Page 121 of Fifty-Fifty

Forensic Odonto-Stomatology. You are not a member of these organizations?’

‘No, ma’am.’

‘Why not?’

Baumann exhaled, loudly, as if this was all a waste of his goddamn time.

‘Well, the organization I belong to has its head office in Houston. It’s only a few hours away. It’s convenience, more than anything else.’

‘The other three organizations I mentioned have, over the past few years, attempted to set down forensic guidelines for the standardized examination and

comparison of bite marks. Your organization has not, correct?’

‘Those organizations are based in New York and California, and we don’t hold much regard for their practices. We do things our way.’

Kate paused, raised an eyebrow at the jury. New Yorkers don’t much like any perceived slight at their town, or their people. Kate paused long enough to let the jury feel aggrieved at Baumann, then continued.

‘So you don’t, for example, carry out three-dimensional computer imaging of the suspect’s teeth?’

‘We do not.’

‘You don’t have a standardized scoring system so that the levels of similarity can be graded?’

‘No, ma’am.’

‘You only compared the suspects’ dentition to the bite marks. You didn’t, for example, set up a number of master cast bite simulations, with, say, ten or eleven casts, like a police line-up, as recommended by the Bureau of Legal Dentistry?’

‘I did not.’

‘You were called in to carry out your analysis of the bite mark when?’

‘I got the call on a Saturday. I flew out Sunday and examined the body that evening.’

‘Where did you examine the body?’

‘In the morgue.’

‘So you made no account for the distortion of the wounds?’

‘I assumed a level of distortion, but it did not effect my findings or measurements.’

‘Let’s be clear what I mean when I talk about distortion. Human skin has a high degree of elasticity. It can expand, contract, swell, and shrink?’

‘It can.’

‘And when a body is moved, there has to be some element of force applied to the skin. The body is lifted from the crime scene into a body bag, taken on a trolley to the city morgue, and once in the morgue the body must be lifted again from the bag to the examining table.’

‘I guess.’

‘And when the body is lifted, it is common for hands to be placed beneath the body’s arms, in the armpits? Persons at each side of the body and one person who will lift the legs?’

‘I assume you are correct.’

‘When skin is pulled, if any part of it is already torn, this can cause further tearing of the skin, isn’t that correct?’

Baumann chewed on this for a moment, then said, ‘It’s possible.’

‘It’s likely, isn’t it?’