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“Thank you, no further questions.”
Jack walked back to his table.
Ambrose peered down at Battle. “Commonwealth? Anything for this witness?”
“Uh, no, Your Honor,” said Battle, obviously still processing this development.
“Then I recall Herman Till to the stand,” said Jack promptly.
The medical examiner sat back down in the witness box.
“Mr. Till, you examined the bodies of the Randolphs thoroughly, did you not?”
“I did.”
“Now, in addition to the wounds they received from the attack, did you observe any other injuries on Mrs. Randolph’s body that had been there previous to her murder?”
“I did,” replied Till.
“And at our request you went back over them again, did you not?”
“Yes.”
“Can you describe these injuries?” asked Jack.
Till looked at the jurors. “She had multiple bone fractures that had healed over time. On both her arms, left leg, cheekbone, and shoulder blade. There were also what appeared to be knife gashes on her arms and legs that had healed. And one of her fingers had been broken a while ago and then healed badly. It was all twisted.”
“It’s been stipulated that Jerome Washington worked for the Randolphs for only one year. Did all these other injuries predate his time there?”
“Without question,” answered Till.
“What is your professional opinion on how she sustained these injuries?”
“Well, at first I thought perhaps she fell a lot, but after taking another look at everything at your request, I’d say she was beaten and rather badly on multiple occasions.”
A gasp went up around the courtroom.
“And did she have a more recent injury of that nature, aside from the wounds to which she succumbed?”
“She had a bruise on her cheek that had most certainly been inflicted on the day she died.”
“Thank you, Mr. Till, nothing further.”
Battle rose. “Mr. Till, could that bruise have been caused by the struggle with her attacker?”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
A confused-looking Battle had no further questions for Till, who was excused.
DuBose now took over and recalled Christine Hanover to the stand. “You had occasion to call the police about your father’s physical abuse of your mother, did you not?”
With a tissue pressed against her nose she said, “Yes. On two occasions. I could have called them a dozen times more, I suppose. And maybe I should have.”
“So there was a history of a violent, troubled marriage?”
“Yes. They were not affectionate toward one another. I think it was their children that kept them together all those years.”
“And your mother’s injuries?” she said quietly.
