The courtroom was small. No media was present to cover a run-of-the-mill murder case. Several AI Concepts, Inc. employees, including Martha, Francine, Frank, and Harry sat in the gallery two rows behind the defendant. Lance positioned himself in the last row, next to the door. Paul took a seat behind Gabriella.
Defense opening statement: Hoyt Brightwood
“Your honor, the defense will seek to show there is only weak circumstantial evidence on which the prosecution is attempting to build their case against my client. We will show the evidence provided does not compel a jury to find my client guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Prosecution opening statement: Larz Grinder
“Your honor, there are no eyewitnesses to the actual crime. Yet the prosecution will show beyond a reasonable doubt the evidence presented implicates the defendant and only the defendant. We will show the defendant’s guilt beyond any reasonable doubt.”
Judge Weatherby: “Prosecution, you may call your first witness.”
Larz: “The prosecution calls Sergeant Michael Denstanto to the stand.”
Bailiff: “Do you solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm the evidence you shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”
Sgt. Denstanto: “I do.”
Larz: “Sgt. Denstanto, how long have you been on the New York Police Department?”
Sgt. Denstanto: “Twenty -three years.”
Larz: “And in your twenty-three years of service, how many homicides have you investigated?”
Sgt. Denstanto: “About seventy-five.”
Larz: “Seventy-five is a significant number. Would you say you are an expert in a homicide investigation?”
Hoyt: “I object your honor. No qualifications have been presented to the court to define what an expert homicide investigator is. The quantity of homicides investigated does not equate to being an expert in the field.”
Judge Weatherby: “Sustained. Strike the question from the records. Prosecution, please withdraw or restate your question.”
Larz: “Sgt. Denstanto, would you say you have considerable experience investigating homicides?”
Sgt. Denstanto: “Yes, I would.”
Larz: “Would you describe the scene you found upon entering the lab.”
Sgt. Denstanto: “There were seven employees huddled in groups. Many were crying. The deceased was lying on the floor next to a workbench. There was a bloody screwdriver on the floor in his vicinity.”
Larz: “There are over thirty people who work in the lab. Why were there so few on this morning?”
Sgt. Denstanto: “The first person to arrive for work at AI Concepts called us. As soon as we assessed the situation, we closed the entrance to the lab and informed employees trying to enter this was a crime scene, and they could not pass.”
Larz: “And who was the first person to arrive, Sargent Denstanto?”
Sgt. Denstanto: “The first person to arrive on the scene was Francine Drakus. She was the one who found the body of James Arnold and called us.”
Larz: “And what was her state of mind when you arrived?”
Hoyt: “Objection, your Honor. Counsel is asking the witness to render a professional opinion as to the state of mind of Ms. Drakus. The officer is not a licensed psychologist and, therefore, not qualified to provide an opinion on someone’s state of mind.”
Judge Weatherby: “Objection sustained. Counselor, please withdraw or rephrase your question.”
Larz: “Sgt. Denstanto, can you tell us what your opinion was of Ms. Drakus’s emotional state when you arrived on the scene.”
Sgt. Denstanto: “She was in a highly agitated state. She was openly crying.”
Larz: “Did Ms. Drakus have any of the deceased’s blood on her person?”
Sgt. Denstanto: “Yes, she did, but only on her hands. This is consistent with a person checking for life signs.”
Larz: “Sergeant, in your opinion, could someone have killed another human being with a screwdriver and withdrawn that screwdriver from their heart without getting blood spatter on their clothing?”
Sgt. Denstanto: “No, sir. There is no way to prevent some blood spraying on you at close range.”
Larz: “Thank you, Sgt. Denstanto. No more questions, your honor.”
Judge Weatherby: “Defense, you may cross examine.”
Hoyt: “Sgt. Denstanto, was Gabriella West among the people you found in the lab upon your arrival?”
Sgt. Denstanto: “No, she was not on site when I arrived.”
Hoyt: “Thank you, sergeant. No further questions at this time, your honor.”
Judge Weatherby: “Thank you, Sgt. Denstanto. You may step down.”
