“Opparizio.”
He made one slight nod in confirmation. And at that moment I saw Lisa come through the back hallway, heading toward us, her eyes shiny and bright again for court. I looked back at Dahl. I wanted to ask many questions but we were out of time.
“Seven o’clock tonight. Be at my office. Alone. You tell me about Opparizio then. You tell me about everything… or I go to the DA.”
“The one thing is I’ll never testify to anything. Never.”
“Seven o’clock.”
“I’m supposed to have dinner with Lisa.”
“Yeah, well, change of plans. Think of something. You just be there. Now let’s go.”
I started to slide out of the booth as Lisa arrived. I pulled my phone and called Rojas.
“We’re ready,” I said. “Pick us up out front.”
Thirty-four
After court reconvened the prosecution called Detective Cynthia Longstreth to the witness stand. By going with Kurlen’s partner as her next witness Freeman was confirming what had been my growing assumption: that her version of Boléro climaxed with the science. It was the smart play. Go with what can’t be questioned or denied. Lay out the investigation through Kurlen and Longstreth and then bring it all together with the forensics. She would finish out the case with the medical examiner and the DNA evidence. A nice tight package.
Detective Longstreth did not look as tough and as severe as she did the first day of the case when I had met her at Van Nuys Division. First of all, she was wearing a dress that made her look more like a schoolteacher than a detective. I had seen this sort of transformation before and it always bothered me. Whether it was at the instruction of the prosecutor or by the detective’s own wiles, many a time I had been faced with a female police witness who had transformed herself to be softer and more pleasing to the jury. But if I dared point this out to the judge, or anybody for that matter, I ran the risk of being slapped down as a misogynist.
So most times I just had to grin and eat it.
Freeman was using Longstreth to outline the second half of the investigation. Her testimony would be primarily about the search of the Trammel house and its findings. I was expecting no surprises here. After Freeman got her witness’s bona fides on the record, she went right to it.
“Did you obtain a search warrant from a judge granting you access to Lisa Trammel’s home?” Freeman asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“What is that process? How do you get a judge to issue such an order?”
“You make a request that contains a probable cause statement, which lists the facts and evidence that have led you to the point of needing to search the premises. I did that here, using the statement of the witness who saw the suspect in the vicinity of the bank as well as the suspect’s own inconsistent statements during the interview. The warrant was signed and issued by Judge Companioni and we proceeded to the house in Woodland Hills.”
“Who is ‘we,’ Detective?”
“My partner, Detective Kurlen and I, and we decided to bring a videographer and a crime scene team with us to process anything we might find during the search.”
“So the whole search was put on video?”
“Well, I would not say it was the whole search. My partner and I split up to make things move faster. But there was only one cameraman and he couldn’t be with both of us at once. The way we worked it was that when we found something that looked like evidence or something we wanted to take into custody for examination, we would call for the camera.”
“I see. And did you bring the video with you today?”
“I did and it has been placed in the player and is ready to go.”
“Perfect.”
The jury was then treated to a ninety-minute video accompanied by Longstreth’s narration. The camera followed the police team as they arrived at the house and made a complete circuit around it before entering. While the view was in the backyard, Longstreth made sure to point out to jurors an herb garden stepped with railroad ties and freshly turned soil. It was what the great filmmakers would call foreshadowing. Its meaning would become apparent later, once the camera was inside the garage.
I was having trouble concentrating on the testimony. Dahl had dropped a bomb when he revealed the connection to Opparizio. I kept thinking about the possible scenario and what it could mean to the case. I wanted court to be over and for it to be seven o’clock.
On the video, a key taken from Lisa Trammel’s belongings following her arrest was used to gain entrance to the house without damaging the property. Once inside, the team began a systematic search of the premises that seemed to follow a protocol born of experience. The shower and bathtub drains were examined for blood evidence. The washer and dryer as well. The longest part of the search took place in the closets, where every shoe and piece of clothing was carefully examined and subjected to chemical and lighting treatments designed to draw attention to blood evidence.
The camera eventually followed Longstreth as she left a side door to the house and crossed a small portico to another door. This door was unlocked and she went through it, bringing the camera into the garage. Freeman stopped the video here. Like an expert Hollywood craftsman, she had built her viewers’ anticipation and now came the big tease.
“What was found in the garage became very important to the investigation, correct, Detective?”
“Yes, it did.”
“What did you find?”
“Well, in one incidence, it was what we didn’t find.”
“Can you explain what you mean by that?”
“Yes. There was a tool bench that ran along the back wall of the garage. It appeared to be fully stocked with tools. Most of them were hanging on hooks attached to a pegboard installed above the bench and along the wall. The different locations for hanging the tools were marked with the name of the tool. Everything had its place on the board.”
“Okay, can you show us?”
