“Objection.”
“Sustained.”
“May I be heard, Your Honor?” Steve said.
Judge Hendrick shook his head. “The objection is sustained. You may rephrase the question.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. Dr. Blessing, when I asked if there were any contributing factors in the death of the decedent, you hesitated, then said you would say no. I wonder what you were considering when you hesitated, and why you qualified your answer in that fashion. Therefore I ask you, were there other factors that you considered, which you determined were not a direct cause of death, but which were still significant enough to have been under consideration?”
Dr. Blessing took a breath. He clamped his lips together, puffed out his cheeks for a second before he exhaled. “Well,” he said. “There was evidence of a possible concussion.”
“Concussion?” Steve said. “You mean a blow to the head?”
“That’s right.”
Steve gawked at the doctor, blinked twice. He turned, stared open-mouthed at the jury, then turned back to the doctor. “I beg your pardon, doctor, but I’m a little confused. I asked you if you found any contributing factors besides the bullet wound and you said no. Did you not?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You don’t consider a blow to the head a contributing factor?”
Dr. Blessing clamped his lips together, shook his head. “I was asked for the cause of death. A blow to the head, if indeed there was one, is absolutely insignificant in terms of the cause of death. It was not severe, could not have caused death, could not have even contributed. The bullet was the sole, necessary and sufficient cause of death.”
“I’m sure it was, doctor,” Steve said. “Let’s talk about this blow to the head. Where was it?”
“On the back of the skull. Just above and behind the right ear.”
“What form did it take?”
“There was a bruise and slight swelling.”
“Really?” Steve said. “Was there any indication when this blow was delivered?”
“I didn’t say a blow was delivered,” Dr. Blessing snapped.
“No, you didn’t, doctor. Are you now saying the blow to the head appeared of its own accord?”
“Certainly not. We’ve been using the term blow to the head to refer to the concussion. Which is misleading. The concussion is as likely to have occurred from the head striking something as from something striking the head.”
Steve frowned. “What are you saying, doctor?”
“Simply this. If the man was shot, fell down and the back of his head hit the floor, that would be entirely consistent with what I found in my autopsy.”
“Are you saying such is the case?”
“No, I’m just saying it’s possible. More than possible, it’s likely. Therefore I would tend to minimize the blow to the head.”
“I see. Tell me, doctor. Did you discuss your testimony with District Attorney Robert Vaulding?”
“Objection.”
“Overruled.”
“Of course I did,” Dr. Blessing said. “He’s not going to put me on the stand without knowing what I’m going to say.”
“Of course not, doctor. But did he tell you what to say?”
“Objection!”
“Overruled.”
“Absolutely not,” Dr. Blessing said. “And I resent the implication.”
“I’m sorry about that, doctor, but I have to ask you this: did he tell you what not to say?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Specifically, did District Attorney Robert Vaulding tell you not to mention the blow to the head unless you were specifically asked?”
Dr. Blessing shifted his position on the witness stand. “I don’t believe he said that.”
“You don’t believe he said that?”
“No, I’m sure he didn’t say that.”
“What did he say?”
“Objection.”
“Sustained.”
Steve Winslow smiled. “Doctor, you just testified that because the blow to the back of the head could have been caused by the decedent falling after he was shot, you tended to minimize the importance of that concussion. Do you recall that?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Was that the only reason you chose to minimize the importance of the concussion? Or did District Attorney Robert Vaulding make any suggestion to you that led you to believe it would be best to minimize that concussion?”
“He did not,” Dr. Blessing said. “He merely said I should give my testimony as clearly as possible and not let a lot of extraneous testimony cloud the issue.”
Steve smiled. “Well, I’m sorry if I clouded the issue with this extraneous blow to the head.” Steve chuckled, shot a look at the jury. “Now, I believe you said this concussion took the form of a bruise and a slight swelling, is that right?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Did you photograph it?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Do you have those photographs in court?”
“No, I do not.”
“What about photographs of the entrance wound of the bullet. Surely you took some of those.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Are those photographs here in court?”
“No, they’re not.”
“You have no photographs from your autopsy here in court?”
“No, I do not.”
“Why not?”
“I wasn’t asked to bring them.”
“Were you asked not to bring them?”
“No, I simply wasn’t asked for them.”
“The matter never came up?”
“I think we mentioned the photographs and decided it would not be necessary.”
“I see,” Steve Winslow said. He turned to Judge Hendrick. “At this time I would like to conclude my cross-examination, but ask that this witness be instructed to return to court tomorrow and bring with him the photographs he took during his autopsy.”
“So ordered,” Judge Hendrick said. “You say that concludes your cross-examination at this time?”
“Yes it does, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Vaulding, do you have any redirect?”
“Not at this time, Your Honor.”
“Very well. The witness is excused. You will return tomorrow with the photographs.”
As Judge Hendrick said that, Steve looked over at Robert Vaulding. The district attorney did not seem particularly concerned. If anything, there was a slight smile on his lips.
28
When court reconvened the next morning, Vaulding recalled Dr. Blessing, who introduced a series of photographs taken during his autopsy. The photographs were marked for identification and introduced into evidence. Then they were shown to thejury.
As the jurors passed the pictures along their faces became hard, a natural consequence of looking at a bloody dead body.
Seeing this, Timberlaine stirred restlessly, looked at Steve in exasperation. Twice he seemed on the verge of speaking, but under Steve’s stony gaze he held his tongue.
Vaulding sat quite placidly through all this. If anything, his attitude was bemused.
When the jurors were finally finished with the pictures, Vaulding turned to Steve Winslow and said with a bit of a smirk, “Your witness.”
Steve leafed through the photographs, frowned. He selected one, stood up and approached the witness.
“Dr. Blessing, I hand you a photograph marked for identification as People’s Exhibit Two-G and ask you to describe what it shows.”
Dr. Blessing took the photograph and looked at it. “That is a closeup of the back of the head of the decedent showing the concussion.”
“Can you describe the concussion?”
“It is a raised discoloration on the back of the skull.”
“Could you describe the hair in that area?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Or lack of it?”
“Oh. Yes, I shaved the hair away from the head in that area so that I could photograph the bruise.”
“How large an area did you shave, doctor?”
“That appears to be approximately a three-inch square.”
“You did this so that you could photograph the bruise?”
“That’s right.”