David Kessler - No Way Out

“So Claymore can say it was Manning,” Bridget said. “And Manning will say it was Claymore. And they’ll end up both getting off.”

“Unless we get some other evidence.”

Bridget raised her eyebrows.

“We’ve got other evidence. And it points to Claymore.”

“But that smart-ass defense lawyer is poking holes in the evidence.”

“And now we’ve got to disclose this to him.”

She looked glum. Nadis tried to take it philosophically.

“Well you know what they say: ‘Shit happens!’”

As Alex took in what Johnson had just said, the boy himself just stood there sobbing covering his face with his hands.

“Would you like a few minutes to compose yourself?” asked Justice Wagner.

Johnson shook his head and struggled to continue.

“Why did you contaminate it?” asked Alex.

“What?”

It was almost like he didn’t remember where he was.

“The sample — the nail clipping sample?”

“I didn’t do it deliberately.”

“But when I asked you about taking out the reference samples, you said that you did it to contaminate the evidence sample.”

“No it wasn’t like that! I didn’t take out the reference samples to contaminate the evidence sample. I’d already contaminated it.”

“How?”

“I just sneezed.”

There was laughter in the courtroom. Justice Wagner silenced it with a steely-eyed stare.

“You sneezed.” Alex echoed. He wasn’t trying to sound incredulous, especially as he didn’t want to disrupt the flow that he had got Johnson talking. He just didn’t quite manage to keep the surprise out of his voice.

“I felt it happening, but I just couldn’t stop myself.”

“But weren’t you supposed to be wearing a mask, in order to prevent just that sort of thing?”

Johnson looked helpless, even though he had already exposed himself and could hardly say anything to make it worse.

“I was supposed to… and I was going to. I’d just thrown away the old one and was about to put on a new one. But… like you said, we’re working under so much pressure… I just forgot.”

Alex knew that this wasn’t everything however. This was going to be painful but he had to press on.

“So what happened when you sneezed? Did it blew the sample off the table? Did it blow it onto the floor?”

Alex knew that he was being rather cruel here. He was hinting at “On top of Spaghetti” Tom Glazer’s parody of “On top of Old Smokey.”

“No, but I knew it had been contaminated.”

“So what did you do?”

Johnson looked terrified.

“What do you mean?”

“You said that you checked out the back-up reference samples after you contaminated the evidence sample. Why? ”

“Because I wanted to create a new one.”

A gasp went through the courtroom

“A new sample?” asked Alex.

“Yes.”

“And did you create one?”

“Yes,” Johnson answered, his timid voice barely audible.

“ How ?”

“Using the reference sample the suspect. I took a small quantity and ran it for 34 cycles in the Thermal Cycler for PCR.”

“But didn’t anyone see you?”

“No one was watching me. Everyone was doing there own thing. Like I said, we were all working under pressure.”

“But afterwards? Didn’t they see that it wasn’t a nail clipping with congealed blood?

“It was a destructive test. Afterwards there’d’ve been nothing left.”

“And it was this fake evidence sample that was then separated and detected and matched to the defendant?”

“Objection, Your Honor,” said Sarah Jensen, rising swiftly to her feet. “The question is compound and calls for a conclusion of the witness. This witness didn’t do any of those other tasks, and unless he actually saw them being done, he isn’t qualified to say that they were. And given that he has already stated that the lab was busy, I think we can safely rule out that possibility.”

Alex knew that he had them on the ropes now. That was why Sarah was objecting on such petty, technical grounds — because he had them beaten.

“Would you like to rephrase that question, Mr Sedaka?”

“Yes, certainly. Mr. Johnson, was it this fake sample that you signed off on?”

“Yes,” he choked, the tears flowing profusely now.

“No further questions.”

He sat down looking solemn. Andi was smiling, but trying not to. Of all the reactions, Claymore’s was the strangest. He was looking at Andi with a blank, neutral look on his face.

“Any redirect?”

“No Your Honor,” said Sarah Jensen, uncomfortably.

Ellen Wagner, looked at the Steven Johnson as he sobbed uncontrollably into his hands.

“The witness is excused. I will not issue a bench warrant for the arrest of this witness at this time. However, I am sure that the DA will look into this matter and take the necessary action in due course.”

Steven Johnson left the stand, his body shaking as he sobbed. Alex rose, keeping his face neutral.

“Side bar Your Honor,” said Alex.

“You may approach.”

Alex, Andi and Sarah Jensen approached the bench.

“Your Honor,” said Alex, “in view of the fact this evidence isn’t merely tainted but downright fake, I think that an uncontested motion for dismissal with prejudice would be in order.”

The judge turned to the Prosecutor, expectantly.

“Any objection?”

“Your Honor, this evidence may be tainted,” she replied half-heartedly, “but we have a reliable back-up system in place.”

Gene Vance was watching the trial at the rape crisis center. She had returned to LA, explaining Andi that she was needed here and couldn’t take any more time off. But her mind wasn’t really on the job.

A strange sensation of confusion wafted over her as she tried to take in what she had just seen. One moment the case against Elias Claymore looked rock solid. The next moment it was on the verge of collapse. Gene didn’t know much about law in general but she knew about rape law in particular and there was no way the prosecution case could survive the shocking revelation that had just emerged in court.

No matter what the strength of the victim testimony, it was the DNA that incontrovertibly linked the rape to Claymore. Without that, Bethel’s contradictory accounts of the assailant’s age would make it impossible to convict him.

But now it was all starting to unravel.

Gene could only guess at what they were talking about at the sidebar. The microphones were switched off for that. But she assumed that there was some technical quibbling about whether the charges could be dropped without prejudice so that they could conduct a retrial without the tainted evidence. Not that they would. But it would be a face-saving formula for the prosecutor. She could leave the courtroom still projecting that they could prosecute Claymore again. The DA would announce that they were dropping the charges later. If the judge required that the charges be dismissed with prejudice, then it would be a crushing humiliation for Sarah Jensen and she would take the rap, because the DA’s office needed a scapegoat.

Gene felt sorry for her. But she felt even more sorry for Bethel. Bethel wanted some semblance of justice. Now she was getting nothing. She would be leaving the court empty-handed.

That wasn’t right.

Gene picked up the phone and called a number.

“What do you mean?” asked Justice Wagner, leaning forward.