Page 119 of Fifty-Fifty

‘Get that animal out of here,’ shouted Stone.

Harry took the final word – ‘Which one, Your Honor? Clarence or Professor Shandler?’

FORTY-TWO

KATE

Kate had never seen anything like it.

Judge Stone called a break for lunch, and had the court cleared. Eddie hadn’t torn the DA’s expert to pieces, he’d simply allowed the expert to tear himself to pieces. Kate would never have brought the dog into court, no way she would’ve

had the nerve. The jury liked it, and by the time Eddie and Harry were leaving

the court, Kate knew this was as close as it could possibly be. She’d hoped Professor Shandler’s testimony would put a target on Sofia Avellino’s back.

Now, this was anyone’s case. All that could change with the next witness.

On the floor above, they found a quiet room and put Alexandra there, away from the press, with a salad and a bottle of water. Kate and Bloch took the stairs two floors down so they could talk as they walked the corridors. Neither of them felt hungry, and Kate didn’t want anyone overhearing, especially her client.

‘This thing is wide open now,’ said Kate. ‘You still feel confident we’re on the right side of this?’

‘You’re a defense attorney,’ said Bloch.

‘What do you mean?’

‘There isn’t supposed to be a right side. You just do your job.’

‘That’s bullshit, and you know it. You know me. And you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t believe Alexandra.’

‘I guess you’re right,’ said Bloch.

Sometimes Kate found her friend a little frustrating. In those moments, Kate just wanted to listen to a long explanation about why she was still doing the right thing, why Alexandra was innocent, and how they were going to win this case.

She wanted the words to drown her. Consume her doubts. Wash them away.

They walked and talked strategy for the bite-mark expert. His name was Peter Baumann. No state or federal law enforcement agency could analyze bite marks.

They had to go to a recognized expert. Baumann was the bite guy. He had been

working with law enforcement for years and was a seasoned expert witness, even if his methods weren’t exactly state of the art. Kate knew that prosecutors chose their experts based on two criteria – their seniority and expertise in the field, and possibly more importantly, their ability to withstand cross-examination. There was no point in the DA engaging the best bite-mark analyst in the country only to find that when they got on the witness stand they folded like a hot Hershey bar.

The lunch hour passed quickly, and neither Bloch nor Kate ate. A cup of coffee from a vending machine, or at least something supposed to be coffee, was all Kate could manage. All too soon she was back in court. There was no re-examination of Professor Shandler by the prosecution – Dreyer knew that witness was a lost cause. It’s bad when one of your witnesses gets pummeled with hard questions – it’s ten times worse when the witness is reduced to a laughing stock. Kate actually thought that Eddie could have achieved the same result without bringing Harry’s dog into court – but the dog made the jury laugh at Shandler, and once they did that it was game over.

Peter Baumann didn’t look like Kate had imagined him. She thought he would look a lot more like Professor Shandler. Tall, wealthy and good-looking.

Baumann was short. Five foot nothing. He was clean-shaven and completely bald. His eyebrows were so lightly colored that Kate hardly noticed they were there at all. When he walked past the lawyer’s tables at the front of the court to get to the witness stand, Kate caught an unusual odor emanating from Baumann.

It wasn’t unpleasant – the smell of dental putty, bleach and cinnamon. He smelled kind of like a dentist’s treatment room, which Kate found both strange

and comforting. She wondered if she smelled of ink and paper.

Baumann refused to take a religious oath, and instead affirmed that he would tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. Prosecutors liked it when their experts took their oath on the Bible. And for Christian expert witnesses, this was no problem. The atheist experts weren’t happy. Prosecutors thought it played better with the jury, and might offend some Christian jurors if their experts were seen to shun the Bible. Some scientists pushed back against this, said they already felt like frauds swearing on the Bible when they weren’t in the least religious.

This jury didn’t seem to have a problem with Baumann refusing the Bible. He wore a pastel blue suit, white shirt and bright green silk tie. Kate found the tie distracting. You could land a plane with that thing.

‘Mr. Baumann, would you explain to the jury your area of expertise?’ said Dreyer.

Surprisingly, Baumann didn’t make eye contact with the jury. He didn’t even turn his head to look at them. His gaze fixed on a point on the back wall, behind Kate. A vague, faraway look in his eyes as he answered the question.