Innocence (42 page)

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“You may proceed.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.” Jackson seemed to be bracing himself like a firefighter about to enter a burning building. “First, I, too, have read Mr. Finn’s papers, and I can assure the court that the district attorney’s office has initiated its own internal investigation to determine whether anyone on staff was aware of any of the allegations that have been brought to light. I am also told that our office will be coordinating with the BPD’s internal affairs division to determine whether there is an ongoing problem within the police department.”

“Whether?” Cavanaugh’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

Jackson took a deep breath. “Yes, Your Honor. In spite of this all, however, the district attorney’s office is strongly opposed to overturning Mr. Salazar’s conviction.”

“On what grounds?” Cavanaugh demanded. “By all indications, Mr. Jackson, certain members of the law enforcement community fabricated the evidence used to secure Mr. Salazar’s conviction. By what

possible logic can you oppose this man’s release?”

“Harmless error, Your Honor.”

“What?”

“Harmless error. We believe that Mr. Salazar would have been convicted anyway.”

“I know what ‘harmless error’ means, Mr. Jackson,” Cavanaugh sneered, and he could feel his face run scarlet. “I just can’t understand how you could possibly advance such an argument with a straight face.”

“I can, Your Honor, because the DNA testing you yourself ordered demonstrates with absolute certainty that Mr. Salazar is guilty of the crime for which he was convicted.”

Cavanaugh shot a look at Finn. “I thought Mr. Finn indicated that there was no report,” he said slowly, his faith shaken slightly.

“That is correct,” Jackson continued. “There is no report as yet. The tests have been completed, though, and the results are indisputable.”

Cavanaugh shook his head in disbelief. “Do you have someone who can testify to this?” he asked.

“We do,” Jackson replied. “With your permission, we would like to call Anthony Horowitz to the stand to testify.”

Chapter Forty-thre
e

Finn’s heart was pounding as Horowitz took the stand. He’d hoped that the DA’s office wouldn’t follow up with the DNA lab to check on the test results, but he’d known there was always a risk. Without the DNA evidence, Cavanaugh would have little option but to set Salazar free. But once Jackson demonstrated that Salazar was actually guilty, there seemed little hope. Finn could feel the judge staring at him as Horowitz was sworn in. Finn refused to meet his eye.

“Dr. Horowitz, would you tell Judge Cavanaugh what you do for a living?” Jackson began.

“I am the chief technician at Identech Labs,” Horowitz replied. “We specialize in DNA testing.”

“And were you retained to perform such testimony in this case?”

“We were. Mark Dobson, the defendant’s first lawyer, called us a couple of weeks ago and asked us to test DNA found in skin and blood samples pulled from underneath Officer Steele’s fingernails against that of the defendant, Mr. Salazar. Mr. Finn followed up with me a week or so later.” Horowitz shot Finn a look that seemed almost apologetic. Finn had some sympathy for the man; after all, he was a scientist and had little choice but to follow the evidence presented him to its logical conclusion.

“What did Mr. Finn say to you when he talked with you?”

“He said, ‘This guy’s innocent.’”

“And how did you interpret this?” Jackson asked. He was a good lawyer; Finn had to give him credit. The examination could have been conducted in three or four questions, but he was dragging it out, giving it an atmosphere of suspense. It was exactly what Finn would have done.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Horowitz replied hesitantly.

“Did you take that as a request from Mr. Finn to do whatever you could to make sure that the results came out negative and cleared his client no matter what?”

“Objection, Your Honor,” Finn said, standing. He infused his voice with enough indignation to make it clear that Jackson had no basis for the question, but otherwise, he remained composed. This was all part of the game, and Finn knew it.

“Sustained,” Cavanaugh said.

“No,” Horowitz said, ignoring the judge’s ruling. “Finn’s not like that.”

“Of course,” Jackson said. “And you know that because you’ve done work for Mr. Finn in the past, correct?”

“I’ve done some work for him,” Horowitz admitted. “He’s had a couple of paternity cases we helped out with.”