The video was restarted and soon it came to a head-on view of the workbench. At this point Freeman froze the image on the overhead screens.
“Okay, so this is the workbench, correct?”
“Yes.”
“We see the tools hanging on the pegboard. Is there anything missing?”
“Yes, the hammer is missing.”
Freeman asked the judge for permission for Longstreth to step down and use a laser pointer to show on the screens where the spot for the hammer was on the pegboard. The judge allowed it. Longstreth pointed it out on both screens and then returned to the witness stand.
“Now, Detective, was that spot specifically marked as being for a hammer?”
“Yes, it was.”
“So the hammer was missing.”
“It was not found anywhere in the garage or the house.”
“And did there come a time when you identified the make and model of the tools that were on the pegboard?”
“Yes, by using the tools that were still there we were able to determine that the Trammels had a set of Craftsman tools that came in a specific package. It was a two-hundred-thirty-nine-piece set called the Carpenter’s Tool Package.”
“And was the hammer from this package available outside of this set?”
“No, it was not. There was a specific hammer that came from this particular set of tools.”
“And it was missing from the tool set in Lisa Trammel’s garage.”
“That is correct.”
“Now, did there come a time during the investigation that a hammer was turned in to police that had been found near the scene of the murder of Mitchell Bondurant?”
“Yes, a hammer was found by a gardener in some bushes a block and a half from the garage where the murder took place.”
“Did you examine this hammer?”
“I examined it briefly before turning it over to the Scientific Investigation Division for analysis.”
“What kind of hammer was it?”
“It was a claw hammer.”
&
nbsp; “And do you know who manufactured the hammer?”
“It was produced by Sears Craftsman.”
Freeman paused as though she was expecting the jury to collectively gasp at the revelation when everybody in the courtroom had known exactly what was coming. She then stepped over to the prosecution table and opened a brown evidence bag. From it she pulled out a hammer that was encased in a clear plastic bag. Holding the hammer aloft she returned to the lectern.
“Your Honor, may I approach the witness with an exhibit?”
“You may.”
She walked the hammer to Longstreth and handed it to her.
“Detective, I ask you to identify the hammer you are holding.”
“This is the hammer that was found and turned over to me. My initials and badge number are on this evidence bag.”
Freeman retrieved the hammer from her and asked that it be marked as state’s evidence. Judge Perry gave his approval. After returning the hammer to the prosecution table, Freeman went back to the lectern and proceeded with her examination.
“You testified that the hammer was turned over to SID for forensic examination, correct?”
“Yes, correct.”
“And subsequent to that did you get a forensics report on the tool?”
“Yes, and I have it here.”
“What were their findings?”
“Two things of note. One was that they identified the hammer as being made exclusively for the Craftsman Carpenter’s Tool Package.”
“The same set that was found in the defendant’s garage?”
“Yes.”
“But minus the hammer?”
“Correct.”
“And the other forensic finding of note was what?”
“They found blood on the hammer’s handle.”
“Even though it had been found in the bushes and been there for several weeks?”
I stood and objected, arguing that no testimony or evidence established how long the hammer had been in the bushes.
“Your Honor,” Freeman responded. “The hammer was found several weeks after the murder occurred. It only stands to reason that it was in the bushes during that time.”
Before the judge could make a ruling I quickly countered.
“Again, Judge, the state has introduced nothing in the way of evidence or testimony that concludes the hammer was in that bush for that long a time. In fact, the man who found it testified he had worked in and around those bushes at least twelve times since the murder and didn’t see it until the morning he actually found it. The hammer could have easily been planted the night before it was—”
“Objection, Your Honor!” Freeman shouted. “Counsel is using his objection to put forth the defense’s case because he knows it will—”
“Enough!” the judge bellowed. “From both of you. The objection is sustained. Ms. Freeman, you need to reword your question so that it does not assume facts not in evidence.”
Freeman looked down at her notes, calming herself.
“Detective, did you see blood on the hammer when it was turned in to you?”
“No, I did not.”
“Then how much blood was actually on the hammer?”
“It is described in the report as trace blood. A minute amount that was beneath the upper part of the rubber grip that encases the wood handle.”
“Okay, so what did you do after receiving the report?”
“I arranged for the blood from the hammer to be tested at a private DNA lab in Santa Monica.”
“Why didn’t you use the regional crime lab at Cal State? Isn’t that normal procedure?”
“It is normal procedure but we wanted to put a rush on this. We had the money in the budget so we thought we should move quickly with it. I had the results reviewed by our lab.”
Freeman paused there and asked the judge to include the forensic report on the hammer as a prosecution exhibit. I didn’t object and the judge approved. Freeman then changed course, leaving the DNA revelation for the DNA expert who would come in at the end of the prosecution’s case.
“Let’s go back to the garage now, Detective. Were there any other significant findings?”
