The Brass Verdict

well. Whatever her name was, she had somehow rigged the system and it had her down as someone she wasn’t.
    The charge was burglary of an occupied dwelling. But there was so much more than that behind the one charge. This woman liked to target hotel rooms where men with large amounts of money slept. She knew how to pick them, follow them, then finesse the door locks and the room safes while they slept. In one candid moment – probably the only one in our relationship – she told me of the white-hot adrenaline high she got every time the last digit fell into place and she heard the electronic gears of the hotel safe start to move and unlock. Opening the safe and finding what was inside was never as good as that magic moment when the gears began to grind and she felt the velocity of her blood moving in her veins. Nothing before or after was as good as that moment. The jobs weren’t about the money. They were about the velocity of blood.
    I nodded when she told me all of this. I had never broken into a hotel room while some guy was snoring on the bed. But I knew about the moment when the gears began to grind. I knew about the velocity.
    I found what I was looking for an hour into my second run at the files. It had been there in front of me the whole time. First in Elliot’s arrest report and then on the time-and-action chart I had drawn myself. I called the chart the Christmas tree. It always started basic and unadorned. Just the bare-bones facts of the case. Then, as I continued to study and make the case my own, I started hanging lights and ornaments on it. Details and witness statements, evidence and lab results. Soon the tree was lit up and bright. Everything about the case was there for me to see in the context of time and action.
    I had paid particular attention to Walter Elliot as I had drawn the Christmas tree. He was the tree trunk and all branches came from him. I had his movements, statements and actions noted by time.
    12:40 p.m. – WE arrives at beach house
    12:50 p.m. – WE discovers bodies
    1:05 p.m. – WE calls 911
    1:24 p.m. – WE calls 911 again
    1:28 p.m. – Deputies arrive on scene
    1:30 p.m. – WE secured
    2:15 p.m. – Homicide arrives
    2:40 p.m. – WE taken to Malibu station
    4:55 p.m. – WE interviewed, advised
    5:40 p.m. – WE transported to Whittier
    7:00 p.m. – GSR testing
    8:00 p.m. – Second interview attempt, declined, arrested
    8:40 p.m. – WE transported to Men’s Central
    Some of the times I estimated but most came directly from the arrest report and other documents in the file. Law enforcement in this country is as much about the paperwork as anything else. I could always count on the prosecution file for reconstructing a time line.
    On the second go-round I used both the pencil point and eraser and started adding decorations to the tree.
    12:40 p.m. – WE arrives at beach house front door unlocked
    12:50 p.m. – WE discovers bodies balcony door open
    1:05 p.m. – WE calls 911 waits outside
    1:24 p.m. – WE calls 911 again what’s the holdup?
    1:28 p.m. – Deputies arrive on scene Murray (-4-alpha-1) and Harber (-4-alpha-2)
    1:30 p.m. – WE secured placed in patrol car Murray/Harber search house
    2:15 p.m. – Homicide arrives first team: Kinder (#14492) and Ericsson (#21101) second team: Joshua (#22234) and Toles (#15154)
    2:30 p.m. – WE taken inside house, describes discovery
    2:40 p.m. – WE taken to Malibu station Joshua and Toles transport
    4:55 p.m. – WE interviewed, advised Kinder takes lead in interview
    5:40 p.m. – WE transported to Whittier Joshua/Toles
    7:00 p.m. – GSR testing F.T. Anita Sherman Lab Transport, Sherman
    8:00 p.m. – Second interview, Ericsson in lead, WE declines got smart
    8:40 p.m. – WE transported to Men’s Central Joshua/Toles
    As I had constructed the Christmas tree, I kept a separate list on another page of every human being mentioned in the sheriff’s reports. I knew this would become the witness list I would turn over to the prosecution the following week. As a rule I blanket the case, subpoenaing anybody mentioned in the investigative record just to be safe. You can always cut down a witness list at trial. Sometimes adding to it can be a problem.
    From the witness list and the Christmas tree, I would be able to infer how the prosecution would roll out its case. I would also be able to determine which witnesses the prosecution team was avoiding and possibly why. It was while I was studying my work and thinking in