Mickey Haller 4 - The Fifth Witness

the Stoneridge case?”
    Freeman quickly objected as I knew she would. She asked for a sidebar and the judge waved us up. I knew this would go no further but I had gotten it out in front of the jury. They knew from what little had just been said that somewhere in his past Gutierrez had testified and been wrong. That was all I needed.
    “Judge, we both know where counsel is going and not only is it not relevant to this matter, but Stoneridge is still under investigation and there has been no official conclusion. What could—”
    “I withdraw it.”
    She looked at me with searing hostility in her eyes.
    “No problem. I have another question.”
    “Oh, as long as the jury hears the question you don’t care what the answer is. Judge, I want an instruction on this because what he is doing is not right.”
    “I’ll take care of it. Go back. And Mr. Haller? You watch yourself.”
    “Thank you, Your Honor.”
    The judge instructed the jurors to disregard my question and reminded them that it would be unfair of them to consider anything outside of the evidence and testimony while later conducting their deliberations. He then told me to proceed and I went in a new direction.
    “Doctor, let’s zero in on the fatal wound and get a little more detailed. You called this a depression fracture, correct?”
    “Actually, I called it a depressed calvarial fracture.”
    I always loved it when the prosecution’s witnesses corrected me.
    “Okay, so the depression or dent that was left by this traumatic impact, did you measure it?”
    “Measure it in what way?”
    “How about its depth? Did you measure that?”
    “Yes, I did. May I refer to my notes?”
    “You sure can, Doctor.”
    Gutierrez checked his copy of the autopsy protocol.
    “Yes, we called the fatal impact wound one-A. And, yes, indeed, I did measure the definitions of the wound pattern. Shall I give you those measurements?”
    “My next question. Please tell us, Doctor, how did it measure out?”
    Gutierrez looked at his report while speaking.
    “Measurements were taken at four points of the circular impact location. Using a clockface, the measurements were at three, six, nine and twelve. The twelve being where the notch on the surface was located.”
    “And what did the measurements tell you?”
    “There was very little play in these numbers. Less than a quarter of a centimeter separated the four measurements. They averaged out to seven millimeters in depth, which is approximately a quarter of an inch.”
    He looked up from his notes. I was writing his numbers down even though I had already gotten them off the autopsy protocol. I glanced over at the box and saw a few jurors writing in their notebooks. A good sign.
    “So, Doctor, I noticed that this part of your work didn’t come up on direct examination by Ms. Freeman. What did these measurements mean to you in terms of the angle of impact of the weapon?”
    Gutierrez shrugged. He stole a glance at Freeman and got the message. Be careful here.
    “There is nothing really to conclude from these numbers.”
    “Really? Wouldn’t the fact that the impression in the bone—the dent, as you called it—left by the hammer was almost even at all measurable points indicate to you that the hammer struck the victim evenly on the top of the head?”
    Gutierrez looked down at his notes. He was a man of science. I had just asked him a science-based question and he knew how to answer it. But he also knew he had somehow strayed into a minefield. He didn’t know how or why, only that the prosecutor sitting fifteen feet from him was nervous.
    “Doctor? Do you want me to repeat the question?”
    “No, that is not necessary. You must remember that in science one-tenth of a centimeter can mean quite a difference.”
    “Are you saying that the hammer did not strike Mr. Bondurant evenly, sir?”
    “No!” he said in an annoyed tone. “I am just saying that it is not as cut and dried as people think. Yes, it appears that the hammer struck the victim flush, if you will.”
    “Thank you, Doctor. And when you look at your wound-depth measurements on the second and third strikes, they are not as even, correct?”
    “Yes, that is correct. In both of these impacts the deviation ranges up to three millimeters in each.”
    I had him now. I was rolling. I stepped back from the lectern and started to wander to my left, into the open space between the lectern and the jury box. I put my hands in my pockets and adopted a pose of