The Brass Verdict

videocassette Muniz used that day as the first defense exhibit and rolled the video screen and player in front of the jury. I put in the cassette and hit “play.” It had been previously spooled to begin at the point that Muniz began shooting outside the Elliot house. As the video played, I watched the jurors paying close attention to it. I was already familiar with the video, having watched it several times. It showed Walter Elliot sitting in the back passenger seat of the patrol car. Because the video had been shot at an angle above the car, the 4A designation painted on its roof was clearly visible.
    The video jumped from the car to scenes of the deputies cordoning off the house and then jumped back again to the patrol car. This time it showed Elliot being removed from the car by detectives Kinder and Ericsson. They uncuffed him and led him into the house.
    Using a remote, I stopped the video and rewound it back to a point where Muniz had come in close on Elliot in the backseat of the patrol car. I started the video forward again and then froze the image so the jury could see Elliot leaning forward because his hands were cuffed behind his back.
    “Okay, Mr. Muniz, let me draw your attention to the roof of the patrol car. What do you see painted there?”
    “I see the car’s designation painted there. It is four-A, or four alpha, as they say on the sheriff’s radio.”
    “Okay, and did you recognize that designation? Had you seen it before?”
    “Well, I listen to the scanner a lot and so I am familiar with the four-alpha designation. And I had actually seen the four-alpha car earlier that day.”
    “And what were the circumstances of that?”
    “I had been listening to the scanner and I heard about a hostage situation in Malibu Creek State Park. I went out to shoot that, too.”
    “What time was this?”
    “About two a.m.”
    “So, about ten hours before you were videoing the activities at the Elliot house you went out to shoot video at this hostage situation, correct?”
    “That’s correct.”
    “And the four-alpha car was involved also in this earlier incident?”
    “Yes, when the suspect was finally captured, he was transported in four-alpha. The same car.”
    “About what time did that occur?”
    “That wasn’t until almost five in the morning. It was a long night.”
    “Did you shoot video of this?”
    “Yes, I did. That footage comes earlier on the same tape.”
    He pointed to the frozen image on the screen.
    “Then, let’s see,” I said.
    I hit the “rewind” button on the remote. Golantz immediately stood, objected and asked for a sidebar. The judge waved us up and I brought along the witness list I had submitted to the court two weeks earlier.
    “Your Honor,” Golantz said angrily. “The defense is once again sandbagging. There has been no indication in discovery or otherwise of Mr. Haller’s intent to explore some other crime with this witness. I object to this being introduced.”
    I calmly slid the witness list in front of the judge. Under the rules of discovery, I had to list each witness I intended to call and give a brief summary of what their testimony was expected to include. Julio Muniz was on my list. The summary was brief but all-inclusive.
    “It clearly says he would testify about video he shot on May second, the day of the murders,” I said. “The video he shot at the park was shot on the day of the murders, May two. It’s been on there for two weeks, Judge. If anybody is sandbagging, then it’s Mr. Golantz sandbagging himself. He could have talked to this witness and checked out his videos. He apparently didn’t.”
    The judge studied the witness list for a moment and nodded.
    “Objection overruled,” he said. “You may proceed, Mr. Haller.”
    I went back and rewound the video and started to play it. The jury continued to pay maximum interest. It was a night shoot and the images were more grainy and the scenes seemed to jump around more than in the first sequence.
    Finally, it came to footage showing a man with his hands cuffed behind his back being placed in a patrol car. A deputy closed the door and slapped the roof twice. The car drove off and came directly by the camera. As it was going by I froze the image.
    The screen showed a grainy shot of the patrol car. The light of the camera illuminated the man sitting in the backseat as well as the roof of the car.
    “Mr. Muniz, what’s the designation on the roof of that car?”
    “Again it’s four-A