Capture (Butch Karp Thrillers) (38 page)

“Well, I wouldn’t want to unnecessarily disparage—”

“Unnecessarily disparage?” Karp tossed it back at her. “But that’s what you’ve been doing in this courtroom since you got up on that stand!”

“Objection! Your Honor, the district attorney is insultingly and unnecessarily argumentative.”

“I’m questioning an unresponsive witness,” Karp retorted, turning to Rosenmayer. “I ask her a simple question and she ‘guesses,’ or prevaricates, or simply refuses to answer.”

“I’ll overrule the objection,” Rosenmayer said. “The record will show that the witness has been unresponsive.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Karp said, and turned immediately back to the witness. “So, Dr. Braunschweiger, do you have any evidence, not opinion or guess, that Gail Perez was such, to use your words, a ‘vindictive whore’…”

“Yes,” said the spectator who’d said it before.

Karp whirled and pointed at the man, whose eyes grew huge. “Your Honor, I’d ask that this man be removed from the courtroom!”

“Sir, you’re out of here!” Rosenmayer agreed, rising from his seat and motioning to the security guards to apprehend the offender.

“I didn’t mean it!” the man squealed. He tried to slide away from the approaching guard but was shoved back by his compatriots, who didn’t want to share his fate.

With the pleading man dragged from the court, screeching his undying affection for Maplethorpe, Karp stood staring at Braunschweiger, who nervously cleaned her glasses, put them on, took them off, and cleaned them again before replacing them.

“You were saying, Mr. Karp,” Rosenmayer said.

“I was asking the witness if she had any real evidence that Gail Perez was such a vindictive whore that after allowing herself to be used by
that
man,” he said, pointing again at the defendant, “she killed herself to get back at him—knowing the devastation it would cause her sister, and the trauma she would inflict on a Hilario Gianneschi, the police and crime scene investigators called to the
scene, and the maids who would have to clean blood and brain tissue from carpets and a wall?”

“She was not thinking clearly,” Braunschweiger said.

“That’s not what I asked you,” Karp said. “I asked if you had any evidence of any of that.”

Braunschweiger hesitated, then she shook her head. “I don’t have the sort of evidence you are looking for, Mr. Karp.”

“What I’m looking for here is the truth,” Karp replied. “Do you have any of that?”

Leonard roared to his feet. “Your Honor, the district attorney’s conduct is an outrage!”

“The only outrage is that without a shred, a scintilla, a single bit of evidence, this woman takes an oath to tell the truth and gets up on that stand and labels a young woman she’s never met, who died because she was shot by that man, a vindictive whore!” Karp shouted back.

“Gentlemen, I want to see both of you before me now, please,” Rosenmayer said, keeping his voice moderated. When he had both attorneys in front of him he held up his hand. “Whatever you’re going to say, I don’t want to hear it. I’m just going to warn both of you that I’m not going to let this get out of hand. There are already enough emotions running amok in this courtroom without you two adding to it. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” both attorneys responded.

“Good, now let’s move on,” the judge said.

Karp returned to the side of the jury box. “Doctor,” he said, not angrily but forcibly enough that Braunschweiger jumped and stared like she thought he might attack her. “Do you have any evidence that Gail Perez was angry with Mr. Maplethorpe?”

“Well, the revenge suicide syndrome assumes that—” She looked at Karp’s face and stopped. “No, I do not have any evidence that Miss Perez was angry with Mr. Maplethorpe.”

“So essentially everything you told us you made up out of whole cloth?” Karp said without emotion.

“That’s not quite right.”

“Any evidence that she killed herself?”

“No.”

“Nothing to show that she was angry with the defendant?”

“No.”

“And you coined the phrase revenge suicide syndrome?”

“Yes.”

“RSS.”

“Yes.”

“Does anybody else in the field of psychology use this term?”

“Well, it’s relatively new…I first wrote about it in my book…”

“I’m not interested in your book. I want to know if anybody else in the field of psychology uses this term?”

“Not yet,” Braunschweiger said. “I plan to present my paper on RSS at the American Association of Psychology convention in January.”

“In other words, you’re the only psychologist who gives any credence to revenge suicide syndrome,” Karp said.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Name one…and remember that you’re under oath.”

