Mark Gimenez - Accused

"She wouldn't. She didn't. Rebecca had no motive to kill Trey Rawlins. But the evidence will show that other people did have motives to kill Mr. Rawlins, that other people wanted him dead-and that some of those people had killed before.

"So don't assume the district attorney has this case figured out. He doesn't. I don't. But you must. At the end of this trial, you must decide if the prosecution proved Rebecca Fenney guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. That is your legal duty. But that's not the reality, is it? Because in your mind at this very moment is a single question: If she didn't kill Trey Rawlins, then who did?

"We'll answer that question."

Mark Gimenez

Accused

The Assistant D.A. stood and called the first witness for the prosecution as if he were an actor on a stage. Perhaps he was. Perhaps they all were. In America, there was no bigger stage than a courtroom during a televised murder trial of a famous pro athlete, whether the victim was Trey Rawlins or the defendant was O.J. Simpson. It was the ultimate in reality TV.

Ronda Jensen, mid-fifties, a career county employee, was the 911 operator who took Rebecca's emergency call that night. She authenticated the call then the Assistant D.A. played the tape for the jury. Bobby would cross-examine the prosecution's witnesses. He stood and asked only one question of this witness.

"Ms. Jensen, who made that call to nine-one-one?"

"Rebecca Fenney."

The first police officer on the scene that night testified next. Patrol Officer Art Crandall was only thirty and had never come closer to military service than his stint in his high school ROTC, but he wore his Galveston Island Police Department uniform with the same bearing as if he were the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff testifying before Congress.

"Officer Crandall," the Assistant D.A. said, "please tell the jury what you were doing at three-forty-eight on the morning of Friday, June fifth?"

"Three-forty-eight? Must've been eating a donut."

The Assistant D.A. rolled his eyes. "After that."

"Oh. Dispatch put out an emergency call to the West End, on Treasure Isle Lane in Lafitte's Beach."

"And did you answer that call?"

"Yes, sir, I did."

"Please tell the jury what you did when you arrived at the address."

"I pulled up out front of the residence-"

"At what time?"

"Three-fifty-seven."

"Did you see any other cars or people out front?"

"No, but Officer Guerrero arrived right after me. We then proceeded along the east side of the residence down to the beach."

"And why didn't you go to the front door?"

"Dispatch said to go around back, which sits right on the beach. We climbed the rear stairs to the back deck. The doors right there were open. I yelled 'Police!' and we entered the residence."

"Officer Crandall, would you please look at the monitor next to the witness stand?"

The Assistant D.A. nodded to a staffer manning a laptop at the prosecution table. A color photo showing the front of the Rawlins residence appeared on the big screen above the witness stand.

"Officer Crandall, is this the residence you arrived at that night?"

"Yes, sir, it is."

"Does this next photo show the east side of the residence?"

"Yes, sir, it does."

"And these are the stairs to the back deck?"

"Yes, sir."

"And the French doors?"

"Yes, sir."

"All right. You entered through those doors. What did you find inside?"

"We made entry into a large, white bedroom. The lights were on. I observed the room and saw a woman holding a phone."

"And was that woman Rebecca Fenney, the defendant?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you see anyone else?"

"No, sir, I did not-not anyone alive, anyway. Directly in front of me was the bed on which the victim was lying. He had a knife in his chest. Blood was everywhere."

"What did you do then?"

"I remained in the bedroom with the woman while Officer Guerrero cleared the house."

"Did Officer Guerrero find anyone else in the house?"

"No, sir. The house was clear."

"Was the front door locked?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then what did you do?"

"I told dispatch to send out the homicide detective, M.E., crime scene."

"Did you touch anything in the bedroom?"

"No, sir. I waited with the woman for the detective to arrive."

"How long was it before the detective arrived?"

"Maybe thirty minutes."

"And what was the defendant's appearance?"

"She was wearing a short white nightgown. It was bloody."

"Did the defendant change her clothes or clean up prior to the detective's arrival at the scene?"

"No, sir. I was with her the entire time."

"No further questions, Your Honor."

Bobby stood and cross-examined the police officer.

"Officer Crandall, when you entered the residence, did you have your weapon drawn?"

"Yes, sir, I did."

"Why?"

"Dispatch said the perpetrator might still be in the house."

"But you and Officer Guerrero determined that the perpetrator was not still in the house?"

The Assistant D.A. stood. "Objection. Defense is mischaracterizing his testimony. The dispatcher had no knowledge of any perpetrator. The officers determined that no one else was in the house. That does not mean there was in fact a third-party perpetrator."

Bobby turned his palms up, as if confused. "The witness said perpetrator."

But the judge wasn't buying what he was selling.

"Sustained. Rephrase, Mr. Herrin."

"You found no one else in the house?"

"No, sir."

"But you found the French doors open?"

"Yes, sir."

"So if someone else had been in the house before you arrived, he could have left through the open French doors?"

"Yes, sir."

"And the beach there is dark, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"So he could have come down the back stairs just seconds before you arrived and hidden just down the beach and you wouldn't have been able to see him, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Officer Crandall, you testified that Ms. Fenney was on the phone when you arrived. To whom was she talking?"

"The nine-one-one operator."

"How did Ms. Fenney seem when she first saw you entering the bedroom?"

"Relieved."

"Thank you, Officer Crandall."

The judge recessed for lunch. Scott walked outside the courtroom and saw Renee Ramirez interviewing Officer Crandall in her booth.

"Gosh," the cop said, "I was so nervous. You think I did okay? That donut remark sounded stupid, didn't it?"

Like a contestant awaiting the judges' scores on Dancing with the Stars.

After lunch, Galveston County Medical Examiner Sanjay Sanjeev took the stand. Dr. Sanjeev appeared unaffected by the cameras; he wore a rumpled cotton suit, a blue shirt, and a black tie loosened at his neck. He was a board-certified pathologist, and he testified from his notes like an old med school professor teaching a class.

He had arrived at the crime scene at just after 5:00 A.M. on Friday, June 5th. The deceased was "found dead." He pronounced Trey Rawlins dead at 5:15 A.M. He observed the body on the bed and the knife in the body. His death investigator took photos of the body in situ. The body was then removed from the scene under his supervision at approximately 8:00 A.M. without removal of the knife. The body was transported to the medical examiner's office where he conducted a complete autopsy later that morning. It was his medical opinion that Trey Rawlins had died from a sharp force injury to the chest, that is, a stab wound that severed his descending aorta resulting in a sudden and massive blood loss; that he was alive at the time he was stabbed; that time of death was between midnight and 3:00 A.M. on Friday, June 5th; that manner of death was homicide. The Assistant D.A. did not show the autopsy photos to the jury.