"Both. I like to think that I testify on behalf of the truth," Swanburg said. "There have been times when my testimony has worked against my employer. They all know going in that I will report my findings as a man of science-without prejudice."
"Dr. Swanburg, have you studied the evidence in this case?"
"I have looked at everything-the reports and photographs, as well as the physical evidence-that I was given," Swanburg said carefully.
"Fair enough, Dr. Swanburg," Karp said, approaching the witness stand and handing Swanburg "a photograph marked as People's Exhibit 24 J from the criminal trial of the plaintiffs. Can you tell the jury what it depicts?"
"Yes, I can," Swanburg said. "It's a photograph of a bite mark on the left breast of a woman. And according to the tag on the back that woman was…Mrs. Liz Tyler."
"And what can you tell us about what it shows?"
"Well," Swanburg said, speaking to the jury, "in some ways, a clear bite mark such as the one in the photograph can be used like a fingerprint to identify who it belonged to, especially if there are particularly significant characteristics."
"Thank you, Dr. Swanburg," Karp said, retrieving the photograph and handing it to the jury to look at. "Now, did you get a chance to match the bite mark in that photograph with the dental records of Mr. Enrique Villalobos?"
"Yes," Swanburg said. "I examined the X-rays taken in the prison dental office during a routine checkup."
Louis almost knocked over his chair standing up. "Objection. Whatever tomfoolery is going on regarding this bite mark, these records were obtained without a proper search warrant or notification to counsel."
Karp silently thanked Harry Kipman. "To the contrary, your honor," he said. "We obtained the records with a subpoena duces tecum and notified counsel, all as part of our pretrial motions. However, Mr. Louis made no objection at that time. I guess he must have missed it."
"I'll allow it," Klinger said, though it was clear she wasn't happy.
Karp handed Swanburg a set of X-rays. "Are these the dental records you examined?"
Swanburg nodded. "Yes. You'll notice that Mr. Villalobos has protruding incisors-somewhat rodentlike."
The courtroom erupted with laughter as Louis again jumped to his feet. "I object to that characterization-obviously planted by the defense."
Before Klinger could respond, Swanburg apologized. "I'm sorry, your honor, I did not mean to disparage Mr. Villalobos. I was just trying to characterize…describe the sort of bite pattern his teeth would leave. I withdraw the comment." He smiled so innocently that even the judge smiled back.
"Very well, Dr. Swanburg…but do try to limit your comments to less…uh, disparaging descriptions…and stick to the science."
"Good advice, your honor, I should know better," Swanburg said and turned to beam at the jurors. "So let me rephrase that… Mr. Villalobos's incisors protrude, which would give an elongated bite pattern."
"Could he have created the bite mark on Ms. Tyler's breast?" Karp asked.
"Objection," Louis said. "Calls for conclusion."
Karp rolled his eyes. "Your honor, Dr. Swanburg has been admitted as an expert witness in this field. Of course, he's going to reach a conclusion."
"The witness may answer the question."
"Yes, certainly. No, Mr. Villalobos could not have created that particular bite mark."
"Thank you, Mr. Swanburg," Karp said. "Let's move on." He walked over to the podium where he flipped a couple of switches, darkening the courtroom and starting a slide projector that pointed to a screen off to the jury's side. A photograph appeared showing the side of a woman's head. The face was swollen and discolored, a large white patch over her eye. "Can you identify this photograph for the jury, please."
"Yes," Swanburg said. "It is a photograph taken of Mrs. Tyler's head, I believe the day after the assault."
Karp used an electronic pointer to indicate a long, straight purple mark on the side of Tyler's skull just above her ear. "Can you identify this mark?"
"Yes, it is a severe contusion-a bruise, in layman's terms," Swanburg replied. "It is approximately five inches long and a half-inch wide. It is the result of a blow with a blunt object that also fractured the victim's skull, somewhat like tapping an egg with a butter knife to crack it open."
Karp pressed the projector button and another photograph appeared on the screen. "And this?"
"It is a blowup-greatly enhanced and sharpened with the aid of the equipment at my lab in Colorado."
"What can you tell us about this photograph that we perhaps could not see in the first version?" Karp asked.
"Well, the most significant thing is the pattern of ridges along the main contusion," Swanburg said. "Notice their regularity."
"And what does that tell us?"
"It tells us that to a high probability, the object used to administer the blow was man-made," Swanburg said.
Suddenly realizing the implications, Louis, who'd all but ignored Swanburg's reports in the pretrial hearings, objected as he wiped furiously at his face with his handkerchief. "Your honor, what is this high probability? Sounds like guesswork to me."
The judge turned to Swanburg. "Care to answer?"
"Well, yes," Swanburg said, sounding somewhat miffed that Louis had referred to his efforts as guesswork. "Very little in this world, even the world of science, is 100 percent sure. I'd say this is about 98 percent."
"I'll allow it," Klinger said with a sigh and a disgusted look at Louis.
"Could this contusion have been caused by, say, a piece of driftwood?" Karp asked.
The judge looked at Louis as if she expected him to object. But he just waved her on.
Swanburg shook his head. "No…very unlikely. The contusion is too straight, the pattern of ridges too regular to have been created by Mother Nature."
Karp picked up the bag with the piece of rebar he'd shown Villalobos and handed it to the witness. "Dr. Swanburg, are you familiar with the object contained in this bag?"
Swanburg looked carefully at the bag and the evidence slip on the back. "Yes, I am. It is a piece of half-inch steel rebar, approximately thirteen and a half inches long."
"How are you familiar with it?" Karp asked.
"Well, I have one just like it."
"Oh? And why is that?
"Because I was asked to see if I could duplicate the injury to Mrs. Tyler, using an exact copy of the piece of rebar in the People's exhibit."
"How did you go about that?"
"My associates and I used our copy of the rebar to strike the sides of pigs."
"Pigs, Dr. Swanburg?" Karp said as though surprised. "Why pigs?"
"Well, we use pigs quite a bit in forensic testing," Swanburg said. "It might be a bit embarrassing to some of us, but pigs are nearly identical to humans in the chemical makeup of their bodies, as well as certain physical characteristics. For instance, their skin is nearly hairless and reacts to injury much like ours."
"Now, Dr. Swanburg, I'm noting that some of our jurors are looking a bit squeamish," Karp said. "Did you hurt these pigs?"
Swanburg looked worried. "Well, in the sense that delivering a blow hard enough to cause a contusion, which means the breaking of blood vessels and injuring the skin-I guess you could say we hurt the pigs. However, the pigs were anesthetized during the procedure, and then given painkillers until the bruising went away. We take good care of our little piggies. They spend most of their time wandering the grounds and eating."
Karp smiled. "So then, doctor, what was the result of your experiment?"
"Please turn to the next slide. Ah yes, there…this is a photograph of a contusion caused by striking a pig with our piece of steel rebar. Note the long, straight bruise with the evenly spaced ridges."
"Dr. Swanburg, in your expert opinion, could an object such as the People's Exhibit have created the contusion we saw on the side of Ms. Tyler's head?"