Larz: “The prosecution would like to call Martha Robinson to the stand.”
The Bailiff swore her in.
Larz: “Ms. Robinson, what is your relationship with the defendant, and how long have you known her?”
Martha: “We are co-workers, and I’ve known her for under a year.”
Larz: “Would you classify yourselves as friends?”
Martha: “Yes, I would.”
Larz: “Then, would you say you know the defendant reasonably well?”
Martha: “Yes, I would say that.”
Larz: “I understand the defendant had been attacked twice within the last few months on the streets of New York. Is that true?”
Martha: “Yes.”
Larz: “In each case, the police records indicate the defendant disabled the attackers and left them wounded on the sidewalk without attempting to call for medical help for them. Is this correct?”
Martha: “She called 911 for police help.”
Larz interrupted Martha. “Just answer the question I asked, Ms. Robinson. Did the defendant leave her attackers on the sidewalk without specifically attempting to get any qualified medical help for them? Yes or no, please.”
Martha: “Yes, but…”
Larz: “Thank you. No further questions, your honor.”
Judge Weatherby: “Defense, you may cross examine.”
Hoyt: “Ms. Robinson, did the 911 calls result in medical attention being provided to the attackers.”
Martha: “I assume so. The 911 operators determine the extent of the emergency and dispatch the appropriate resources.”
Hoyt: “Thank you. No further questions, your honor.”
The defense attorney returned to her seat. Gabriella leaned close to Hoyt and whispered, “Why didn’t you cross-examine Martha further?”
“Martha can say all the nice things in the world about you, but the fact remains the DA can make a case showing you had calloused indifference to the condition of men you hurt. If I cross-examine Martha, it will only allow the DA to dig deeper and strengthen his position that you care little about your fellow humans. We can’t afford to let them have that much of an advantage over us.”
Gabriella winced.
Judge Weatherby: “Prosecution, you may call your next witness.”
Larz: “Judge, I call Ralph Thornton to the stand.”
Ralph was sworn in and took his seat on the witness stand.
Larz: “Mr. Thornton, did you speak to Gabriella after the two attacks on her?”
Ralph: “Yes, I did.”
Larz: “And what level of remorse for hurting her attackers did the defendant display?”
Ralph looked at the floor for a moment. Slowly and in a soft voice, he answered, “She didn’t display any remorse. She said when bad people tried to hurt good people, they deserved what they got.”
Larz: “So if someone is a bad person in the eyes of the defendant, they deserve what they get. Thank you. No more questions for the witness, your honor.”
Judge Weatherby: “Defense, you may cross-examine.”
Hoyt: “Mr. Thornton, I understand you and Ms. Robinson have been to dinner and dancing on several occasions with the defendant. In these situations, did you observe any indications she was capable of violence without being attacked first? Any show of temper or irritation with others?”
Ralph: “No, ma’am. I’ve never seen Gabriella get irritated. Even in class, she performed her defensive and offensive exercises with no hint of aggression that I could see as the instructor. She has always been even-tempered.”
Hoyt: “Has she ever struck another student in your self-defense class?”
Ralph: “No, ma’am. She blocks their attacks and feigns her counter-attacks precisely without striking the attacking student. She seems to exhibit great control over her movements.”
Hoyt: “Thank you, Mr. Thornton. No more questions, your Honor.”
Judge Weatherby: “Prosecution, you may call your next witness.”
Larz stood up and walked to the Bench. “Your honor, I would like to show two critical pieces of evidence to the jury. I would ask your permission to set up a movie screen and a projector to show the jury footage from the AI Concepts, Inc. security camera, which proves the defendant was the last person to enter or leave the building on the night of the murder.
I also would like to submit the results of the fingerprints taken from the murder weapon. I have all the evidence on this USB drive.” Larz handed the judge the drive for her inspection.
Judge Weatherby: “Very well. The court calls a fifteen-minute recess.”
One-quarter hour later, the screen and projector stood ready. Court reconvened.
Larz: “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I will present video evidence which proves the defendant was the only person in the lab that could have killed Mr. James Arnold. You will note the time-stamps on the videos correspond to the time of death established by the city coroner’s office.
