The Brass Verdict

mannequin stood with its arms down at its sides.
    “Tab A was the top of the right hand. Tab B was the top of the left hand. Tab C was the right sleeve of Mr. Elliot’s windbreaker and D was the left sleeve. Then we have tabs E and F being the right- and left-front panels of the jacket, and G and H being the chest and torso portions of the shirt Mr. Elliot wore beneath the open jacket.”
    “Are these the clothes he was wearing that day?”
    “No, they are not. These are exact duplicates of what he was wearing, right down to the size and manufacturer.”
    “Okay, what did you learn from your analysis of the eight tabs?”
    “I’ve prepared a chart for the jurors so they can follow along.”
    I presented the chart as a defense exhibit. Golantz had been given a copy of it that morning. He now stood and objected, saying his late receipt of the chart violated the rules of discovery. I told the judge the chart had only been composed the night before after my meetings with Dr. Arslanian on Saturday and Sunday. The judge agreed with the prosecutor, saying that the direction of my examination of the witness was obvious and well prepared and that I therefore should have drawn the chart sooner. The objection was sustained, and Dr. Arslanian now had to wing it on her own. It had been a gamble but I didn’t regret the move. I would rather have my witness talking to the jurors without a net than have had Golantz in possession of my strategy in advance of its implementation.
    “Okay, Doctor, you can still refer to your notes and the chart. The jurors just need to follow along. What did you learn from your analysis of the eight SEMS tabs?”
    “I learned that the levels of gunshot residue on the different tabs greatly differed.”
    “How so?”
    “Well, tabs A and B, which came from Mr. Elliot’s hands, were where the highest levels of GSR were found. From there we get a steep drop-off in the GSR levels: tabs C, D, E and F with much lower levels, and no GSR reading at all on tabs G and H.”
    Again she used the pointer to illustrate.
    “What did that tell you, Doctor?”
    “That the GSR on Mr. Elliot’s hands and clothes did not come from firing a weapon.”
    “Can you illustrate why?”
    “First, comparable readings coming from both hands indicate that the weapon was fired in a two-handed grip.”
    She went to the mannequin and raised its arms, forming a V by pulling the hands together out front. She bent the hands and fingers around the wooden gun.
    “But a two-handed grip would also have to result in higher levels of GSR on the sleeves of the jacket in particular and the rest of the clothes as well.”
    “But the tabs processed by the sheriff’s department don’t show that, am I right?”
    “You’re right. They show the opposite. While a drop-off from the readings on the hands is expected, it is not expected to be of this rate.”
    “So in your expert opinion, what does it mean?”
    “A compound-transfer exposure. The first exposure occurred when he was placed with his hands and arms behind his back in the four-alpha car. After that, the material was on his hands and arms, and some of it was then transferred for a second time onto the front panels of his jacket during normal hand and arm movement. This would have occurred continuously until the clothing was collected from him.”
    “What about the zero reading on the tabs from the shirt beneath the jacket?”
    “We discount that because the jacket could have been zipped closed during the commission of the shooting.”
    “In your expert opinion, Doctor, is there any way that Mr. Elliot could have gotten this pattern of GSR on his hands and clothing by discharging a firearm?”
    “No, there is not.”
    “Thank you, Doctor Arslanian. No further questions.”
    I returned to my seat and leaned over to whisper into Walter Elliot’s ear.
    “If we didn’t just give them reasonable doubt, then I don’t know what it is.”
    Elliot nodded and whispered back to me.
    “The best ten thousand dollars I’ve ever spent.”
    I didn’t think I had done so badly myself but I let it go. Golantz asked the judge for the midafternoon break before cross-examination of the witness began and the judge agreed. I noticed what I believed to be a higher energy in the verbal buzz of the courtroom after the adjournment. Shami Arslanian had definitely given the defense momentum.
    In fifteen minutes I would see what Golantz had in his arsenal for impeaching my witness’s