Incriminating Evidence (35 page)

Fair enough. “Did you know that they were also business associates?”

“No.”

“In fact, Mr. Garcia was a male prostitute and Mr. Holton was, for lack of a better term, his pimp, right, Mr. Evans?”

“Objection. Foundation. Mr. Evans knows nothing about this, Your Honor.”

“Sustained.”

I’ll try to plant one more seed. “Mr. Evans, assuming, for the moment, that Mr. Holton was, in fact, Mr. Garcia’s pimp, doesn’t it strike you as odd that Mr. Holton showed up at the hotel in the middle of the night?”

“Objection. Assumes facts that are not in evidence.”

She’s right. “Sustained.” The judge instructs me to move to another line of questioning.

“No further questions, Your Honor.” We’ll get back to this when it’s our turn.

34
“IT’S ALL DESCRIBED IN DETAIL IN MY AUTOPSY REPORT”

“The prosecution is upping the stakes today. They’re going to call Dr. Roderick Beckert, the highly respected chief medical examiner.”

—KGO
RADIO
. T
UESDAY
, O
CTOBER
19.

“The people call Dr. Roderick Beckert,” Hillary Payne says.

The following morning, the chief medical examiner of the City and County of San Francisco strides to the front of the courtroom. Beckert’s wearing his “going-to-court” uniform: a charcoal business suit with a white shirt and a burgundy tie. The white coat is back in his office. His beard has been recently trimmed. He’s been assigned to play the role of the voice of medical wisdom. The battle is now fully engaged.

Payne has Beckert state his name and occupation for the record. She asks him how long he’s been the chief medical examiner.

He turns toward the jury and says, “Twenty-nine years.”

Nods from the jury box. Beckert sounds good when he’s just introducing himself.

Payne begins the process of having him recite his credentials. I stipulate to his expertise right away. His qualifications aren’t at issue. Payne walks to the evidence cart and picks up
Beckert’s autopsy report on Johnny Garcia. She asks Judge Kelly for permission to introduce it into evidence.

“No objection, Your Honor,” I say. I try to act as if the autopsy report has about the same significance as the sports section in this morning’s
Chronicle
. The jury won’t buy it, of course, but it can’t hurt to try. Every nuance in court has meaning.

Payne hands the report to Beckert and returns to the lectern. She wants to give him plenty of room to present his findings in all of his glory. It’s a smart move.

Skipper leans over and whispers, “Is there anything you can do to slow him down?”

“Not much,” I reply. We’re going to take our lumps for a while.

Payne has Beckert identify his autopsy report. He holds it as if it were the Holy Grail. “I prepared this report,” he confirms.

“And did you perform the autopsy on the victim, John Paul Garcia, on September seventh?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Could you please summarize your findings?” Payne asks.

“Of course, Ms. Payne.” Beckert takes his glasses out of his breast pocket and puts them on. He pretends to shuffle through his report. “The victim, John Paul Garcia, died of asphyxiation between the hours of one and four A.M. on Tuesday, September seventh.” He confirms that Garcia had been handcuffed to the bed. “His eyes, nose and mouth had been covered with duct tape. We were able to confirm this because we found traces of adhesive chemicals on the victim’s face. The chemicals were identical to those on a used wad of duct tape that was found on the nightstand in the defendant’s room that night.” He explains in medical and layman’s terms that the victim lost consciousness when his air
passages were blocked. “He died within minutes after the tape was placed on his face.”

The courtroom is silent. Payne pretends she’s studying her notes. In reality, she is giving the jury a little time to digest Beckert’s testimony. Finally, she says, “How did you determine the time of death, Dr. Beckert?”

On cue, McNasty puts a poster-size version of one of the crime-scene photos on an easel just in front of the jury box. It shows a naked Johnny Garcia, handcuffed to the bed, lying on his stomach, his head turned to the right. Beckert asks Judge Kelly if he can stand to point to the photo. She agrees.

