The Fifth Witness Part 37

"Seven o'clock tonight. Be at my office. Alone. You tell me about Opparizio then. You tell me about everything... or I go to the DA."

"The one thing is I'll never testify to anything. Never."

"Seven o'clock."

"I'm supposed to have dinner with Lisa."

"Yeah, well, change of plans. Think of something. You just be there. Now let's go."

I started to slide out of the booth as Lisa arrived. I pulled my phone and called Rojas.

"We're ready," I said. "Pick us up out front."

Thirty-four.

After court reconvened the prosecution called Detective Cynthia Longstreth to the witness stand. By going with Kurlen's partner as her next witness Freeman was confirming what had been my growing a.s.sumption: that her version of Bolero Bolero climaxed with the science. It was the smart play. Go with what can't be questioned or denied. Lay out the investigation through Kurlen and Longstreth and then bring it all together with the forensics. She would finish out the case with the medical examiner and the DNA evidence. A nice tight package. climaxed with the science. It was the smart play. Go with what can't be questioned or denied. Lay out the investigation through Kurlen and Longstreth and then bring it all together with the forensics. She would finish out the case with the medical examiner and the DNA evidence. A nice tight package.

Detective Longstreth did not look as tough and as severe as she did the first day of the case when I had met her at Van Nuys Division. First of all, she was wearing a dress that made her look more like a schoolteacher than a detective. I had seen this sort of transformation before and it always bothered me. Whether it was at the instruction of the prosecutor or by the detective's own wiles, many a time I had been faced with a female police witness who had transformed herself to be softer and more pleasing to the jury. But if I dared point this out to the judge, or anybody for that matter, I ran the risk of being slapped down as a misogynist.

So most times I just had to grin and eat it.

Freeman was using Longstreth to outline the second half of the investigation. Her testimony would be primarily about the search of the Trammel house and its findings. I was expecting no surprises here. After Freeman got her witness's bona fides on the record, she went right to it.

"Did you obtain a search warrant from a judge granting you access to Lisa Trammel's home?" Freeman asked.

"Yes, I did."

"What is that process? How do you get a judge to issue such an order?"

"You make a request that contains a probable cause statement, which lists the facts and evidence that have led you to the point of needing to search the premises. I did that here, using the statement of the witness who saw the suspect in the vicinity of the bank as well as the suspect's own inconsistent statements during the interview. The warrant was signed and issued by Judge Companioni and we proceeded to the house in Woodland Hills."

"Who is 'we,' Detective?"

"My partner, Detective Kurlen and I, and we decided to bring a videographer and a crime scene team with us to process anything we might find during the search."

"So the whole search was put on video?"

"Well, I would not say it was the whole search. My partner and I split up to make things move faster. But there was only one cameraman and he couldn't be with both of us at once. The way we worked it was that when we found something that looked like evidence or something we wanted to take into custody for examination, we would call for the camera."

"I see. And did you bring the video with you today?"

"I did and it has been placed in the player and is ready to go."

"Perfect."

The jury was then treated to a ninety-minute video accompanied by Longstreth's narration. The camera followed the police team as they arrived at the house and made a complete circuit around it before entering. While the view was in the backyard, Longstreth made sure to point out to jurors an herb garden stepped with railroad ties and freshly turned soil. It was what the great filmmakers would call foreshadowing. Its meaning would become apparent later, once the camera was inside the garage.

I was having trouble concentrating on the testimony. Dahl had dropped a bomb when he revealed the connection to Opparizio. I kept thinking about the possible scenario and what it could mean to the case. I wanted court to be over and for it to be seven o'clock.

On the video, a key taken from Lisa Trammel's belongings following her arrest was used to gain entrance to the house without damaging the property. Once inside, the team began a systematic search of the premises that seemed to follow a protocol born of experience. The shower and bathtub drains were examined for blood evidence. The washer and dryer as well. The longest part of the search took place in the closets, where every shoe and piece of clothing was carefully examined and subjected to chemical and lighting treatments designed to draw attention to blood evidence.

The camera eventually followed Longstreth as she left a side door to the house and crossed a small portico to another door. This door was unlocked and she went through it, bringing the camera into the garage. Freeman stopped the video here. Like an expert Hollywood craftsman, she had built her viewers' antic.i.p.ation and now came the big tease.

"What was found in the garage became very important to the investigation, correct, Detective?"

"Yes, it did."

"What did you find?"

"Well, in one incidence, it was what we didn't find."

"Can you explain what you mean by that?"

"Yes. There was a tool bench that ran along the back wall of the garage. It appeared to be fully stocked with tools. Most of them were hanging on hooks attached to a pegboard installed above the bench and along the wall. The different locations for hanging the tools were marked with the name of the tool. Everything had its place on the board."

"Okay, can you show us?"

The video was restarted and soon it came to a head-on view of the workbench. At this point Freeman froze the image on the overhead screens.

