Joseph Teller - Depraved Indifference

Still, Jaywalker knew, it wasn't going to be pretty.

Kaminsky asked Dr. Thanning about her title, training and experience. She described earning her medical degree, doing several internships and residencies, earning board certification in forensic pathology, and working as an assistant medical examiner in the county until her promotion several years ago.

KAMINSKY: What are your duties as chief medical examiner of Rockland County?

THANNING: I run the office and report to the county executive. Along with my staff, I investigate every violent or suspicious death that occurs in the county, as well as a large number of cases where the cause of death is unknown.

KAMINSKY: How do you go about investigating those deaths?

THANNING: Chiefly by performing complete postmortem examinations, commonly referred to as autopsies.

KAMINSKY: How many autopsies have you performed or assisted at?

THANNING: Thousands.

KAMINSKY: Did you have occasion to perform an autopsy on May 28 of last year?

THANNING: I did.

KAMINSKY: Who was the subject of that autopsy?

THANNING: A man by the name of Walter Najinsky.

Walter Najinsky had been the driver of the van, and had long been the forgotten victim in the case. But that was about to change. Najinsky was about to be remem bered in death far more than he had been in life, except perhaps by his immediate family and friends.

KAMINSKY: Would you describe Mr. Najinsky's remains for us as you first encountered them?

THANNING: Yes. The entire body was charred black. The facial features were virtually unrecognizable. Almost all of the flesh had been incinerated, except where one shoe had partially protected one foot. Other than that, what I was looking at was essentially some very burned flesh and a skeleton.

Jaywalker pretended to be taking notes, but only because he didn't dare look at the jurors. The silence in the courtroom told him all he needed to know.

KAMINSKY: What did your examination reveal?

THANNING: It revealed third-degree burns of the entire body.

KAMINSKY: Would you please explain to the jury what third-degree burns are?

THANNING: We divide burns into three degrees, increasing in severity from first degree to third degree. First-degree burns are a reddening of the skin, the sort of thing you might sustain from getting your finger too close to a match, or touching the surface of a pot that's been on the burner of a stove. Second-degree burns involve blistering, where the heat and duration of exposure are enough to kill the outer layers of skin, and cause them to separate from the internal layers. Third-degree burns include charring, much the same way a steak will char if left on a hot open flame too long.

KAMINSKY: Did your examination reveal anything else?

THANNING: Yes. I was able to determine that there were several fractures to bones, specifically the right fibula and tibia, the pelvis, and both the left and right clavicles. In addition, there was a depressed fracture of the skull.

Kaminsky had the witness describe the various bones she'd mentioned. Then he asked her if she had been able to determine the cause of death.

THANNING: Not with absolute certainty. It was most likely the burns. But the skull fracture was also capable of causing death. And it's impossible to rule out internal injuries, which means bleeding from major organs. The body was simply too badly burned to make a determination.

KAMINSKY: Did you take photographs of the body?

JAYWALKER: You can't be serious.

Never mind that it was a line John MacEnroe used to get away with regularly. Jaywalker wouldn't be so lucky. Justice Hinkley banged her gavel once and declared a recess. Then, as soon as the last juror had left the courtroom, she held Jaywalker in contempt for the second time that day. "Only this time, I sentence you to one day in jail, and I do not, repeat, do not, suspend the execution of that sentence. Mr. Stephens," she called to a uniformed trooper assigned to guard the defendant and escort him to and from the courtroom. "Please make the necessary arrangements. Mr. Jaywalker will be a guest of the county tonight."

Then she asked David Kaminsky to show her the autopsy photos. Jaywalker had asked that she exclude them seven weeks ago, arguing that they were too inflammatory to show the jurors. In addition to the charred remains of Walter Najinsky, there were multiple photos of the bodies of the eight children, smaller than the driver's, but no less jarring. They ranged from moderately disturbing to truly hideous.

"Any probative value they might have," Jaywalker pointed out, "is far outweighed by-"

"Quiet," said the judge. She continued to inspect the photos for several minutes, gradually sorting them into two piles, before looking up. "These you may offer," she told Mr. Kaminsky. "These you may not. The defense's objection to them is noted and overruled."

Jaywalker noticed that somewhere along the line he'd ceased to be "Mr. Jaywalker" and had become "the defense." One of the prices of vigorous advocacy. He was permitted to see which photos had passed muster. They included five of Mr. Najinsky from various angles, as well as a close-up of the skull fracture, and one of a child, charred beyond recognition. Jaywalker had seen them all, having been furnished copies many months ago. Even he would have had to concede that Justice Hinkley had kept the very worst of them out. There was one, for example, of the eight children's bodies, arranged side by side, that reminded him of concentration camp photos he'd seen. And another of a small blackened skull framing tiny white teeth that seemed to be smiling out at the viewer. Still, the ones the jurors were going to be permitted to see were ghastly enough.

And the thing was, by excluding the worst of them, the judge would no doubt be deemed to have forged an acceptable Solomonic compromise in the opinion of some appellate court, a year or two from now. Judges weren't asked to be perfect, after all, just reasonable.

Once the jury had been brought back into the courtroom, Kaminsky had Dr. Thanning identify the photos of Mr. Najinsky and describe what each one depicted. Then he moved on, out of the frying pan, as it were.

KAMINSKY: Did you conduct autopsies of the additional eight victims, the children?

THANNING: No, I did not.

KAMINSKY: Why not?

THANNING: I was able to tell from a gross external examination that all eight had suffered third-degree burns over just about their entire bodies, and that in all eight cases, they could not have survived those burns. Based upon that conclusion, I elected to use my discretion and yield to the wishes of the families, who are all orthodox Jews opposed on religious grounds to invasive autopsies. Also, they wanted to bury their children without further delay, in accordance with their beliefs.

Which didn't stop Kaminsky from introducing eight additional photos, one for each of the children, and then having them published, passed among the jurors. Jaywalker watched out of the corner of one eye as each juror in turn physically recoiled from the images.

He asked Dr. Thanning no questions.

The afternoon's final witness was another doctor, this one a forensic pediadontist named Oliver Landsman Jacoby. Dr. Jacoby, so far as anyone had been able to ascertain, was the only person on the planet who made his living and spent all of his professional time identifying dead children by comparing their teeth to their previous dental records or, if no such records existed, to dental characteristics they shared in common with their parents or siblings. It was, one might say, a niche industry.

Because the eight children had been so thoroughly burned, and because the religious beliefs of their parents forbade intrusive procedures to their bodies, the Rockland County authorities had decided against attempting to draw tissue samples for DNA typing. With no cheeks left to swab, skin to scrape, or hairs from which to collect follicles, that likely would have required extracting bone marrow, something that Lone Thanning had been understandably reluctant to do.