“It’s all described in detail in my autopsy report,” Beckert says. He points to the discoloration on the side of Garcia’s stomach and the other areas of his body that are touching the bed. He explains that when the heart stops beating, gravity causes the victim’s blood to flow to the lowest points of the body. “This discoloration,” he says, “is called lividity. In my best medical judgment, the victim, John Paul Garcia, died on this bed while he was lying on his stomach, his hands and feet handcuffed to the bedposts.” He looks triumphant. It’s almost as if he’s daring me to question his conclusion. He drones on for a few minutes about body temperature and the food in Garcia’s stomach. I steal a glance at the investment banker on the jury. He’s nodding. Sounds good to him.

Skipper leans over and whispers, “Can’t you object to any of this?”

I whisper back, “We have to wait till cross.”

Payne leads Beckert through another half hour of testimony on the finer points of his craft and his determination of the cause of Johnny Garcia’s death. I object from time to time, without consequence. Beckert is a terrific witness. Payne is a good prosecutor. She should score points with Beckert on the stand.

I think Payne is about to wrap up when she asks Beckert to turn to page seventeen of the autopsy report. “That’s the section entitled ‘Chemical and Other Substances Found in the Victim’s Bloodstream,’ isn’t it, Doctor?”

“Yes.”

Hell. They’re making a preemptive strike to undercut our argument that Johnny Garcia didn’t suffocate but died of a drug overdose. I expected this.

“Could you please tell us what chemical substances were found in the victim’s bloodstream?”

Skipper nudges me to object. I can’t. I have no grounds.

Beckert puts his glasses on and pretends to study a couple of pages of his report. “We found three chemical substances in the victim’s bloodstream,” he says. “Alcohol, heroin and gamma hydroxy butyrate, commonly known as GHB.” He explains to the jury that GHB is a date-rape drug that causes unconsciousness when it is ingested.

Two of the women in the front row of the jury lean forward.

Beckert says there was a small amount of alcohol in Garcia’s bloodstream when he died. When Payne asks him how much alcohol, he says, “Well below the threshold for being convicted of driving under the influence.”

“And the heroin?” Payne asks.

“A tiny amount.” He goes into detail in both medical and layman’s terms to describe the level of heroin in Garcia’s bloodstream. “It appears that the victim injected heroin at some point within the last few hours of his life.”

Payne hones in. “Was there enough heroin in the victim’s bloodstream to cause an overdose?”

“In my best medical judgment, no.” They go through the same analysis for the GHB. He concludes that there was not enough GHB in Garcia’s bloodstream to have caused his death.

“Is it possible that a combination of heroin, alcohol and
GHB caused a reaction or imbalance that could have led to Mr. Garcia’s death?”

“Objection. Speculative.”

“Your Honor,” Payne says, “I’m asking for Dr. Beckert’s medical judgment on this issue. Mr. Daley has already stipulated to his expertise.”

She’s right.

“Overruled.”

“No,” Beckert says with Walter Cronkite-like authority. “The victim died of suffocation.”

“One final question, Dr. Beckert. Isn’t it true that you found traces of the victim’s semen on his body and on the bed?”

“Objection. Leading.”

“Overruled.”

“Yes,” Beckert says. “We found traces of the victim’s semen.”

Payne asks him what he concluded from the discovery of the semen.

Beckert exhales and says, “I concluded that the victim engaged in sex shortly before he died.”

“No further questions.”

I’m up right away. I don’t want Judge Kelly to call a recess and give the jury a chance to let Beckert’s testimony sink in. “Dr. Beckert,” I begin, “you concluded that Johnny Garcia died in the stomach-down position in Room 1504 based upon the discoloration of his body, which is known as lividity, correct?”

“Yes.”

I’m going to lead him shamelessly. I want yes-or-no answers. If he starts to explain things, my goose is cooked. “And you indicated that you estimated that time of death was between one and four in the morning.”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Beckert,” I say, “you have testified that the victim, Johnny Garcia, died of suffocation.”

“Yes.”

“Yet you have also testified that Mr. Garcia’s bloodstream contained alcohol, heroin and a potent sleep-inducing narcotic called GHB.”

“Yes.”

“And both heroin and GHB are very strong chemical substances, aren’t they, Doctor?”

“Of course.”

I ask him to turn to the pages in his report that deal with the chemical substances found in Garcia’s bloodstream. He does so. Then he takes off his glasses and puts them back in his breast pocket.