The court has been presented with a security printout of the time each lab employee left the lab. The victim was the only person in the lab, that is until the accused reentered the lab. You will see a time stamp on the video recording of the defendant entering the lab before the time of the victim’s murder, and of her leaving quickly after his death.”
Larz played the video evidence for the court. The jury members leaned forward in their seats and watched intently. Many were nodding and taking notes.
Gabriella turned to Hoyt Brightwood and said under her breath, “That never happened! I never went back to the lab. Those videos are impossible.”
“I believe you, but the video and time stamps make it look bad, Gabriella. I’m not sure how we can swing the jury back.”
Lance stood and quietly left the courtroom. He made a phone call while walking to the sidewalk. “Lieutenant Rolands, I’d like you and Sergeant Miller to do something for me ASAP. Gabriella has been pretty cool during the trial so far. I found out what I wanted to about her being able to handle non-violent stress. I don’t want to get too cocky. Let’s get the trial thrown out of court before something out of the blue screws us up. Put it all back. Thanks, Sam.”
“No problem, Sir. Will there be anything else?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, there is. After you’re done hacking in, can you have Miller run the micro-erase tool over to the courtroom? Once he delivers it to me, there is one more thing I want him to do…”
“Yes, Sir. Consider it done.”
Lance wore a self-satisfied smile as he walked back into the courtroom. Judge Weatherby was calling for a one-hour recess for lunch as he opened the door to enter. “Absolutely perfect,” Lance whispered to himself. “Absolutely perfect.”
Thirty minutes into the court’s lunch, Sam turned to Sergeant Jeff Miller. “Good job, Jeff. We got it. Run this erase tool over to the boss.”
Forty-five minutes into the court’s lunch, Sergeant Miller reached into his right pants pocket and gave Lance the tiny device. “Thanks, Jeff. You’ve done an excellent job today. I want you to do one more thing.”
Lance handed the erase tool back to Sergeant Miller. “Before the court reconvenes, walk up to the prosecuting attorney and lean on the desk with the device hidden in your hand. Tell him the NYC police passed an anonymous tip onto your Homeland Security group. Say you have credible information someone had tampered with the videos. When he asks for clarification and who you are, walk out of the court without saying a word. You can use an Army strut for effect if you would like.”
“Yes, sir. Will do. I like the strut idea. Cool.”
“And Sergeant, take off your name tag before you approach him. We want no way to trace anything back.”
Fifty minutes into the court’s lunch, a confident young Army Sergeant strode down the center aisle of the courtroom to the prosecutions’ table. Larz was preparing his notes for his next withering volley of questions. Sergeant Miller leaned on the table, the erase tool hidden in a loose fist nearest the briefcase.
“Sir, my Office of Homeland Security has asked me to inform you a very credible report has been received through the NYC Police Department. Someone has tampered with the video evidence you have That is all the information I have, Sir. Please recheck your evidence.” Answering none of Larz’s’ questions, Sergeant Miller turned and strode purposefully and militarily out of the courtroom.
“What the hell was that about?” Larz said to the empty air in front of him. “Let me look at these videos again.”
He opened his briefcase, removed the USB memory stick, and plugged it into a port on his laptop. With a cheerful little beep, a message popped up on the screen, informing him the disk was corrupt and asked him to please try again. He did. Same message.
“Holy Crap!” Larz exclaimed, much louder than he had intended. The people in the courtroom, including Gabriella and her defense attorney, turned to stare at him.
Judge Weatherby entered the courtroom precisely on the hour and called the court to order. “Prosecution, you may call your next witness,” she said.
Larz took a deep breath. “Your Honor, may I approach the bench? I would like to ask the defense to join us. New information impacting the case has been presented to me during lunch.”
The judge looked back-and-forth through narrowed eyes at both attorneys. “This is a highly irregular time to introduce new evidence. The disclosure period has long since passed. This is not a TV show where such things are done.” Her voice was firm and cold with irritation. “Approach the bench.”
“Thank you, your Honor,” Larz said.
