Marty Jones was an attorney who, at times, practiced law by the seat of his pants. It's not to say he had his reserved times when he did practice law with people who needed him to be that way, but his current client would probably accept what he was about to do next. It was a bit 'out of the box' so to speak.
He had information that would likely clear his client. But the problem was in order to use it he needed to get the judge to vacate his client's admission of guilt. Getting the judge to agree to his client changing plea for the second time in as many days might be a bit of a stretch. That's why he found himself in the judge's chambers early on a Monday morning.
"Mr. Jones, I'm not necessarily convinced that this is in your client's best interest. Does he even know that you're here talking to me about changing his plea from guilty to not guilty?"
"Judge Spencer, it's not the matter of my client knowing what I'm doing, because he really is innocent. I can't get into the specifics right now, but without the evidence I need, I can't mount the defense my client is entitled to. I have certain tests that I want to perform on the murder weapon that would clear him. But in order for me to move forward, I need to change his plea from guilty to not guilty. I know the district attorney will not be happy with what I'm about to do, but it needs to be done," Marty pleads.
"Counselor, what I need are the parameters of this test that you plan on doing on the murder weapon. What I need is to be told exactly what you will be doing," the judge said.
"Your Honor, it's a simple process, basically a history lesson involving the murder weapon. A certain company has come forward with procedures to determine where the murder weapon was physically located at various times, what was being done with it, and who had contact with the murder weapon last, first, and during the crime. They have created a three-dimensional story that clearly shows who handled the weapon and when. Then everything is brought back by NYPD's CSU technicians and compiled. From that, they can make an animation that shows them when the weapon was used and by whom. In order for this to work, I need to have access to the OCME Department, along with the crime scene unit technicians. But I don't know if you're agreeable to letting them work with the defense, sir."
"Mr. Jones, I will take this into consideration. As of right now, the plea he initially entered stands. Once I speak with the district attorney, I'll be able to give you my answer. Until then, go ahead and run your test."
"Thank you, Judge Spencer."
Xx
Lanie just stood there. If it wasn't for the look she was getting from her assistant she'd think that this was all a big joke. It wasn't. She just ended a call with Rick Castle's attorney. And what he was suggesting was teetering on what is found in Never Never Land. He seemed to have heard of the company that they had been working closely with, to gather crime scene information and produce a realistic 3D explanation of what actually happened at a crime scene. She hung up the phone, then turned to see CSU technician Chen walking directly toward her at a fast pace. And she could automatically tell by the look on Chen's face that he was not happy at all.
"Can you believe this is happening?" Chen said as he walked up to Lanie.
"No, I can't. But I do have an issue with this. We can't be working for this defense attorney."
Chen pulled an envelope from his inside jacket pocket and handed it to Lanie. She opened the letter and scanned the content, her face turning redder and redder as she read. Finishing the letter, she said,
"This is bullshit! I'm not going to be a part of this. I'm going to call Beckett!"
Before Lanie could reach for the phone she heard a voice from behind her.
"Don't bother calling her, because she's right behind you."
Lanie spun in place and gave Kate a look. She was pissed at the fact that she had to deal with this B.S. and was going to let Kate know it.
"Like I said, Kate, I'm not going to be a part of this. The company that designed this program is giving it to us to use as a tool to solve murders or any other crime for that matter. It's not meant to be given to defense attorneys to save their clients."
"Lanie, this is Rick we're talking about. And I know you, you want to know the truth no matter what the outcome."
"You're right, I do. But not in this case. This technology we have isn't proven yet."
"Then you going to have to tell me how it works. Because whether you like it or not Marty Jones will be here in less than half an hour."
Lanie hated that this was all prearranged and she had no say in whatever happened next. But she would tell Kate about the process of how the program works.
"All right, here's how it works. Let's say that you're at a crime scene and somebody was shot. You know that if the body was shot where the crime occurred there would be blood spatter, gunshot residue, and other obvious evidence. Prior to this program coming out, we could only collect the evidence as we see it. In other words, we can't tell how old the samples were when we collected them. There was nothing to determine the age of blood spatter resulting from a gunshot. We can only collect a sample and process it that way."
"Okay, this I understand."
"Now here's where it gets interesting. Since I only know the basics of the program, I'm going to let CSU Chen explain it to you further."
Chen stepped out from behind Lanie and stood beside her.
"Detective Beckett, what we are able to do with this program now is collect different blood spatter samples from the crime scene. With this evidence, we can determine everything about the person who either A, caused them or B, was left by them."