“And you depend on lawyers like Mr. Finn to keep bringing you business in order to make money, right?” It was a good ploy, Finn knew. The questions were objectionable, but they were effective at conveying the notion that Tony would, if anything, have preferred to deliver the results Finn had been looking for.

“Objection,” Finn said again, though this time with less indignation. There was no point in playing the victim at this point.

“Sustained,” Cavanaugh said. It was clear from his tone that he’d gotten Jackson’s point, though.

Jackson continued, not letting the interruptions slow the pace of his questioning. “In any event, did you perform the tests in this case?”

“We did.”

“And what did you find?”

“We found that Mr. Salazar’s DNA matched the DNA from the samples taken from underneath Officer Steele’s fingernails in all seven of the variable sites for which DNA could be isolated.”

“In the jargon of your profession, Dr. Horowitz, does that constitute an exact match?”

“It does,” Horowitz answered with some reluctance. Finn knew that he was trying to make clear that he wasn’t happy to be giving his testimony, but the effect was to demonstrate that his sympathies were with the defense, making the evidence all the more powerful for the prosecution.

“Having come to this conclusion, did you run any additional tests to try to verify your results?”

“We did. We ran a mitochondrial DNA comparison as well as a DNA site comparison—or STR test.”

“Can you explain what that test is?”

“Yes. This is a test that can be used on samples where, as here, there is some degradation in the DNA sample. It is not as conclusive as the STR tests that we initially ran, but it can be a good check on initial matches.”

“And what was the result of this second test?”

“It also came back as a match for Mr. Salazar’s DNA.”

Jackson let that answer hang as he walked back to counsel table. He shifted his notes, but Finn could tell it was just for effect. Finally, Jackson looked back up at the witness. “Dr. Horowitz, based on these results, can you draw any conclusions regarding Mr. Salazar’s guilt or innocence in the attack on Officer Steele fifteen years ago?”

“I can,” Horowitz answered. He looked up at the judge. “From these tests, I can conclude that Mr. Salazar was the man Officer Steele scratched on that night, and he was, therefore, the man who attacked and shot her.”

z

Finn stood up. Having recognized the possibility that he would be in this position, he’d spent the first half of a sleepless night trying to work through ways to attack Horowitz’s testimony if the DA’s office found out about the tests. In the end, he’d come up with little, and he’d spent the second half of the night hoping the man would not be called.

“Mr. Finn?”

It was Cavanaugh. He was glaring at Finn with a hostile expression. Only a hint of sympathy for his former student seemed to keep his anger from tipping into rage. “Were you aware of these test results?” the judge asked.

Finn held his head up and met Cavanaugh’s eyes, but not without some substantial effort. “I was, Your Honor.”

“When you answered my question before about why you had nothing in your briefs about the DNA testing, you chose your words carefully.”

“I did, Your Honor.”

“My father used to say that carefully chosen words were the tools of the devil.”

“He sounds like a wise man, Your Honor.”

“Just be warned from here on out, Mr. Finn. I will be looking over these transcripts very carefully. Don’t give me an excuse to refer you to the Board of Bar Overseers for disciplinary action.”

“Yes, Your Honor. Thank you.”

“You may proceed.”

Finn took a deep breath. He approached Horowitz slowly, with his fingers locked together at his lips. “Dr. Horowitz, can you tell the court how you obtained the DNA samples that were taken from underneath Officer Steele’s fingernails?”

“Mr. Dobson gave me the copy of the court’s order requiring the police and the DA’s office to provide the sample, as well as a letter of authorization as Mr. Salazar’s legal representative. I took those to police headquarters and obtained the samples from the chief technical inspector. I signed for the samples and took them back to the lab to run the tests.”

“So you obtained the samples from the police department?”

“Of course. Who else could I get them from?”

“And this would be the same police department that falsified the original fingerprint evidence used to convict Mr. Salazar?”

Jackson rose. “Objection.”

“Overruled,” Cavanaugh answered without even hearing the grounds for the objection.

Horowitz shrugged. “I wouldn’t know about that. All I know is what science tells me, and science tells me that the samples matched.”

“But you don’t really know where the DNA given to you actually came from, do you?”

