Mickey Haller 4 - The Fifth Witness

a completely confident man.
    “And so, Doctor, you have the fatal blow delivered clean and flush to the top of the head. The next two, not the same way. What would account for this difference?”
    “The orientation of the skull. The first strike stopped brain function within a second. The abrasions and other injuries to the body—the broken teeth, for example—indicate an immediate dead fall from a standing position. It is likely that the second and third strikes occurred after he was down.”
    “You just said the other injuries indicate ‘an immediate dead fall from a standing position.’ Why are you sure the victim was standing when attacked from behind?”
    “The abrasions to both knees are indicative of this.”
    “So he could not have been kneeling when attacked?”
    “It seems unlikely. The abrasions on the knees indicate otherwise.”
    “What about crouching, like a baseball catcher?”
    “Again, not possible when you look at the damage to his knees. Deep abrasions and a fracture to the left patella. The kneecap, as it is more commonly called.”
    “So no doubt in your mind that he was standing when struck with the fatal blow?”
    “None.”
    It was perhaps the most important answer to any question in the whole trial, but I glided on like it was just part of the routine.
    “Thank you, Doctor. Now let’s go back to the skull for a moment. How strong would you say the skull is in the area where the fatal impact occurred?”
    “Depends on the age of the subject. Our skulls grow thicker as we age.”
    “Our subject is Mitchell Bondurant, Doctor. How thick was his skull? Did you measure it?”
    “I did. It was point eight centimeters thick in the impact region. About one-third of an inch.”
    “And have you conducted any sort of study or test to determine what kind of force it would have taken for a hammer to create the fatal dent fracture in this case?”
    “I have not, no.”
    “Are you aware of any such studies of this question in general?”
    “There are studies in the area. The conclusions are very broad. I happen to think each case is unique. You can’t go by general studies.”
    “Isn’t it widely held that the threshold measurement of pressure needed to create a depression fracture is one thousand pounds of pressure per square inch?”
    Freeman stood and objected. She said that I was asking questions outside the scope of Dr. Gutierrez’s expertise as a witness.
    “Mr. Haller himself was quick to point out in his cross-examination that the witness’s expertise is in diseases of the GI tract, not bone elasticity and depression.”
    It was a no-win situation for her and she had chosen the lesser of two evils: burning her witness or allowing me to continue to ask him questions that he didn’t know the answers to.
    “Sustained,” the judge said. “Let’s move on, Mr. Haller. Ask your next question.”
    “Yes, Your Honor.”
    I flipped a few pages on my pad and acted like I was reading. It would buy me a few moments while I considered the next move. I then turned and looked at the clock on the back wall of the courtroom. It was fifteen minutes till lunch. If I wanted to send the jury out with a final bit of food for thought, I needed to act now.
    “Doctor,” I said. “Did you record the height of the victim?”
    Gutierrez checked his notes.
    “Mr. Bondurant was six feet, one inch tall at the time of his death.”
    “So this area at the crown of the head would be six feet and one inch high. Is that fair to say, Doctor?”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “Actually, with Mr. Bondurant wearing shoes he would have been even taller, correct?”
    “Yes, maybe an inch and a half to account for the heels.”
    “Okay, so knowing the victim’s height and knowing that the fatal wound came in flush on the top of his head, what does that tell us about the angle of attack?”
    “I am not sure what you mean by angle of attack.”
    “Are you sure about that, Doctor? I am talking about the angle the hammer was at in relation to the impact area.”
    “But this would be impossible to know because we don’t know the posture of the victim or whether he was ducking from the blow or what the exact situation was when he was struck.”
    Gutierrez ended his answer with a nod, as though proud of the way he had handled the challenge.
    “But Doctor, didn’t you testify during direct examination from Ms. Freeman that it appeared to you, at least, that Mr. Bondurant was struck from behind in a surprise