"We know that in this particular case, Mr. Castle had been beaten inside the bar. We can tell exactly what time it was when he was beaten, who beat him, and other assorted information."
"Okay, now that I know how the program works, how is this going to help Rick?" Kate asked, and Lanie saw her friend give her an eye roll.
"That's where the magic comes in, Detective. In this case, we have different areas to collect evidence from - inside the bar, in the alley, and leading to and from the crime scene. We can collect blood spatter samples, hair fibers, and skin samples correlating them and give a specific time frame of what happened. Then using a 3D image from the start of the crime to the end we can tell what happened with exact certainty. I might add that this is all time-consuming work. Collecting the samples is the easy side of it; building a 3D image from start to finish is hard, time-consuming work."
"Well then, let's get started," Kate suggested.
Xx
Marty Jones knew he was playing with fire. While the judge might have agreed for him to get his evidence, he might have been going about it a little unfairly. He only wanted to find out the truth, and if the OCME and the NYPD had cutting edge technology, why couldn't he use them to his advantage to clear his client? The elevator to the OCME level came to a stop on the bottom floor and he stepped out. What he saw was three people trying to work around a very small table. They were so immersed in what they were doing that he announced himself from where he stood.
"Detective Beckett, I was wondering if I could have a minute to speak with you."
Kate, being involved in entering information into the program, stopped and turned to see who had called out her name.
"Good morning, Mr. Jones. As you can see, I'm right in the middle of something, but if you give me a second, we'll talk."
Marty stood and watched as she finished up doing what she was doing. He had heard of the program but he had never seen firsthand what it could do. He watched as the M.E. and Detective Beckett walked over towards where he was standing.
"Counselor, I think we might be better suited having this conversation in my office if you don't mind," Lanie said.
All three moved towards the office and sat around Lanie's conference table.
"Mr. Jones, it seems that you have manipulated the system to work to your advantage. And while I know why you're doing it, I don't have to like it," Lanie stated.
"Doctor, if I can prove my client's innocence, and the technology exists to do just that, you've got to believe that I'm going to do whatever I can in my power to make sure that this is used correctly," Marty countered.
"Well, Mr. Jones, it seems that you were right. Your client did not murder Joshua Davidson," Kate said.
Marty's eyes lit up like a kid receiving a Christmas present in July. He knew now that there was no way the judge would deny an innocent plea now. But there is one thing that he needed to know.
"Detective, are you at liberty to tell me who actually committed the crime? I know that my client was covering for his daughter because it was written all over his face, and I'm pretty sure that you knew it as well. But what I mean is will I be defending Alexis Castle in any future legal proceedings?"
"I can assure you that the evidence we have collected, and the animation that we have created for the judge to see, clears your current client and any future Castle for this crime."
"Are you able to give me any hints at who could have done this?" Marty asked hopefully.
"Mr. Jones, I'm afraid that is privileged information that you are not entitled to. As it stands right now, your client is in the clear and it's my job to investigate who has actually committed this crime. So now that you have what you came for, it was nice working with you, Mr. Jones," Kate said as she extended her hand for a friendly handshake.
Marty Jones knew when not to look a gift horse in the mouth. He shook the detective's hand and leaves the morgue.
"So Kate, why didn't you tell him who actually committed the crime?"
"Lanie, it's simple. I don't have a clue. Do you remember the sample I gave you earlier of the DNA I recovered from the scene?"
"I do. Why?"
"Well, that DNA was the DNA from the man who actually killed Josh. But it does me no good because getting any information on that sample DNA was useless. I came up against a brick wall after brick wall. The DNA sample led me to a site that diverted me to a maze of never-ending government BS. So, I'm no closer to finding out who actually killed Josh. The person who did provide the sample told me that it would be dead end after dead end and I'm beginning to believe that. So, I think this case will end up being cold. Montgomery won't invest any more time or keep us spinning our wheels on it.
"Not to be morbid or anything, but when are you going to tell him?"
"Tell who what?"
"Oh, no you don't! You have nothing holding you back now. What you need to do is live your life - you do know that you almost died three times last week, right? Take a chance, Kate. You only live life once." With that said Lanie turned around and started cleaning up from their hours of work earlier. Maybe now she could get home and get some sleep.
Kate left the morgue and headed straight for home. She knew that Rick's case would be dismissed now because of the evidence they put together for the judge. All Marty had to do was his part, and Rick should be a free man by the afternoon. Upon arriving at her apartment, she stripped down and took a long-deserved shower. She knew that Lanie was right. But she had to work on what she wanted first before she could actually commit to him.