“Doctor,” I say, “isn’t it possible that Mr. Garcia injected so much heroin into his bloodstream that he died of an overdose?”

He’s indignant. “No, Mr. Daley. I have already testified to the fact that there was only a tiny amount of heroin in his bloodstream. He died of asphyxiation.”

“But isn’t it theoretically possible that he died of an overdose?”

“Objection. Speculative.”

“Overruled.”

“It isn’t possible,” Beckert replies.

“No chance at all?”

“No chance at all.”

“Heroin’s pretty potent stuff, Doctor.”

“No chance at all,” he says again.

Well, if the heroin didn’t do it, maybe the GHB did. “Doctor,” I say, “GHB is pretty potent stuff, too, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“And if you take enough GHB, it could kill you, right?”

“That’s true.”

“In fact, there have been some recent cases where individuals who took large amounts of GHB have died, right?”

He has no choice. “Yes.”

“In a couple of those cases, the individuals who provided the GHB were charged with murder, weren’t they?”

He grudgingly acknowledges that this is true.

“Is it possible, Doctor, that the victim in this case might have died from an overdose or adverse reaction to GHB?”

“No. There wasn’t enough GHB in his system to cause such a serious reaction.”

Not so fast. “Doctor, when did you perform the autopsy?”

“At approximately three o’clock on September seventh.”

Perfect. “Doctor, GHB remains active in your system for only a few hours, right?”

He reflects and says, “That’s correct.”

“In fact, it metabolizes within four to six hours, doesn’t it? And as a result, by the time you did your autopsy, there was no way you could have known how much GHB was consumed by the victim, could you?”

Beckert swallows. “In my best medical judgment,” he says, “there were only traces of GHB in the victim’s system at the time of his death. There is no evidence that he died of an overdose or any cause relating to the consumption of GHB.”

It’s all I can get. I didn’t figure he’d budge. “Doctor,” I continue, “isn’t it possible that the combination of heroin, alcohol and GHB caused a reaction that killed Mr. Garcia?”

“Objection. Asked and answered.”

“Overruled.”

“No, Mr. Daley,” Beckert says. “It isn’t possible. While there were traces of each of those chemicals found in the victim’s bloodstream, there wasn’t any evidence that Mr. Garcia overdosed or that the combination of chemicals had any bearing on the cause of Mr. Garcia’s death.”

Our expert will have a different take on this subject. We volley for the next thirty minutes. I try to get Beckert to admit that GHB is a toxin that could kill you if it is combined with other drugs. He argues that there wasn’t a shred of evidence that there were enough chemicals in Garcia’s system to cause any material adverse reaction. Payne objects every two or three questions. Judge Kelly is getting annoyed.

It’s almost noon when I ask Beckert my final questions. “Dr. Beckert,” I say, “did your autopsy reveal any preexisting medical conditions that may have contributed to Mr. Garcia’s death?”

“No.”

“Isn’t it true, Dr. Beckert, that Johnny Garcia had been addicted to heroin?”

“Objection. Foundation.”

“Sustained.”

I introduce a medical history provided by Ernie Clemente at the time Garcia moved out of the Mission Youth Center. Beckert acknowledges that he has read the history and confirms that Garcia had been addicted to heroin.

“And isn’t it true that Garcia was clean at the time of his death, except for the heroin that you found in his bloodstream?”

“That’s what we understand from his medical history, Mr. Daley. I have no way of corroborating whether he was still clean.”

“And isn’t it true that recovering addicts are sometimes more susceptible to overdoses with relatively small amounts of heroin or other substances?”

Beckert glances at Payne. “There is some current medical thinking to that effect, Mr. Daley.”

“If that is the case, Doctor, isn’t it possible that Johnny Garcia may have had an adverse reaction to even a small amount of heroin? Perhaps a reaction that might have killed him?”

Beckert is unimpressed. “No, Mr. Daley,” he says. “It may happen from time to time, but it isn’t what happened here.”

“Doctor, are you also aware that Johnny Garcia had a heart condition?”

“Yes. The same medical history indicated that he had a coronary arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat.”

“Isn’t it possible, Doctor, that Johnny Garcia’s heart may have given out as a result of ingesting a lethal combination of alcohol, heroin and GHB?”