'What did you do after the Army?'
'I went to college and received an AA from Portland Community College in police science. Then I joined the force. After three years, which is the minimum experience you need, I qualified for the monthlong course run by the FBI at the Hazardous Device Division of Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.'
'Did you graduate from that course?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Do you have any more formal training in dealing with explosive devices?'
'I'm a graduate of a two-week post-blast investigative school run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. I'd estimate that I have a total of more than fourteen hundred hours of formal education in bomb disposal through the military and the government.'
'How long have you been doing post-blast investigation for the Portland police?'
'Around twelve years.'
'Did you go to the home of Oregon Supreme Court Justice Robert Griffen in your capacity as Team Leader of the Explosive Disposal Unit?'
'Yes.'
'Were you the first unit to arrive at the scene?'
'No, sir. A Fire Rescue Unit and uniformed officers were the first to respond. As soon as it was determined that an explosive device had been detonated, they secured the scene, notified us, the medical examiner and the homicide detectives, then backed off until we checked the scene to make certain there were no more unexploded bombs.
'We made a determination that it was safe to proceed with the investigation. Before the victim was removed from the car, my people photographed the area to make a record of the scene.'
'What did you do then?'
'A bomb breaks up when it explodes and parts of the bomb are propelled to different areas of the crime scene. My people have a routine we follow. We roped off the area around the car and divided it into search areas. I had two men working at the seat of the blast, the place where the bomb was located. They examined the radius around the car to pick up pieces of the car and the bomb that were thrown off by the blast. I had other men working in other sections of the roped-off area. Whenever a piece of the bomb, or other relevant evidence, was found, an officer recorded where on the grid it was located and another officer took possession of the item and logged it in.'
'Officer Torino, can you tell the jury a little about how this bomb was constructed?'
'Certainly. All bombs have four things in common: explosives, an initiator, a power source and a switch or delay. When you look for a bomb, you see if you can find these components.
This bomb consisted of a piece of pipe two inches in diameter and ten inches long that was filled with smokeless powder. A nine-volt battery was the power source. End caps sealed in the powder. These end caps flew off like they'd been shot from a rifle when the bomb exploded. The back end cap was found in the trunk, lodged in the frame of the car. The front end cap went through the garage door and was found embedded in the door of a refrigerator that was in the garage.
'The metal tube that made up the body of the bomb shattered into three pieces. One large part was found in the interior of the car lodged in the rear seat. Two other parts went through the roof of the car and were found on the lawn.'
'What set the bomb off?.'
'A flashlight bulb was placed inside the body of the bomb in contact with the powder. The glass of the bulb was shattered.
Wires from the bulb were threaded through one of the end caps and attached to a nine-volt battery. The wires were peeled back and the copper ends were wrapped around the teeth of a clothespin. Then a strip of plastic from a Clorox bottle was placed between the teeth of the clothespin, preventing the teeth from closing. The bomber attached a lead sinker to the strip of plastic.
When Justice Griffen moved the car, the sinker held down the plastic strip and the strip was pulled out from between the teeth of the clothespin. That permitted the copper wires to touch, completing the circuit. A spark from the exposed wires in the lightbulb ignited the powder and caused the explosion.'
'How do you know all this about the bomb?'
'We located two short pieces of copper wire and the remains of the lightbulb embedded in the end cap we removed from the refrigerator door in the garage. A wooden clothespin was found in the front yard on the south side of the car. The plastic strip, monofilament fishing line and a lead sinker were found on the ground near the right front wheel. We also found a shattered battery, mostly intact.'
'Officer Torino, how was the bomb attached to the car?'
'We found chunks of magnets and nuts and bolts that had been bent and twisted from the blast. These did not match anything in the car, but I was familiar with them already, so I knew they were part of the bomb.'
'We'll get to that in a moment. Would you explain to the jury how the magnets were used?'
'Yes. A strip of metal eight inches long and two inches wide and a quarter inch thick was used. Holes were drilled in it and four magnets were affixed to the strip with nuts and bolts. Black electrical tape was then used to tape the strip to the bomb. When the bomb was ready to be used, it was pressed against the undercarriage of the car and the magnets held it in place.'
'Officer Torino, you mentioned that you were familiar with this bomb.
Explain that statement to the jury.'
'A bomb of almost identical construction was the murder weapon in a case tried approximately two years ago.'
'Who was the defendant in that case?'
'Charles Deems.'
Geddes paused for effect, then faced the jury.
'Who was the prosecutor?'
'Abigail Griffen.'
'The defendant in this case?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Did the defendant know how to construct the bomb that killed her husband?'
'Yes.'
'How do you know that?'
'I showed her how to make one. We went into great detail so she could examine me about the construction of the bomb on direct examination.
Then I told the jury the same information in court. It's in the record of the case.'
Geddes walked back to his table and picked up several plastic evidence bags. He returned to the witness stand and handed one of the plastic bags to Torino.
'This has been marked as State's Exhibit 3 5. Can you tell the jury what it is?'
Torino opened the plastic bag and took out a charred and twisted strip of metal approximately six inches long, one and a half inches wide and a quarter inch thick.
'Yes, sir. I personally took this from the Portland Police Bureau evidence room. This is the strip to which the magnets were attached by the bomber in the case Mrs. Griffen prosecuted against Mr. Deems.'
'Is there anything unusual about it?'
Torino held out one end of the strip to the jury. 'You can see that this end is flat and looks like it was shaped by a machine.'
Torino turned the other end toward the jury. 'But this end is uneven and there is a notch that forms a jagged vee in the middle.
That's because this strip came from a longer strip. Someone sawed it off of the large strip to shorten it so it would fit onto the top of the pipe bomb.'
'Is it unusual to find a notch like this in the strip that secures the magnets?'
'Yes, sir. With one exception, I've never seen a notch like this on another pipe bomb.'
'Was the defendant aware of the unique nature of the notch?'
'Oh yes. I told her that several times. She knew it was like a fingerprint.'
