Steve Martini - Undue Influence

‘What does that tell you, Mr. Perone?’

‘That tells me that the casing in your hand has been fired more times than some pimp’s pecker,’ he says.

Perone is Harry’s kind of witness.

‘Wonderful.’ A pained look from Morgan, like see what the state gives her to work with.

‘Let’s keep it on a professional plane,’ says Woodruff.

‘Sorry, your honor.’ Nico gives the judge a grin.

‘Assuming someone didn’t have the equipment to reload this type of ammunition, is it possible for a man or woman to obtain this kind of reloaded ammunition?’

‘Sure. You can get it at any shooting range. Some gun shops sell reloads. You can pick it up at gun shows by the bushel. A million places,’ he says.

This is the critical point that Cassidy is making with this witness — that anybody, including Laurel, could have obtained the bullet that killed Melanie Vega.

‘So there’s no way to tell where this ammunition might have come from?’

‘Not really.’

‘Let me ask you, is there any way to tell what kind of gun this bullet was fired from?’

‘We know that at one time or another it was fired from at least four different firearms. Tool marks, ejection marks, will sometimes give you a clue as to the make of gun. In this case there’s too many marks, some over others. There’s no way with a bullet that has seen that much wear.’

‘So you couldn’t tell us the make or model of the weapon used to kill Melanie Vega?’

‘No.’

‘If the gun were found, would it be possible to do a comparison to match the bullet to the firearm?’

‘Oh, sure. There’s enough of the bullet there. But we’d have to have the gun. Then we could try and do a match.’

Cassidy doing a lot of nodding, the message clear, of course they have no gun because the killer got rid of it.

‘Mr. Perone, have you ever performed gunpowder-residue tests?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can you explain to the jury what such tests are designed to do?’

The hair on my neck starts to rise.

‘GSR is used to determine if nitrates or other residues from the discharge of a firearm have deposited themselves on the hands, face, or clothing of a suspect. The residues can be chemically collected and removed for testing.’

‘And let me ask you — did your office try to perform gunpowder-residue tests on the defendant, Laurel Vega, immediately following her arrest and removal to Capital County?’

‘Your honor, may we approach?’ I’m on my feet.

Woodruff waves us on, a sidebar to the other side of the bench, away from the witness.

‘What are you getting into, Ms. Cassidy? Remember we talked about inferences,’ says the judge.

There’s a lot of whispering at the bench, hands shading the side of mouths.

‘I haven’t said a thing about what happened to her hands,’ says Morgan.

‘But you’re getting pretty close,’ I say.

‘Your honor, we should have the right to ask the witness whether he was able to do GSR, and if not, why,’ she says. ‘Nothing more. Just that.’

‘Oh, sure,’ I say. ‘The defendant slopped her hands in solvents. Now, we don’t mean to infer anything by this, but it sure as hell screwed up our gunpowder tests. Sure, just let the jury form its own conclusions.’

‘Isn’t that what it’s all about?’ She looks at me and smiles.

‘I’m inclined,’ says Woodruff, ‘to let her ask. But keep it short and narrow,’ he says.

I’m rolling my eyes.

We’re back to the tables.

‘Did your office try to perform gunpowder-residue tests on the defendant, Laurel Vega, immediately following her arrest and removal to Capital County?’

‘Yes.’

‘And were you able to do so?’

‘No.’

‘Can you tell the court why not?’

‘The defendant’s hands had been chemically burned. Some laundry solvents had gotten all over them. Under the circumstances they were contaminated and GSR tests weren’t possible.’

‘These chemicals would interfere with the tests — is that right? Make it impossible to detect gunpowder residue?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why is that?’

‘Ms. Cassidy, you’re treading,’ says Woodruff.

She looks at him. ‘I’ll withdraw the question,’ she says. ‘I have nothing more of this witness.’

I’m chomping at the bit when I get to my feet.

‘Mr. Perone, let me ask you — you say that GSR tests are generally used to detect gunpowder residue from the clothing, hands, and face of a suspect. Is that right?’

He makes a face. ‘Yeah. More or less,’ he says.

‘Well, are they or aren’t they?’

‘Yeah. They are.’

‘Did you perform GSR tests on Laurel Vega’s clothing after her arrest?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And did you find any gunpowder residue, any evidence on her clothing that she had recently fired a firearm?’

‘Objection. Exceeds the scope of direct,’ says Cassidy. ‘Your honor, I limited my questions to the defendant’s hands.’

‘She questioned the witness about gunpowder residue,’ I say. ‘She opened the issue.’

Morgan’s getting into it with Woodruff, telling the judge that if I want to get into other areas I can call the witness in my own case-in-chief.

‘Overruled,’ says Woodruff. ‘The witness will answer the question.’ A lesson to Cassidy, one walk too many on the wild side with Chuckles.

‘Mr. Perone, did you find evidence of gunpowder residue on Laurel Vega’s clothing immediately following her arrest?’

‘No.’

‘After her arrest did you examine the area around the defendant’s face and neck for evidence of gunpowder residue?’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘I didn’t hear you,’ I say.

‘Yeah.’

‘And did you find any gunpowder residue on her face and neck, indicating that she might have recently discharged a firearm?’

‘No. But it had been a few days since the shooting to the point of arrest. She probably showered or bathed.’

I look at Cassidy. She is steaming at the table, looking at Woodruff, optic slits that could kill.

‘Mr. Perone, I call your attention to the little marks on the bullet. I think the district attorney referred to them as little ridges. Do you remember these?’

‘Yeah.’

‘You said that you weren’t sure how these were caused, but that it might have been the result of rust in the barrel of the firearm, is that correct?’

‘One theory,’ he says. ‘Unless you got a better one.’

‘I’m not here to answer questions,’ I say. ‘You are.’

Nico wipes some more sweat from his brow.

‘Let me ask you, are you aware of small fragments of metal found in the fatal wound of the deceased, Melanie Vega?’

‘Objection,’ says Cassidy. ‘Exceeds the scope of direct.’

‘I’m working on the little ridges, your honor. I think I can demonstrate a connection.’

‘If you can,’ says Woodruff, ‘subject to a motion to strike. Keep it short,’ he says.

‘Did you ever see a report regarding these metal fragments, Mr. Perone? The ones found in the victim?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Were the fragments sent to your office for analysis?’

‘Metallurgy,’ he says. ‘They consulted with us.’

‘And did you have an opinion as to the origins of these fragments?’

He makes a face. ‘Low-quality steel,’ he says. ‘Bullet could have passed through something.’

‘Where?’ I say. ‘The victim was completely unclothed at the time she was shot. The bullet wasn’t fired from outside, through a screen, was it?’

‘Not that I know of.’

‘Nothing was found at the scene with a bullet hole in it. Did you find a metal object that was shot up?’

‘No.’

‘Well, then, where did these metal fragments come from?’