulton. “And then you,” he said, raising his voice as he paced over to stand in front of the jurors, “returned to the scene of the crime in Hell’s Kitchen and, wouldn’t you know it, found more cigarette butts of the same brand.”
“Among others, yes.”
“Don’t you find that just a little coincidental?”
“No,” the detective replied. “It actually makes sense if one of the defendants was a heavy smoker.”
“Didn’t you go to the scene of the crime on the night it happened?” Clooney asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you’d know if the crime scene technicians, officers, and detectives at the scene did a thorough job of looking for evidence?”
“I would and they did,” Fulton replied. “But they weren’t looking for cigarette butts. New York City’s alleys, sidewalks, and gutters are filled with cigarette butts.”
“Or maybe these particular cigarette butts weren’t there until later?” Clooney retorted. “Doesn’t it seem just a little odd that the police miss the evidence at the Carlotta residence and then again in that alley until Marlene Ciampi, the wife of the district attorney, comes into the picture?”
“Sometimes it’s the little things that initially slip through the cracks that are important later when someone asks the right questions,” Fulton countered, obviously making an effort to keep his temper.
“And sometimes evidence gets manufactured,” Clooney retorted.
“Maybe in grade B or C movies, but not here on my watch,” Fulton replied while glaring at Clooney.
21
“THE PEOPLE CALL JACK SWANBURG.”
The door in the side of the courtroom leading to the witness waiting rooms opened and a man who looked like Santa Claus on vacation walked in. He was wearing green suspenders over a bright yellow shirt that barely covered his prodigious belly; his nose was red and poked out of a full white beard though the rest of his head was bald.
The former forensic pathologist from Denver, Colorado, was the founder of the Baker Street Irregulars, a group of scientists who volunteered their expertise to help solve crimes. They were particularly noted for using sciences such as geo
physics, botany, and archeology for locating clandestine graves, but they also offered a wide range of forensic abilities, including a laboratory for chemical analysis and DNA testing. Taking their name from the home of fictional detective extraordinaire Sherlock Holmes, of whom they were avid fans, they had worked with Karp in the past, and he had found them to be excellent scientific sleuths and wonderful expert witnesses on the stand.
Among them, Jack Swanburg was his favorite. A pathologist by profession, he was probably the most well-rounded of the group and could expertly comment on many areas of forensic sciences, including DNA testing.
After swearing to tell the truth, Swanburg sat down in the witness chair and smiled benignly at the jurors, most of whom could not help but smile back. But his face turned serious as Karp asked him to list his credentials, education, and courtroom experience, after which the defense had little choice but to accept him as an expert witness.
After discussing the details of how the prosecution evidence was transported and examined at the Baker Street lab in Colorado, Karp moved on to the findings. “Dr. Swanburg, I ask you to turn your attention to People’s Exhibit Twenty-Four, which contains a beer bottle. I note that it has a gray stopper on it, please explain.”
“It’s a rubber stopper designed for wine bottles. There is a small slit in the top that allows a plunger to create a vacuum inside the bottle while preventing leaks as well as, in this case, preventing any changes to the contents that might occur with continued contact with the air.”
“Did you have the opportunity to examine the contents of the bottle?” Karp asked.
“Yes,” Swanburg said, pulling out a small pair of reading glasses to look at the papers he’d brought with him to the stand. “I understood that the contents were partly frozen when the bottle was collected, but they arrived in my office in liquid form.”
“Could you identify the contents?”
“Of course,” Swanburg replied. “As expected with a beer bottle, there was evidence of malt, hops, yeast, and, of course, alcohol. However, this material was greatly overshadowed by the residue of Nicotiana tabacum, or tobacco, as well as human saliva.”
“As a result of your analysis, what conclusions were you able to reach?” Karp asked.
Tragic Page 18
