The Lincoln lawyer - By Michael Connelly Page 0,109
questions.
“Officer, was there blood on the defendant’s right hand?”
“No, there was no blood on his right hand or I would have bagged that one, too.”
“I see. So you have blood on the left hand only and a knife with blood on the handle. Would it then appear to you that if the defendant had held that knife, then he would have to have held it in his left hand?”
Minton objected, saying that Santos was a patrol officer and that the question was beyond the scope of his expertise. I argued that the question required only a commonsense answer, not an expert. The judge overruled the objection and the court clerk read the question back to the witness.
“It would seem that way to me,” Santos answered.
Arthur Metz was the paramedic who testified next. He told jurors about Campo’s demeanor and the extent of her injuries when he treated her less than thirty minutes after the attack. He said that it appeared to him that she had suffered at least three significant impacts to the face. He also described a small puncture wound to her neck. He described all the injuries as superficial but painful. A large blowup of the same photograph of Campo’s face I had seen on the first day I was on the case was displayed on an easel in front of the jury. I objected to this, arguing that the photo was prejudicial because it had been blown up to larger-than-life size, but I was overruled by Judge Fullbright.
Then, when it was my turn to cross-examine Metz, I used the photo I had just objected to.
“When you tell us that it appeared that she suffered at least three impacts to the face, what do you mean by ‘impact’?” I asked.
“She was struck with something. Either a fist or a blunt object.”
“So basically someone hit her three times. Could you please use this laser pointer and show the jury on the photograph where these impacts occurred.”
From my shirt pocket I unclipped a laser pointer and held it up for the judge to see. She granted me permission to carry it to Metz. I turned it on and handed it to him. He then put the red eye of the laser beam on the photo of Campo’s battered face and drew circles in the three areas where he believed she had been struck. He circled her right eye, her right cheek and an area encompassing the right side of her mouth and nose.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the laser back from him and returning to the lectern. “So if she was hit three times on the right side of her face, the impacts would have come from the left side of her attacker, correct?”
Minton objected, once more saying the question was beyond the scope of the witness’s expertise. Once more I argued common sense and once more the judge overruled the prosecutor.
“If the attacker was facing her, he would have punched her from the left, unless it was a backhand,” Metz said. “Then it could have been a right.”
He nodded and seemed pleased with himself. He obviously thought he was helping the prosecution but his effort was so disingenuous that he was actually probably helping the defense.
“You are suggesting that Ms. Campo’s attacker hit her three times with a backhand and caused this degree of injury?”
I pointed to the photo on the exhibit easel. Metz shrugged, realizing he had probably not been so helpful to the prosecution.
“Anything is possible,” he said.
“Anything is possible,” I repeated. “Well, is there any other possibility you can think of that would explain these injuries as coming from anything other than direct left-handed punches?”
Metz shrugged again. He was not an impressive witness, especially following two cops and a dispatcher who had been very precise in their testimony.
“What if Ms. Campo were to have hit her face with her own fist? Wouldn’t she have used her right —”
Minton jumped up immediately and objected.
“Your Honor, this is outrageous! To suggest that this victim did this to herself is not only an affront to this court but to all victims of violent crime everywhere. Mr. Haller has sunk to —”
“The witness said anything is possible,” I argued, trying to knock Minton off the soapbox. “I am trying to explore what —”
“Sustained,” Fullbright said, ending it. “Mr. Haller, don’t go there unless you are making more than an exploratory swing through the possibilities.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” I said. “No further questions.”