A Handy Death

Paretta paused, looking up. Ross nodded.

“That’s enough, thank you.” He turned. “I’m finished with the witness.”

“But I’m not.” Varick had come to his feet. He approached the witness stand. “Mr. Paretta, in that trial, the transcript of which you have in your hand and from which you have been reading, after the jury heard all the evidence, what verdict did they bring in?”

“Objection,” Ross said smoothly. “If the prosecution remembers the motions and proceedings before trial, the judgment in that trial was set aside. Legally, it does not exist.”

“Wait a second,” Gorman began, starting to rise. One glare from Judge Waxler and he subsided.

“Objection sustained.”

Varick turned back to the witness.

“Mr. Paretta, tell me: In all the testimony of that transcript, either of the defense or of the prosecution, is the word ‘swindle’ mentioned once?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you recall any synonym for the word ‘swindle,’ or any phrase that could be considered to have the same meaning as the word ‘swindle’ appearing anywhere in the testimony?”

“No, sir.”

“Thank you. That’s all. You’re excused.” Mr. Paretta stepped down as Varick turned. “My next witness is Dr. Edward Hamilton of the Medical Examiner’s office.”

He walked back to the prosecution table and studied a sheet of paper while the doctor mounted the stand and was sworn in. Varick moved to the witness stand, paused, and then swung to face Ross.

“The prosecution is prepared to qualify my witness as an expert if the defense insists, but to save time would my learned adversary concede the qualifications of Dr. Hamilton?”

Ross said calmly, “The defense will concede that Dr. Hamilton is an extremely qualified forensic pathologist.”

“Thank you,” Varick said with a touch of sarcasm and turned to face the witness as a ripple of smiles in the courtroom disappeared beneath Judge Waxler’s look. “Dr. Hamilton, on the thirtieth day of September in this year, did you examine the body of a deceased male, Raymond Neeley?”

“I did.”

“Where did this examination take place?”

“At the New York Medical Examiner’s office, at the Bellevue Hospital morgue.”

“Before you go into the details of that examination, Doctor, could you tell us how the body came to be delivered to the Bellevue Hospital morgue? And how identification was made?”

“The deceased had been hospitalized at Wickersham Hospital with what he claimed were recurring and increasingly severe headaches, and died there. The deceased had been a patient of the hospital eight years before, suffering from gunshot wounds, and the autopsy was requested by his physician to determine if those gunshot wounds could have been responsible for his death. As for his identity, his physician vouched for it, and his fingerprints are on record with the police department, who verified them for identification.”

“Thank you,” Varick said. “Now, as to your examination, would you tell us of your procedure and results?”

Dr. Hamilton’s attitude, like that of Mr. Paretta, was completely relaxed, also the result of having testified in court many times. He brought forth his glasses, carefully polished them and put them on, and then reached into his pocket for the autopsy report. He glanced at it and then looked up.

“I did a customary post-mortem examination which is called an autopsy. The body was that of a well-developed Caucasian male weighing one hundred eighty-five pounds and measuring five feet nine inches in height. The hair on the head was black. The body below the neck had no scars or tattoos. There was a severe scarring on the lower right cheek, the result, according to the Wickersham Hospital records, of a gunshot wound suffered eight years before. The scarring was entirely consistent with these records.

“The body was opened through a Y-shaped incision. The lower—”

Varick interrupted smoothly.

“Doctor, I have seen a copy of the autopsy report, and a copy has also been furnished to the defense. To save the jury from details which have nothing to do with the case, could I put this question to you: In examining the other organs, other than the brain, did you find any evidence of disease or trauma that could possibly have caused death?”

“No, sir.”

“Were the organs in a condition consistent with a man of Mr. Neeley’s age?”

“They were.”

“Thank you, Doctor. Now, could you come to the point and tell us the cause of death?”

Dr. Hamilton looked up from the written autopsy report.

“It was the finding of the post-mortem examination that death was caused by the presence of a lead fragment having worked its way into contact with the frontal lobe of the brain during a period of time, that lead fragment being the result of a previous gunshot wound.”

There were several moments of silence when the doctor finished speaking. Varick nodded slowly, allowing the words to sink into the jury; when he spoke his voice was respectful, almost reverent.

“Thank you, Doctor.” He turned to Ross, his whole attitude challenging the defense to fault the testimony.

Steve Sadler smiled at Ross. “Go get him, boss!”