Hoyt glanced down at Gabriella. “Do you know what’s going on? I don’t have a clue.” Gabriella shook her head from side-to-side. Paul continued with silent prayers.
“Okay, so what do you have for me?” asked Weatherby. “This had better not be any nonsense or trickery, or I will certainly hold you in contempt.”
Larz had run afoul of Judge Weatherby in the past and was not eager to repeat the experience. “It’s no trickery, Judge,” he said meekly, and went on to explain every detail of the encounter with the sergeant, including finding the USB drive was now corrupted.
Hoyts’ eyes widened. The Judge’s eyes formed into the narrowest of slits.
It was not hard to hear the irritability in Judge Weatherby’s voice. “So you are telling me the core of evidence your case was based on may have been tampered with, and the evidence you showed the court today has now been corrupted. Is that correct?”
“Yes, your Honor,” Larz said submissively. “That is correct. I would ask the court for a 24-hour recess to allow us to further investigate.”
Lance could see the fury in the judge’s eyes from the back of the courtroom. He grinned the smile of a self-satisfied lizard.
The judge stood, “This court will recess until ten AM tomorrow morning.” The gavel was as a pistol shot as she struck the sound block. She looked down at Larz and Hoyt. “And you had better have a clear resolution to this by morning! I need not say more.” With her threat hanging in the air, she left the courtroom.
“Larz, what’s going on?” asked Hoyt. I don’t understand any of this.”
“I really don’t know. I would have dismissed the army guy’s claims if my USB hadn’t become corrupted. How did it even happen? It was in my briefcase. I need to talk to the DA and get a fresh copy of the videos.”
Gabriella stood to be led back to her cell. She turned to Paul, “I don’t know what just happened. Keep praying, Paul.”
“I will always be praying for you, Gabriella,” he said, just before “I love you,” slipped from his lips. Both their eyes widened as she was whisked away.
***
Court was brief the next morning. The DA sat with Larz Grinder at the prosecution table. Hoyt Brightwood sat alone with Gabriella. Paul was in his usual seat behind Gabriella. Lance took the same position next to the doors. Judge Weatherby asked for a review of their findings.
D.A. O’Connor stood to address the judge. “Your honor, I almost don’t know where to begin. This is unprecedented. It is apparent the evidence in our case against Miss West was tampered with by a person or persons unknown.”
“What do you mean by ‘tampered with,’ Mr. District Attorney?”
“Judge, when we went back through the computer system to retrieve the original video files, we found they were not the same files as were presented in court yesterday. The files in the computer system point to someone other than the defendant as the guilty party.”
“What! You didn’t verify the video evidence presented in this court was the actual files from the video cameras? I wish I could hold you all in contempt for falsifying evidence,” she fumed. “Didn’t you copy the files from the police mainframe?”
“Yes, we did, your honor,” said the DA with a touch of defensiveness and hostility in his voice. “We went right to the files on the mainframe and copied them onto the USB drive we showed in court. We made no procedural errors on our part.”
“Then how do you explain the errors?” questioned Weatherby. “At any rate, what did you find?”
“That’s precisely the confusing part, Judge. Instead of seeing the defendant on the videos, we found the deceased’s wife entering and leaving the lab in the timeframe in question. The fingerprints taken from the murder weapon now show up as belonging to the wife instead of the defendant. Your Honor, I believe someone has hacked our police database, and the evidence expertly changed to implicate the defendant. I can’t imagine why or by who. This is a murder case with little notoriety.”
“WHAT?” Judge Weatherby shouted with no regard to decorum. “Our police system was hacked! D.A. Campbell, I want every available resource assigned to this, every one of our best computer people, to find out who is responsible for this breach. When a police server is hacked, and evidence changed, it’s a matter of national security!”
Weatherby slammed her gavel down. “Case dismissed. Defendant, you are free to go.”
Gabriella let out a gasp of relief, stood, and embraced Paul over the gallery railing.
The judge glared over the courtroom. “I’ll get to the bottom of this!” she said to the D.A. Lance smiled. I don’t think so, Judg.