I objected again, this time to the form of the question, which assumed that there had been a significant finding when in fact none had been testified to. It was a cheap shot but I took it because the last skirmish over an objection had knocked down Freeman’s momentum. I wanted to keep trying to do that. The judge told her to rephrase the question and she did.
“Detective, you have testified about what you didn’t find in the garage. The hammer. What can you tell us that you did find?”
Freeman turned to me after asking it as if to get my approval. I nodded at her and smiled. The fact that she would even acknowledge me was a sign I had gotten to her with the last two objections.
“We found a pair of gardening shoes and got a positive reaction for blood when we conducted a Luminol test.”
“Luminol being one of the agents that reacts to blood under ultraviolet lighting, correct?”
“That’s correct. It is used to detect locations where blood has been cleaned or wiped away.”
“Where was the blood found here?”
“On the shoelace of the left shoe.”
“Why were these particular shoes tested with Luminol?”
“First of all, it is routine to test all shoes and clothing when you are looking for the possibility of blood evidence. There was blood at the scene of the crime so you work under the assumption that some must have gotten on the assailant. Secondly, we had noticed in the backyard that the garden had been recently worked. The soil had been overturned and yet these shoes were very clean.”
“Well, wouldn’t someone clean their gardening shoes before going into the house?”
“Possibly, but we weren’t in the house. We were in the garage and the shoes were in a cardboard box that contained a lot of loose dirt, presumably from the garden, and yet the shoes were quite clean. It drew our attention.”
Freeman forwarded the video to the point where the shoes were shown. They were sitting side by side in a box that said COCA-COLA. They were on a shelf under the workbench. Not hidden by any means. Just in the spot where they were probably routinely stored.
“Are these the shoes?”
“Yes. You can see one of the forensic techs collecting them there.”
“So you are saying that the fact that they were so clean but stored in a dirty box made them suspicious?”
I objected, stating she was leading the witness. I won the point but the message got to the jury. Freeman moved on.
“What made you think the shoes were Lisa Trammel’s?”
“Because they were small, obviously a woman’s shoes, and because we found a framed photograph in the house that depicted Lisa working in the garden. She was wearing the shoes.”
“Thank you, Detective. What became of the shoes and the spot on the one shoelace that initially tested as showing blood?”
“The shoelace was turned over to the regional crime lab at Cal State for DNA testing.”
“Why didn’t you use the private lab for this?”
“The sample of blood was quite small. We decided not to risk that we might lose the sample in an outside lab. My partner and I actually hand-delivered it to the Cal State lab. We also sent along other exemplars for comparison.”
“Other exemplars for comparison—what does that mean?”
“Blood from the victim was sent under separate delivery to the lab as well so that it could be compared to what was found on the shoe.”
“Why separate delivery?”
“So there would be no chance of cross-contamination.”
“Thank you, Detective Longstreth. I have no further questions at this time.”
The judge called for the mid-afternoon break before cross-examination would begin. My client, unaware of the true purpose of my lunch invitation, invited me to join her and Dahl for coffee. I declined, saying I had to
write out my questions for cross. The truth was I already had my questions ready. While before the trial I had thought Freeman would use Kurlen to introduce and testify about the hammer, the shoes and the search of Lisa Trammel’s home, I was nonetheless ready because the direct examination had gone exactly as I had expected it would.
Instead, I spent the break on the phone with Cisco, preparing him for the meeting with Dahl at seven. I told him to clue in Bullocks and have Tommy Guns and Bam Bam outside the Victory Building for security. I wasn’t sure whether Dahl was going to play it straight or not, but I was going to be ready either way.
Thirty-five
After the break, Detective Longstreth retook the stand and the judge turned it over to me. I threw no softballs and got right to the points I wanted to make in front of the jury. Primarily, this was testimony that informed the jury that the neighborhood surrounding WestLand was searched by police on the day of the murder. This included the house and presumably the landscaping where the hammer was eventually found.
“Detective,” I asked, “did it trouble you that this hammer was found so long after the murder and yet so close to the murder scene and in a spot that was inside a rather intense search perimeter?”
“No, not really. After the hammer was found I went out and looked at the bushes in front of that house. They were big and very dense. It didn’t surprise me or trouble me at all that a hammer could have been in there all that time. In fact, I thought we had been pretty lucky that it had been found at all.”
Good answer. I was beginning to see why Freeman had broken things up between Kurlen and Longstreth. Longstreth was damn good on the stand, maybe even better than her veteran partner. I moved on. One of the rules of the game was to distance yourself from mistakes. Don’t compound things by dwelling.
“Okay, let’s move to the house in Woodland Hills now. Detective, wouldn’t you agree that the search of the house was a bust?”
“A bust? I’m not sure I would call it a bust. I—”
“Did you find the defendant’s bloody clothes?”
“No, we did not.”