Gordon’s testimony was fairly pedestrian as she first discussed the unsuccessful efforts to find shoe prints and other trace evidence on the front lawn of the Landy’s house. It turned more dramatic when she recalled being urgently called to a new crime scene-the trash bin behind the El Rey.
“We were called when they found the body. It was handled in whispers because the family was there in the house and we did not want to upset them until it was confirmed that there was a body and that it was the little girl.”
“You and Donovan went to the El Rey Theatre?”
“Yes, along with Detective Kloster. We met the assistant medical examiner there. We now had a homicide, so more technicians were called in, too.”
The El Rey portion of Gordon’s testimony was largely an opportunity for me to show more video footage and photographs of the victim on the overhead screens. If nothing else, I wanted every juror in the box to be incensed by what they saw. I wanted to light the fire of one of the basic instincts. Vengeance.
I counted on Royce to object and he did, but by then he had exhausted his welcome with the judge, and his argument that the images were graphic and cumulatively excessive fell on deaf ears. They were allowed.
Finally, Izzy Gordon brought us to the last crime scene-the tow truck-and she described how she had spotted three long hairs caught in the crack that split the bench seat and pointed them out to Donovan for collection.
“What happened to those hairs?” I asked.
“They were individually bagged and tagged and then taken to the Scientific Investigation Division for comparison and analysis.”
Gordon’s testimony was smooth and efficient. When I turned her over to the defense, Royce did the best he could. He did not bother to assail the collection of evidence but merely attempted once again to gain a foothold for the defense theory. In doing so he skipped the first two crime scenes and zeroed in on the tow truck.
“Ms. Gordon, when you got to the Aardvark towing yard, were there police officers already there?”
“Yes, of course.”
“How many?”
“I didn’t count but there were several.”
“What about detectives?”
“Yes, there were detectives conducting a search of the whole business under the authority of a search warrant.”
“And were these detectives you had seen earlier at the previous crime scenes?”
“I think so, yes. I would assume so but I do not remember specifically.”
“But you seem to remember other things specifically. Why don’t you remember which detectives you were working with?”
“There were several people working this case. Detective Kloster was the lead investigator but he was dealing with three different locations as well as the girl who was the witness. I don’t remember if he was at the tow yard when I first arrived but he was there at some point. I think that if you refer to the crime scene attendance logs, you will be able to determine who was at what scene and when.”
“Ah, then we shall do just that.”
Royce approached the witness stand and gave Gordon three documents and a pencil. He then returned to the lectern.
“What are those three documents, Ms. Gordon?”
“These are crime scene attendance logs.”
“And which scenes are they from?”
“The three I worked in regard to the Landy case.”
“Can you please take a moment to study those logs and use the pencil I have given you to circle any name that appears on all three lists.”
It took Gordon less than a minute to complete the task.
“Finished?” Royce asked.
“Yes, there are four names.”
“Can you tell us?”
“Yes, myself and my supervisor, Art Donovan, and then Detective Kloster and his partner, Chad Steiner.”
“You were the only four who were at all three crime scenes that day, correct?”
“That is correct.”
Maggie leaned into me and whispered.
“Cross-scene contamination.”
I shook my head slightly and whispered back.
“That suggests accidental contamination. I think he’s going for intentional planting of evidence.”
Maggie nodded and leaned away. Royce asked his next question.
“Being one of only four who were at all four scenes, you had a keen understanding of this crime and what it meant, isn’t that correct?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Among police personnel, were emotions high at these crime scenes?”
“Well, everyone was very professional.”
“You mean nobody cared that this was a twelve-year-old girl?”
“No, we cared and you could say things were at least tense at the first two scenes. We had the family at one and the dead little girl at the other. I don’t really remember things being emotional at the tow yard.”
Wrong answer, I thought. She had opened a door for the defense.
“Okay,” Royce said, “but you are saying that at the first two scenes the emotions were high, correct?”
I stood up, just to give Royce a dose of his own medicine.
“Objection. Asked and answered already, Your Honor.”
“Sustained.”
Royce was undaunted.
“Then how did these emotions display themselves?” he asked.
“Well, we talked. Art Donovan told me to keep professional detachment. He said we had to do our best work because this had been just a little girl.”
“What about detectives Kloster and Steiner?”
“They said the same thing. That we couldn’t leave any stone unturned, that we had to do it for Melissa.”
“He called the victim by her name?”
“Yes, I remember that.”
“How angry and upset would you say Detective Kloster was?”
I stood and objected.
“Assumes facts not in evidence or testimony.”
The judge sustained it and told Royce to move on.
“Ms. Gordon, can you refer to the crime scene attendance logs still in front of you and tell us if the arrival and departure of law enforcement personnel is kept by time?”
“Yes, it is. There are arrival and departure times listed after each name.”
“You have previously stated that detectives Kloster and Steiner were the only two investigators besides yourself and your supervisor to appear at all three scenes.”
“Yes, they were the lead investigators on the case.”
“Did they arrive at each of the scenes before you and Mr. Donovan?”
It took Gordon a moment to confirm the information on the lists.
“Yes, they did.”
“So they would have had access to the victim’s body before you ever arrived at the El Rey Theatre, correct?”
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘access’ but, yes, they were on scene first.”
“And so they would have also had access to the tow truck before you got there and saw the three strands of hair conveniently caught in the seat crack, correct?”
I objected, saying the question required the witness to speculate on things she would not have witnessed and was argumentative because of the use of the word “conveniently.” Royce was obviously playing to the jury. The judge told Royce to rephrase the question without taking editorial license.
“The detectives would have had access to the tow truck before you got there and before you were the first to see the three strands of hair lodged in the seat crack, correct?”
Gordon took the hint from my objection and answered the way I wanted her to.
“I don’t know because I wasn’t there.”
Still, Royce had gotten his point across to the jury. He had also gotten the point of his case across to me. It was now fair to assume that the defense would put forth the theory that the police-in the person of Kloster and/or his partner, Steiner-had planted the hair evidence to secure a conviction of Jessup after he had been identified by the thirteen-year-old Sarah. Further to this, the defense would posit that Sarah’s wrongful identification of Jessup was intentional and part of the Landy family’s effort to hide the fact that Melissa had died either accidentally or intentionally at the hands of her stepfather.