Alan Jacobson - False accusations

“I spent the entire night thinking about it. Can’t you just see the headline? ‘Director of State Crime Lab Involved in Scandal.’ If he doesn’t know what’s going on in his own department, what kind of a director is he? And if it does get out that I did know, it’ll be worse: I knowingly violated procedure, abused my position, allowed the usage of taxpayers’ money for personal interests…it’ll be filled with all sorts of things for the media to grab hold of.”

After a moment of silence, Chandler sighed. “Lou, listen to me. All you have to do is talk with Jennings. Now, before he gets to Denton, the chief, and the attorney general. Just make sure you impress upon him the fact that if he takes the lab down in an effort to take revenge on a fifteen-year-old dispute, he’ll be blacklisted by the very lab he relies on to make his cases.”

“I think I’ve got a better source of persuasion for Jennings.”

“Who’s that?”

“Someone who saved his ass a few years back. Jennings owes him.”

Chandler gave him his number in New York and hung up. He ran his fingers through his hair, then leaned his shoulder into the metal fire door and pushed into the hallway.

“Dammit.”

A day after his discharge from the hospital and an hour after returning to work, criminalist Stuart Saperstein was dispatched to a crime scene. Three hours later, he settled down at his desk to log in all the evidence he had collected. Before he could finish, however, he was summoned to Lou Palucci’s office.

He tossed the digital recorder onto his desk and trudged down the hall.

As he walked through the doorway, Palucci was hanging up the phone. “Sap,” he said. “Close that door and grab a seat.”

“You look like you haven’t slept in days,” Saperstein said, tilting his head back and peering at his boss through soiled glasses.

“See, that’s why you’re a criminalist. Very observant. You don’t miss a damn thing.” He scooted his chair closer to the desk. “I’ve got a situation here that I need your help with. Your buddy, Bill Jennings, is threatening to bring some serious heat down on me and the rest of the lab and you have to stop it cold. Before it gets anywhere.”

Palucci spent the next five minutes providing the details of Chandler’s involvement with the lab. Finally, Saperstein interrupted the explanation.

“So,” he said, removing his glasses and poking at the dust on the lens with a finger, “what you’re saying is that this guy Chandler used the state lab for private gain, and Bill found out about it, and you’re afraid he’s going to raise a stink. Saperstein replaced his glasses. “I don’t get it. Why would Bill care?”

“There was an incident about fifteen years ago involving Jennings and Chandler. The two of them squared off, and Chandler turned out to be right. Big case, big blow-up. Jennings came out looking real bad.”

“His chance to get even,” Saperstein said.

Palucci nodded. “With us in the middle.” He shook his head. “If this gets out to the chief…” Palucci started to say as he stood up. He waved a hand at the air. “I should’ve stopped it before it had a chance to go any further.”

“You want me to see what I can do.”

“You saved his career. He owes you.”

Saperstein sighed, stood up and paced. “I’ve got ulcerative colitis and I just got out of the hospital. Couldn’t you wait a few days before laying all this on my shoulders?”

“Wish I could have. But there’s no time. You can see what a potentially sensitive matter this is.”

Saperstein nodded. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He headed for the door. “I’ll talk to him. Give him a dose of reason. Best I can do.”

When Hellman called his office for messages after court had adjourned, he was informed that Denton had called. Hellman’s stomach tightened. “Did he say what he wanted?”

“No, just that it was extremely important.”

Although it was after five, he knew Denton would be there. The prosecutor answered his own line.

“Jeffrey,” Denton said with an air of indignation. “Is there anything you’d like to tell me before we talk?”

“Tim…” sighed Hellman.

“Don’t give me ‘Tim.’”

“What the hell do you want me to say? I’ve got an overzealous investigator who’s accustomed to doing things…differently than we do them here. I just found out myself.”

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Denton said. “He used to be an investigator with this office. He should’ve known better.”

“He and I have been all through that. He should’ve known better and he fucked up. But it doesn’t change the facts. And the facts are that Madison’s DNA does not match your sample. Someone else’s does.”

“That’s why you were so sure that if I got a sample of Harding’s DNA I’d be satisfied that your client is innocent and the charges should be dismissed.”

Hellman did not say anything.

“This is the wrong way of going about it, Jeffrey. You should’ve disclosed the evidence you had. Remember the laws governing discovery?”

“What was I going to do? Chandler didn’t tell me where he’d taken her DNA sample. I was going to turn it all over to you once I had the results, but when he told me where the tests had been run, we were in a bind. I couldn’t tell you what I had because you’d want to see the report, and when I had no report, you would’ve asked why and then I would’ve had to tell you that it was done at the state crime lab, and for sure all hell would have broken loose.”

“So this way is better?” Denton asked. “You don’t tell me about the information you’ve uncovered, you hide it from me. Kind of violate discovery, but not really, because you strongly hint that I should check out this other suspect. But what you don’t tell me is why you’re so convinced that she’s the guilty party. You hand me this cock-and-bull story about motive and extortion-”

“It’s not cock-and-bull. It’s absolutely real. And it’ll make your case.”

“That’s not the point. You should’ve told me what you had.”

“Look…” Hellman pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can we just put this behind us?”

“Put this behind us? Tell that to Jennings. He’s got a history with Chandler-”

“I know all about it. But if you’re going to let Jennings stir up all sorts of shit all because of a disagreement fifteen years ago-”

“Jennings is not a marionette, Jeffrey. I don’t have control over what he says and does. If he wants to go blowing wind all over the goddamned station about what Chandler did, there’s nothing I can do to stop him. If he wants to go to the lab chief, again there’s nothing I can do.”

“If he ever wants to step foot in that lab again, he’ll keep his mouth shut.”

“It’s his decision.”

“Why don’t you let him know your position?”

“And get accused of trying to assist a cover-up?”

Hellman did not like the sound of that. It meant that Denton was going to take action on this himself, regardless of what Jennings said or did. “Don’t tell me you’re going to get involved.”

“Get involved?” Denton asked, his voice rising a couple of octaves. “Get involved? I’m already involved. The only question is what I should do about it. And really, there’s not even a question. I have no choice.”

“Well, before you do anything rash, think about your actions.”

“What the hell do you think I’ve been doing all morning since Jennings told me? It places me in an ethical bind.”

“You can deny that Jennings ever disclosed any of this to you.”

“I can rationalize all sorts of things. But you’re asking me to do you a favor that-”