Braunschweiger closed her mouth, then sighed. “I can’t off the top of my head.”

“Then why should this jury give it any credence?”

The psychologist didn’t answer, but gave Leonard a withering look.

“So, Doctor, if you didn’t have facts or evidence as a reason to say these truly despicable things about Gail Perez, what did you have?”

Braunschweiger looked at Leonard and arched her eyebrows. Karp recognized the “I’m not going down alone” look and smiled slightly.

“I formed my opinion on what I was told by Mr. Leonard and from reading the record.”

“I’d like for you to point out in the record where it says that Gail Perez killed herself.”

“I can’t.”

“I’d like for you to point out in the record where it says that Gail Perez was angry at Mr. Maplethorpe.”

“I can’t.”

“I’d like for you to point out in the record where it says that Gail Perez killed herself in order to exact revenge on Mr. Maplethorpe.”

Braunschweiger removed her glasses and cleaned them.

“Doctor, do you want to answer the question?” Karp leaned forward with his knuckles on the table.

Braunschweiger replaced her glasses and tilted her head. A slight ironic smile played across her lips. “I can’t.”

“You can’t answer the question or—”

The psychologist snapped. “Let’s not be obtuse, Mr. Karp. I can’t point out where in the record it shows that Miss Perez killed herself because she was angry with Mr. Maplethorpe.”

“Just trying to be clear, Doctor,” Karp replied dryly. “So that means you must have formed your opinion based on what Mr. Leonard told you.”

“And my professional experience.”

“What in your professional experience gives you the right to come into this courtroom and besmirch the character of the deceased, Gail Perez?” Silence fell across the courtroom. “No further questions.”

Leonard had tried his best on redirect to right the ship that had been Marta Braunschweiger by pointing out that “many currently accepted psychological maxims initially began as one person’s theory that later gained widespread acceptance.”

“That’s correct,” Braunschweiger replied. But it was clear that all she wanted was to get down from the witness stand. She even started to rise when he finished, only to freeze like a deer in the headlights when Karp cleared his throat.

“I have a couple more questions,” he said.

Braunschweiger sat back down with a sigh. “Yes, Mr. Karp.”

“Just to clarify, again, how many other psychologists use revenge suicide syndrome as a widely accepted theory in their practices?”

“None, Mr. Karp.”

“And how many facts do you have to back up your assertions?”

“None, Mr. Karp, just my professional opinion.”

“Thank you,” Karp responded. “No further questions.”

The psychologist stepped down quickly from the witness stand and stalked across the well of the court, passing between the
prosecution and defense tables and down the aisle between the spectators without looking to one side or the other. She pushed the courtroom door open with a bang that caused several of the spectators to snigger.

Rosenmayer watched her leave with a bemused look on his face. He finally shook his head and turned to Leonard. “Call your next witness.”

Leonard rose and turned to the back of the courtroom. “We call Frank Okuza.”

The door opened and a small, young-looking Japanese man peered in, glancing around as if to make sure it was safe to enter. He smiled broadly and stepped forward quickly to the witness stand.

Leonard introduced him as a “bloodstain pattern analysis” expert certified by the International Association for Identification. “Can you tell the jury what is meant by bloodstain pattern analysis?” the defense attorney asked.

“Yes,” Okuza said. “Bloodstain pattern analysis, or as we say, BPA, draws on the scientific disciplines of biology, chemistry, math, and physics to study the evidence left by bloodstains, particularly from suspected crime scenes.”

“Is this a well-established field of forensic science?”

“Quite. It’s been around for a number of years, though recent advances in DNA and other testing have really revolutionized the field. There was a 1936 Charlie Chan movie where he taught the Honolulu police about BPA, so it’s been around a while.”

“Can…BPA…be trusted to yield scientifically factual information?”

“Absolutely,” Okuza said with a big smile. “If an analyst follows the scientific process, this applied science can produce rock-solid evidence for investigators.”

“What are some of the things a bloodstain pattern analyst can determine?”

Okuza chuckled. “Well, there are quite a number, so how about I name some of them?”

“That would be fine.”

