Joseph Teller - Overkill

JAYWALKER: Can you tell us what those things are on Mr. Quinones’s teeth?

KAPLAN: Those are called windowpanes.

JAYWALKER: What are windowpanes?

KAPLAN: They’re decorative coverings that are placed over the teeth, with a cutout vignette. Sometimes the cutout is a box or a circle, sometimes a heart or a star. It’s my understanding that they’re purely decorative, rather than for any dental necessity. And they covered three of Mr. Quinones’s teeth.

JAYWALKER: And in this particular case, what kind of finish was on the windowpanes?

KAPLAN: They were gold.

Jaywalker turned to the toxicology and serology reports, and brought out the fact that Victor Quinones had had both ethanol and opiates in his system. From the.11 blood-alcohol reading, he was able to get Dr. Kaplan to estimate the number of drinks Victor had consumed at five or six. And it had still been morning when he died. But the doctor had no way of quantifying the amount of opiates he’d taken.

JAYWALKER: And when we say opiates, what drug is the first one that comes to your mind?

KAPLAN: Heroin. Although it could have been dilaudid, or something like that. But heroin would be the most likely candidate.

It was time to get down to the most devastating area of Dr. Kaplan’s testimony, his opinion that the fatal shot had been fired at a distance of no more than four or five inches from Victor’s head. Jaywalker knew he wasn’t going to be able to get the witness to reverse himself on that conclusion, but he wanted to at least show that the basis for it was a fairly narrow one.

JAYWALKER: Are you familiar with the term “muzzle stamp”?

KAPLAN: Yes, I am.

JAYWALKER: What’s a muzzle stamp?

KAPLAN: A muzzle stamp occurs if the gun is placed against the skin when it’s fired, and the pressure and heat of the gasses coming out with the bullet cause an impression. That impression will show up on the skin as a contusion, a black-and-blue mark. And in size and shape it will be identical to the muzzle, the end of the barrel of the gun. Again, it occurs only when the gun is held against the skin, particularly if it’s held against it tightly.

JAYWALKER: Did you find any evidence of a muzzle stamp in this case?

KAPLAN: No. But I wouldn’t have expected to, because the point of entry was largely covered by the hair of his eyebrows.

JAYWALKER: Hair singes rather easily, doesn’t it?

KAPLAN: It can, yes.

JAYWALKER: Any singing of the eyebrows in this case?

KAPLAN: No, sir.

JAYWALKER: What is “stippling”?

KAPLAN: Stippling is the term for little dots caused by tiny blood vessels-known as capillaries-breaking. It, too, is an indication that the shot was fired at close range.

JAYWALKER: Any stippling around the head wound?

KAPLAN: No, sir.

JAYWALKER: What is “fouling”?

KAPLAN: Fouling is the unburned powder that comes out of the muzzle. It would leave a grayish discoloration, if you were within close range. Though it could be washed off at the hospital, in the emergency room.

JAYWALKER: Any evidence of fouling in this case?

KAPLAN: No, sir.

JAYWALKER: So just to recap. With respect to the fatal wound, you found absolutely no evidence of a muzzle stamp, no singed hair, no stippling and no fouling. Do I have that right?

KAPLAN: You do.

There was one last area Jaywalker wanted to explore with the witness. Katherine Darcy had made a point of having Dr. Kaplan testify that a cut he’d noticed inside the victim’s mouth had been consistent with his having bitten his lip when his head had been dropped to the ground, presumably after Jeremy had shot him between the eyes.

JAYWALKER: Let’s talk about this term “consistent with” for a moment.

KAPLAN: Okay.

JAYWALKER: All that “consistent with” means is you can’t rule it out. Right?

KAPLAN: That is correct.

JAYWALKER: In other words, it’s one of perhaps any number of possibilities that you can’t eliminate.

KAPLAN: True.

JAYWALKER: Is there anything at all in the findings you saw that tells you Mr. Quinones’s head was ever picked up and dropped?

KAPLAN: No.

JAYWALKER: Were you ever informed that Mr. Quinones had been in a fistfight immediately prior to his death?

KAPLAN: I don’t believe I was.

JAYWALKER: Is this cut to his mouth every bit as consistent with his having taken a good right-handed punch to that area of the mouth as it is with anything else?

KAPLAN: Yes, sir. It’s consistent with absolutely anything that would have caused the tooth to bite through the lip.

JAYWALKER: Thank you.

And with that Jaywalker let him go. Despite his having been able to score a few points on cross, he knew that Dr. Kaplan had been a pivotal witness for the prosecution. And the fact that Katherine Darcy didn’t feel any need to get up and rehabilitate him on redirect examination underscored what Jaywalker already knew: the witness’s conclusion that the head shot had been fired from inches away-or even less-wasn’t really in doubt and was something the jurors would be hearing much more of during Darcy’s summation.

Between direct and cross, Seymour Kaplan’s testimony had taken over two hours, and by the time he stepped down from the witness stand it was nearly five o’clock. Judge Wexler recessed for the day. “And I know you’ll be disappointed to hear this,” he told the jurors, “but tomorrow is my calendar day. That means I’ll be spending the morning dealing with other cases, ones that aren’t on trial. As a result, your presence won’t be required until two-fifteen in the afternoon. But don’t let my generosity lull you into being late. I’m told by the Department of Corrections that there are plenty of vacancies on Rikers Island.”

Vintage Wexler, taking what promised to be a beautiful free morning in mid-May and turning it into a threat of jail time.

Even with the next day’s late start, that evening was a busy one for Jaywalker. Not that they all weren’t when he was on trial. But once they resumed Wednesday afternoon, Katherine Darcy would announce that the People were resting their case. That meant it would be the defense’s turn.

In exchange for Darcy’s agreement to permit Jeremy’s mother and sister to remain in the courtroom during the testimony of the prosecution witnesses, Jaywalker had promised to call them first, and it was a promise he intended to keep. Carmen had been steadfast in her refusal to allow her daughter to testify, and Jaywalker had neither seen Julie nor spoken with her since she’d been chased and threatened by the Raiders. As a result, following Carmen’s testimony he would be putting Francisco Zapata on the stand. True to his word, Frankie the Barber had flown in from Puerto Rico over the weekend, and Jaywalker now arranged to meet both Carmen and him at the courthouse at noon, to go over their testimony one last time.

After them, of course, would be Jeremy. And it was only fitting that he should be the trial’s final witness. In a very real sense, all those who preceded him on the stand-the grieving father, the three eyewitnesses, the police officers, the crime-scene detective and the medical examiner, and even the defense’s own witnesses-were nothing but a preface to the main act. The case wasn’t about Victor Quinones or his father, or Teresa Morales or Regina Fortune or Seymour Kaplan. No, it was about Jeremy, about his falling in love, paying a terrible price for having done so, and finally fighting back. Tomorrow afternoon his mother and his barber would set the stage for him. And then, most likely Thursday morning, the jurors would hear what this case was really about.

They would hear Jeremy’s story.

As things turned out on Wednesday, Judge Wexler’s calendar spilled over into the afternoon session, and it was after three o’clock before the trial resumed. Jaywalker regarded the delay as a minor blessing. For one thing, it gave him an additional hour to make sure that Carmen and Frankie the Barber were fully prepared to testify. Not that that they wouldn’t have been without it; he’d already spent hours with each of them. But there was prepared, and then there was Jaywalker prepared.