“Did you examine him at the time?”
“Of course.”
“Was he alive?”
“He was dead.”
“And what examination did you make at that time?”
Dr. Kessington smiled. “Only a very preliminary one. I determined the man was dead, and determined he had been dead for some time.”
“How could you tell that?”
“The body had cooled considerably, and the blood on the floor had coagulated.”
“I see. Did those factors tell you the time of death?”
“Oh, absolutely not. I told you this was very preliminary.”
“Did you later determine the time of death?”
“Yes, of course.”
“When was that?”
“After the body had been removed to the morgue. When I did my autopsy.”
“When was that?”
“At ten-thirty that morning.”
“Which was approximately forty-five minutes after you initially saw the body?”
“That’s right.”
“And what did you determine in your autopsy?”
“The decedent met his death due to a bullet wound to the heart.”
“A bullet wound?”
“That is correct. The bullet had entered the body through the decedent’s chest and had penetrated the left ventricle.”
“That was the sole cause of death?”
“Yes, it was.”
“I see. And was the bullet still in the body when you performed your autopsy?”
“Yes, it was.”
“Did you remove that bullet from the body?”
“Yes, I did.”
Dirkson took a small plastic bag from the prosecution table, had it marked for identification, and handed it to the witness. “Doctor, I hand you a plastic bag marked People’s Exhibit Two, and ask you if you recognize it?”
“Yes, I do.”
“What do you recognize it to be?”
“This is a plastic bag containing the bullet that I removed from the body of the decedent. I scratched the initial K for Kessington, on the base of the bullet. You can see the scratches right here.”
“Thank you, Doctor. This is the bullet that you extracted from the body, the bullet that was the sole cause of death of the decedent, David Castleton?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Steve Winslow said.
Judge Wallingsford frowned. “Objection? Very well. Let’s have a sidebar.”
Fitzpatrick flashed Steve Winslow a glance of inquiry. Steve shook his head slightly, indicating let’s not discuss it here, and motioned toward the sidebar. Fitzpatrick got up, and he and Steve Winslow walked over to meet Judge Wallingsford, who had come down from his bench.
Dirkson bustled up, looking miffed. “What are you objecting to?” he demanded.
“The question is leading and suggestive,” Steve said. “And assumes facts not in evidence.”
“What?” Dirkson said, incredulously.
Judge Wallingsford held up his hand. “One moment,” he said. “Let me handle this. Mr. Winslow, I have to agree with the district attorney. The question might technically be considered leading, but all the facts he summarized were already testified to by the witness. So the objection is hardly valid.”
“I beg Your Honor’s pardon,” Steve said, “but the question is leading and suggestive, and some of the points summarized are not in evidence.”
“Nonsense,” Dirkson said. “He already identified that bullet as being the one he extracted from the body, and he already testified that it was the sole cause of death.”
“No problem there,” Steve said. “But you also referred to the decedent, David Castleton.”
“Of course,” Dirkson said.
Steve shook his head. “That’s what’s leading and suggestive and assuming facts not in evidence. To date, we have had no testimony that the body is indeed David Castleton.”
Dirkson stared at him. “But that’s absurd.”
“Not at all.”
“And we have testimony.” Dirkson said. “The testimony of the maid who found the body.”
“Who admitted on cross-examination that she comes to work after he’s left for the office and leaves before he gets home in the afternoon. A witness who saw him once two years ago when he hired her. Who saw a facedown corpse on the living-room floor. I do not consider such testimony sufficient to make a positive identification.”
Judge Wallingsford. “Are you questioning the matter of identity, Mr. Winslow?”
“No, Your Honor. I’m merely asking for orderly proof. So far, there’s been no conclusive proof that the body was that of David Castleton, and I object to the prosecutor leading the witness by stating the fact that it was.”
Judge Wallingsford took a breath. “Mr. Winslow. You are perhaps within your rights, but don’t you think you’re being a little over technical?”
“Perhaps, Your Honor. But if I’m going to err at all, I’m going to err on the side of the defendant. I stand on my objection.”
“In which case, the objection will be sustained. Gentlemen, this is a rather minor matter. Mr. Dirkson, do you think you could save us some trouble by rephrasing your question?”
“Very well,” Dirkson said shortly. He glared at Steve Winslow and stomped off.
As Steve sat back down, Kelly Wilder grabbed his arm. “What was that all about?”
“Not important,” Steve said.
“Yes, but-”
“Shhh.”
Judge Wallingsford had returned to the bench. “Mr. Dirkson, would you please rephrase your question?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Dirkson said. “Doctor, referring to the bullet, People’s Exhibit Two, is that the bullet that you removed from the body during your autopsy, the bullet that you referred to as the sole cause of death of the decedent?”
“That’s right.”
Steve Winslow grinned as he watched the faces of the jurors during that question and answer. Of course the jurors couldn’t hear what was going on during the sidebar, so Steve knew, human nature being what it was, the jurors were all listening to how the question was rephrased to try to figure out just what the objection had been. From the puzzled frowns on their faces, he was sure none of them could tell the slightest difference.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Dirkson said. “Tell me this. Did you determine the time of death?”
“Yes, I did.”
“And what time was that?”
“To the best I could determine, the decedent met his death some time between the hours of eleven o’clock and twelve midnight on the night of June twenty-eighth.”
“And your autopsy was performed on the morning of June twenty-ninth?”
“That is correct.”
“Thank you, Doctor. Your witness.”
Fitzpatrick flashed a glance of inquiry at Steve Winslow. Steve leaned across Kelly Wilder and whispered, “Take him on the time element.”
Fitzpatrick nodded. He stood up and approached the witness. “Between eleven o’clock and midnight, Doctor?”
“That’s right.”
“How did you arrive at that figure?”
“Primarily from the body temperature.”
“Could you elaborate on that, Doctor?” Fitzpatrick smiled. “In as nontechnical terms as possible?”
Doctor Kessington smiled back. “Certainly. As you know, a person’s normal body temperature is ninety-eight point six degrees Fahrenheit. When a person dies, the body begins to cool and the temperature begins to drop. Since the rate of cooling is a constant, approximately one and a half degrees Fahrenheit per hour, by taking the body temperature of the corpse it is possible to determine when the person died.”
“I see. And that is what you did in this case?”
“Exactly. If I might consult my notes?”
“Please do.”
Doctor Kessington pulled a notebook from his jacket pocket and paged through it. “Here we are. In this instance, I took the body temperature at ten-thirty A.M. on June twenty-ninth. The body temperature was eighty-two degrees Fahrenheit. A drop of sixteen and a half degrees from ninety-eight point six. Dividing by one and a half degrees per hour, I can compute that the man died approximately eleven hours prior to the time I took the temperature.”
“I see,” Fitzpatrick said. “Tell me, Doctor. Was that the only means you used to determine the time of death?”