“Okay, well, first the location and description of individual bloodstains and patterns—from large pools to microscopic droplets that
can’t be seen with the unaided eye,” the little man replied. “I can tell the direction a blood droplet was traveling by calculating angles of impact, and the area of origin. I will be able to describe the object used in an attack, such as a sharp edge, or a blunt instrument, or a firearm. And I can give a pretty good picture of the positioning of the deceased, the perpetrator if there is one, perhaps a witness, and other objects during the event. And often I can determine the sequence of events.”

“Very well,” Leonard said. “Have you gone over the photographs taken in Mr. Maplethorpe’s apartment the night of Gail Perez’s death?”

“Yes, I have.”

“And have you reviewed the police reports, and the testimony given so far in this court?”

“Up to the witness prior to me,” Okuza replied.

“And have you applied the scientific process to what you know and come up with a conclusion?” Leonard asked.

“I have,” Okuza said, and then turned solemnly to the jury. “It is my belief that the deceased killed herself with a single shot from a .45 caliber handgun.”

“And how did you reach that opinion?”

“By looking at this as a whole. One point was that the deceased had blood on both of her hands, which indicates a trajectory coming from her mouth and striking her hands. Also, the accused, Mr. Maplethorpe, had a few blood flecks on the right arm of his smoking jacket, indicating that his right hand may have been extended, as though to grab the gun. But he was standing far enough away that very little blood struck the arm, and nowhere else on the jacket.”

“What else can you tell us?”

“The bullet struck the major blood vessels at the back of her throat, causing a massive hemmorhage out of her mouth onto the floor to her left. As she died her head then slumped toward her chest/left shoulder.”

Leonard walked over to the defense table, where he picked up a wooden gun. “Mr. Okuza, would you please demonstrate the man
ner in which, according to the scientific process of bloodstain pattern analysis, Miss Perez killed herself?”

“No problem,” he said, taking the gun with his right hand and sticking it in his mouth, and then grabbing the barrel with the other hand. “Like so. It explains the bloodstain pattern on both of her hands as blood exploded out of her mouth.”

“And would you demonstrate how the blood from her mouth ends up to her left?”

“Sure. When I place the gun in my mouth, you say ‘Bang,’ and I’ll show you what happened,” Okuza replied, and stuck the gun in his mouth.

“Bang!” Leonard said.

Okuza snapped his head back and to the left, and then let his head fall forward into roughly the same position Gail Perez’s head had been. The little man stayed that way for a moment, and then sat up again with a smile on his face.

“And that is in your best scientific judgment how Miss Perez died?”

Okuza nodded. “That’s what the evidence shows.”

“Thank you, no further questions,” Leonard said, retrieving the gun from Okuza and sitting back down at the defense table.

Karp rose from his seat and walked up to the lectern, where he studied his legal pad for a moment and then looked up at the witness. “The name of the Charlie Chan movie was
Charlie Chan at the Race Track.
”

Okuza blinked. “Okay, if you say so.”

“It’s a hobby,” Karp said with a shrug. “Mr. Okuza, do the results of every bloodstain pattern analysis qualify as incontrovertible evidence?”

Okuza sipped water from a cup and shook his head. “No. There are a number of things that can happen that make a positive analysis impossible, such as someone disturbing the crime scene before the evidence is gathered.”

“But you followed, and I quote, ‘the scientific process’ to arrive at your conclusion?” Karp asked.

“Yes, sir,” Okuza answered.

“And does this scientific process include going through various scenarios so that you can either rule them out or include them as possibilities?”

“Uh, yes, generally,” Okuza said. “However, you can eliminate some scenarios simply by things you already know. For instance, if I know that the wound was caused by a bullet, I don’t have to run through the scenarios that would involve a knife.”

“A pretty broad example, Mr. Okuza.”

“Yes, but it serves as a demonstration of what I mean,” Okuza responded.

Karp walked over to the defense table and picked up the wooden gun. “May I?”

“By all means,” Leonard replied.

Karp started to walk to the witness stand but apparently thought of something and returned to the prosecution table to check his notes, laying the gun on the table. He then turned toward the judge. “I’d like to ask that the witness step down from the stand for a demonstration.”