“I’m not sure I understand the question.” Horowitz clearly didn’t like being challenged, and he was becoming defensive.

“It’s possible, for example, that Mr. Salazar’s DNA was placed there a few weeks ago, after the court ordered the police department to turn over the rape kit, isn’t it?”

Horowitz considered the question carefully. “No, actually,” he said after a moment. “That’s not possible.”

“How can you say that?” Finn demanded. This was his only decent line of questioning, and he wasn’t going to let it die. “After they planted fingerprints fifteen years ago, after they committed perjury? How can you be sure that they didn’t plant this DNA evidence as well?”

“Because I examined the samples myself,” Horowitz responded. “No matter what their motivations, they can’t change the laws of science. You see, when Officer Steele scratched the man who attacked her, the pressure and force of her hands drove the skin and blood into the crevices of her fingernails. When she was examined, her fingernails were clipped and placed in the rape kit. Over time, the skin and blood that were there fused to the cells of the fingernails themselves. So when we took the sample for testing, we actually pulled cellular material from two individuals—one was Officer Steele, one was Vincente Salazar. In both cases, the DNA and cellular composition showed clear deterioration consistent with the passage of a significant amount of time. It would have been impossible for this evidence to have been planted three weeks ago.”

“It could have been planted fifteen years ago, though, right?” Finn was grasping now, and he was sure it showed, but he had no other angles.

“Not really,” Horowitz said, his voice growing in confidence. “As I indicated, the skin and blood were impressed deep into the crevices of the fingernails. It would have been nearly impossible to achieve this if the evidence had been planted after the fingernails had been clipped.”

“
Nearly
impossible?” Finn asked, emphasizing the modifier. It was weak, but it was all he had.

“I suppose anything is impossible if you push a hypothetical to its illogical end,” Horowitz replied.

Finn stood there looking at the witness. He was out of ammunition, and he didn’t feel like he’d even made a dent in Horowitz’s direct testimony.

“Anything further, Mr. Finn?” Cavanaugh asked.

“If I could have a moment to go over my notes, Your Honor?”

“By all means. Be quick, though. My holiday cheer is running thin.”

Finn walked back to counsel table. He had no notes there that would help him, but he needed to buy time to think. The case was slipping away from him. Notwithstanding the fact that he believed Salazar was guilty, the man was still Finn’s client, and once the battle was joined, the notion of losing was anathema to him. He was a lawyer, after all.

Finn stood at the front of the courtroom, in front of counsel table, facing away from the judge, away from the witness stand, looking out toward the gallery. He could sense the crowd shifting in their seats, anticipating Salazar’s imminent return to prison. Finn knew that if he hadn’t convinced the crowd, he certainly hadn’t convinced Cavanaugh.

As he looked out at those gathered in the courtroom, he caught sight of the Salazar family in the first row. Mrs. Salazar’s head was down, and she was counting off rosary beads in her lap. Rosita sat still and straight, like a porcelain doll, her sightless eyes motionless. Miguel Salazar’s face was drawn tight, and he stared straight at Finn. Finn looked back at him, feeling lost and helpless. He was struck by how much Miguel resembled his brother, and wondered what their lives might have been like if they hadn’t lived through such hardship.

As he stared at Miguel, the shadow of a thought slipped across Finn’s mind. It was fleeting and undefined, but he felt the substance behind it. He looked down at his client. Vincente was staring at Finn, too, his features set in stone. As he looked at Vincente, the shadow began to gain definition, and Finn found it difficult to breathe. He looked back and forth between the two brothers.

And then both brothers nodded. It was an identical movement, slight and subtle, too inconspicuous to notice unless, like Finn, you were focused on both at the same time. Finn felt the rush of revelation spread through him like a narcotic. He looked at both brothers, and confirmation was plain in their expressions.

“Mr. Finn?” Cavanaugh said testily, trying to push the proceedings along toward their inevitable conclusion.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Finn replied. His mind was churning, trying to recall the information he had read in his research on DNA evidence over the past week. He turned and faced the witness. “Dr. Horowitz, you indicated that you were able to establish a match for seven variable points of DNA identification with respect to the samples in question, is that right?”