Page 114 of The Devil's Advocate

‘Just so the jury is clear, the blood and skin found under the victim’s fingernails came from the defendant?’

‘As far as science can tell us, yes.’

‘And what is the probability that this is a match?’

‘We are more than ninety-nine percent certain.’

‘Thank you,’ said Korn, sitting down with some satisfaction on his sharp face. I knew why he looked a lot happier. The jury were eating every word from Banbury. It was strong testimony. Science was telling them that the victim and Andy were engaged in a struggle, and she scraped his back, leaving his DNA under her nails.

Game over.

I felt a hand on my arm. Harry, pulling me into a whisper.

‘She’s good, make sure you pin her to the ground before you pull the trigger. Any wriggle room and Andy is a dead man.’

He was right. It came down to this moment. If we didn’t turn this witness around, it was all over. Before I got up to cross-examine, I took a final look at Andy and his mom. Her arm snaked through the rail separating the gallery from the defense table. Andy had turned his chair, so the judge wouldn’t see, and had taken her hand.

Patricia knew her boy. No matter what evidence Korn said he had – she knew her son wasn’t a killer. None of that mattered for much if we couldn’t save him.

I’d had time to think about this, and I thought I had a narrow window of attack. The key had been Andy. He’d told me that the cops had beaten him until he was unconscious. And I believed him. The evidence we’d found over the past few days had built up a picture in my mind. Fragments slowly connecting.

Now it was time to put them all together.

I took a breath and hammered down the first pin.

‘Doctor Banbury, am I right in saying you were provided with two samples for analysis by the Sheriff’s Department?’

‘Yes. Two exhibits. Fingernail clippings and a DNA swab from the defendant.’

‘How were these exhibits provided to you?’

‘The sheriff, God rest his soul, dropped them off at the county lab, where I signed a receipt when I took them into my custody.’

‘How long have you been a DNA expert for the county?’

‘Fifteen years, now.’

‘You had a good working relationship with law enforcement, established over a long period?’

‘You could say that, yes.’

‘Which exhibit did you examine first?’

‘The fingernail clippings from the victim.’

‘You were examining the material beneath the nails, is that right?’

‘That’s correct. I was made aware that the defendant had some scrapes on his back that could be fingernail marks, and I was testing to see if any of his skin, blood or DNA was in the material beneath the victim’s nails.’

‘I see. There was some other material found on those nails, apart from genetic material?’

‘Yes, some chemical compounds. I became aware that the victim was studying Chemistry at undergrad level at the University of Alabama. I guess she may have come into contact with all kinds of substances.’

‘Could you read out the list of materials that you found on the nail clippings that wasn’t genetic material?’

Banbury looked to the judge, said, ‘May I refer to my report?’

‘You may. This is testimony, not a memory exam,’ said Judge Chandler.