Chapter Twenty-One

Physical Evidence

Supreme Court Trial

Part Six

Dr. Rodgers was on the stand to testify for the prosecution.

"Dr. Rodgers, when you performed the autopsy on the victim, what did you conclude?" Connie asked her.

"That the cause of death was due to blunt force trauma to the head," Dr. Rodgers replied.

"Could you please elaborate for the jury?" asked Connie.

"Yes," Dr. Rodgers replied. "The victim was struck hard in the head with a blunt object. His injuries were too severe for him to have survived them. He sustained very serious skull fractures."

"What did you surmise the blunt object was?"

"Judging by the indentations the blows made in his skull, my guess was that it was something along the lines of a pole or a crowbar—something like that."

"Thank you," said Connie.

***DOINK!DOINK!***

Supreme Court Trial

Part 12

A woman who worked in the forensics lab was testifying for the prosecution.

Mike arose from his and Connie's table and picked up an evidence bag containing a rusty, blood-stained cast iron pipe.

"People's exhibit one," he announced.

He then approached the stand.

"Miss Tate, do you recognize this?"

"Yes, I do. That's a cast iron pipe, and it's the murder weapon."

"How do you know it's the murder weapon?"

"We matched the blood found on it to a sample of blood from the victim's body. The two samples were identical. Exact same DNA."

"All right," said Mike.

He went back over to his and Connie's table, set down the bag with the pipe in it, and picked up a second evidence bag, this one containing a pair of blood-stained work gloves.

"People's two," he said.

Again, he approached the witness stand.

"Do you recognize these, Miss Tate?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Would you please tell the court why they're significant?"

"We did the same thing with them as we did with the pipe—matched the blood found on them to a blood sample from the victim's body. Again, the DNA from both samples was identical."

"Miss Tate, you were at the crime scene, correct?"

"Yes."

Mike again went over to the prosecution table and picked up two photographs that had been enlarged so they would be of better use to the lab techs.

"People's three and four," he said.

Once again, he approached the stand.

"You recognize this first picture?" he asked.

"Yes. It's a photo of the crime scene. I was there as part of the crime scene unit. That's a picture of the window in the victim's apartment."

"What's important about it?"

"There's blood on the windowsill—the victim's. We found no fingerprints belonging to the defendant in the apartment, but we found those blood smears, which led us to believe the killer wore gloves to keep from leaving fingerprints. After the police found the gloves, we went back to the crime scene to sort of re-enact what happened."

Mike held up the second photograph.

"And that's when you took this picture?" he asked.

"Yes."

Mike handed both pictures to the jury, so they could look at them.

"So the first photo, that was taken from inside the apartment?" he then asked the CSU tech.

"Yes."

"And what about the second one?"

"That one was taken from outside the victim's apartment. I climbed out through the window and stood out on the fire escape to take it."

"What's significant about it?"

"There are blood smears on that side of the windowsill, too. Again, it's the victim's blood. No fingerprints belonging to the defendant were left out there, either."

"How, do you believe, were those blood stains left there?"

"We believe the killer broke into the apartment using the fire escape and was wearing the gloves. After killing the victim, he got out of the apartment the same way he got in, only that time, he'd gotten the victim's blood on his gloves, some of which he transferred onto the windowsill when he made his escape. The pattern of the smears is consistent with how he would've had to grip the windowsill to get out. Like I said, once the gloves and pipe were found, we all went back to the crime scene and did a re-enactment."

"Thank you, Miss Tate. Nothing further," said Mike.

When he saw that the jurors were all done looking at the pictures, he took them back to his and Connie's table.

***DOINK! DOINK!***

Supreme Court Trial

Part 21

Lupo was testifying for Mike and Connie.

Before Connie went up to the witness stand, she took the evidence bags containing the gloves and the pipe.

"You recognize these, Detective?"

"Yes," Lupo replied. "CSU concluded that that pipe is the murder weapon, and my partner and I, along with CSU, believe the killer wore those gloves so he wouldn't leave his fingerprints behind at the scene."

"How did you come into possession of these items?" Connie inquired.

"We obtained a search warrant from Judge Davis to search the defendant's apartment for any and all items that could pertain to the murder. We found them hidden in the defendant's bedroom," Lupo answered.

"Would you please explain to the court what you mean by 'hidden'?"

"Yes," said Lupo. "We found both items in the defendant's bedroom. The gloves were hidden beneath the mattress, and the pipe was wrapped in a sheet and was hidden under a loose floor board beneath the bed."

"Thank you very much, Detective," Connie said.

***DOINK!DOINK!***