TRIAL V
"I would like to call on David Shaw to present his professional findings, as a forensic scientist, on the evidence of Emma Geller's accident," Mike Hannigan announced.
When Rachel saw David the Scientist Guy take the stand, she muttered bitterly to Ross, "God. It's like Phoebe's entire love life is marching into Court to defend Chandler. Does anyone even believe in us anymore?" She felt extremely hurt Phoebe had chosen Chandler over her, Ross and Emma.
David took to the podium, his briefcase full of photographs and reports. "Mr Shaw, you may begin your testimony," Mike prompted.
David pushed his heavy spectacles up his nose, and began speaking, "To tell you all the truth, I spent countless hours poring through the evidence, and most of it was inconclusive. Firstly, evidence on DNA was irrelevant because obviously Chandler's fingerprints are present on the offending knife, given that he used it to cut a pumpkin to feed his children. Secondly, the nature of Emma's wound suggests a level of force caused it. But I cannot determine whether the force was caused by a man intentionally stabbing her, or if it was caused by the force of gravity from falling into the knife."
David pulled out a photograph, setting it on the overhead projector, "However, despite the inconclusiveness of all evidence investigated, there was one single piece of evidence leading to my professional opinion that it is unlikely Chandler stabbed Emma."
The Court leaned forwards; hanging onto David's every word.
"I warn you, these images are graphic," David said, flicking the projector light on. The Court gasped in shock, at the disturbing image before them.
Ross and Rachel turned away, aching deeply at the sight of the photo. It brought back a rush of painful emotions from the darkest era of their lives… a time when, for months on end, they feared their tiny daughter might not make it out of her ordeal alive.
It was a Crime Scene photo of a single bloodied Barbie doll lying in an open dishwasher; a large burgundy pool of blood spreading across the dishwasher, and dripping steadily onto the kitchen floor.
David pointed at the photo, "You see the distribution of the blood? The pool begins inside the open dishwasher, and spills onto the kitchen floor. What does this mean? It means that the source of the bleeding occurred inside the dishwasher, which means Emma was in the dishwasher at the time the knife impaled her."
Mike smiled gratefully at David. He had found a golden ticket… a gemstone piece of evidence. "That will be all, Mr Shaw, please be seated."
Mike spoke, "The Prosecutor contends that Chandler stabbed Emma in a fit of rage. We have just established from this photograph, that Emma was inside the dishwasher at the time of the accident. Consider the absurdity of the Prosecutor's theory, in light of this piece of evidence. Does it sound plausible to you that Emma was standing inside a dishwasher at the time Chandler lashed out at her?
"How many of you have ever left a used knife pointing upwards in a dishwasher? Please raise your hands." A myriad of people began raising their hands. Mike nodded thoughtfully, "Look around you, ladies and gentlemen, and you'll see that over half of you have done this before. Now let me put forth a theory of what happened on the day of the accident, and you can decide for yourself which scenario is more plausible: The Prosecutor's or mine."
Mike pointed at the image of the Barbie doll. "See this here? I put to you that after Chandler cut up some pumpkin to feed his children, he placed the used knife pointing upwards in the dishwasher, as half of you in this Court have done before; and went to take a shower. Meanwhile, Emma wandered into the kitchen, accidentally dropped her doll into the open dishwasher. She leaned over, reaching for her doll, slipped and fell into the knife."
Mike turned to the Court, "Which scenario sounds more plausible? Scenario A: when Chandler attacked Emma, she happened to be standing in the dishwasher, because hey, that's what kids do these days. They hang out in dishwashers," Mike said sarcastically.
"Or Scenario B: Emma's accident was caused by an honest mistake, so common, that over half of you sitting in Court today, have made that same mistake before. So, Scenario A or B? Your choice. Just please, employ some common sense as you come to your decision."
Mike removed the photograph, and slipped another picture underneath the projector. The Court burst into immediate, loud, excited and confused chatter. Joey, glanced around the Court, failing to understand the commotion.
Justice Courtenay slammed his mallet on the podium, "Silence in the Court!"
Mike cleared his throat, "Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at a crayon drawing by Emma, of Chandler stabbing her to death with a knife."
Monica stared at the drawing in abject horror, "What the fuck is Mike doing?" she whispered.