"Okay, so this is the workbench, correct?"

"Yes."

"We see the tools hanging on the pegboard. Is there anything missing?"

"Yes, the hammer is missing."

Freeman asked the judge for permission for Longstreth to step down and use a laser pointer to show on the screens where the spot for the hammer was on the pegboard. The judge allowed it. Longstreth pointed it out on both screens and then returned to the witness stand.

"Now, Detective, was that spot specifically marked as being for a hammer?"

"Yes, it was."

"So the hammer was missing."

"It was not found anywhere in the garage or the house."

"And did there come a time when you identified the make and model of the tools that were on the pegboard?"

"Yes, by using the tools that were still there we were able to determine that the Trammels had a set of Craftsman tools that came in a specific package. It was a two-hundred-thirty-nine-piece set called the Carpenter's Tool Package."

"And was the hammer from this package available outside of this set?"

"No, it was not. There was a specific hammer that came from this particular set of tools."

"And it was missing from the tool set in Lisa Trammel's garage."

"That is correct."

"Now, did there come a time during the investigation that a hammer was turned in to police that had been found near the scene of the murder of Mitch.e.l.l Bondurant?"

"Yes, a hammer was found by a gardener in some bushes a block and a half from the garage where the murder took place."

"Did you examine this hammer?"

"I examined it briefly before turning it over to the Scientific Investigation Division for a.n.a.lysis."

"What kind of hammer was it?"

"It was a claw hammer."

"And do you know who manufactured the hammer?"

"It was produced by Sears Craftsman."

Freeman paused as though she was expecting the jury to collectively gasp at the revelation when everybody in the courtroom had known exactly what was coming. She then stepped over to the prosecution table and opened a brown evidence bag. From it she pulled out a hammer that was encased in a clear plastic bag. Holding the hammer aloft she returned to the lectern.

"Your Honor, may I approach the witness with an exhibit?"

"You may."

She walked the hammer to Longstreth and handed it to her.

"Detective, I ask you to identify the hammer you are holding."

"This is the hammer that was found and turned over to me. My initials and badge number are on this evidence bag."

Freeman retrieved the hammer from her and asked that it be marked as state's evidence. Judge Perry gave his approval. After returning the hammer to the prosecution table, Freeman went back to the lectern and proceeded with her examination.

"You testified that the hammer was turned over to SID for forensic examination, correct?"

"Yes, correct."

"And subsequent to that did you get a forensics report on the tool?"

"Yes, and I have it here."

"What were their findings?"

"Two things of note. One was that they identified the hammer as being made exclusively for the Craftsman Carpenter's Tool Package."

"The same set that was found in the defendant's garage?"

"Yes."

"But minus the hammer?"

"Correct."

"And the other forensic finding of note was what?"

"They found blood on the hammer's handle."

"Even though it had been found in the bushes and been there for several weeks?"

I stood and objected, arguing that no testimony or evidence established how long the hammer had been in the bushes.

"Your Honor," Freeman responded. "The hammer was found several weeks after the murder occurred. It only stands to reason that it was in the bushes during that time."

Before the judge could make a ruling I quickly countered.

"Again, Judge, the state has introduced nothing in the way of evidence or testimony that concludes the hammer was in that bush for that long a time. In fact, the man who found it testified he had worked in and around those bushes at least twelve times since the murder and didn't see it until the morning he actually found it. The hammer could have easily been planted the night before it was-"

"Objection, Your Honor!" Freeman shouted. "Counsel is using his objection to put forth the defense's case because he knows it will-"

"Enough!" the judge bellowed. "From both of you. The objection is sustained. Ms. Freeman, you need to reword your question so that it does not a.s.sume facts not in evidence."

Freeman looked down at her notes, calming herself.

"Detective, did you see blood on the hammer when it was turned in to you?"

"No, I did not."

"Then how much blood was actually on the hammer?"

"It is described in the report as trace blood. A minute amount that was beneath the upper part of the rubber grip that encases the wood handle."

"Okay, so what did you do after receiving the report?"

"I arranged for the blood from the hammer to be tested at a private DNA lab in Santa Monica."

"Why didn't you use the regional crime lab at Cal State? Isn't that normal procedure?"

"It is normal procedure but we wanted to put a rush on this. We had the money in the budget so we thought we should move quickly with it. I had the results reviewed by our lab."

Freeman paused there and asked the judge to include the forensic report on the hammer as a prosecution exhibit. I didn't object and the judge approved. Freeman then changed course, leaving the DNA revelation for the DNA expert who would come in at the end of the prosecution's case.

"Let's go back to the garage now, Detective. Were there any other significant findings?"

I objected again, this time to the form of the question, which a.s.sumed that there had been a significant finding when in fact none had been testified to. It was a cheap shot but I took it because the last skirmish over an objection had knocked down Freeman's momentum. I wanted to keep trying to do that. The judge told her to rephrase the question and she did.