'Gary does good work and he's very honest.'
'Is he an expert on blood spatter?'
'He's knowledgeable about it.'
'How exact a science is blood spatter analysis?'
Baylor thought about the question before answering.
'Blood spatter analysis is very helpful in determining what happened at a crime scene, but it's not like fingerprint examination. There is a certain amount of subjectivity involved. A fingerprint is not open to interpretation, if you have enough points of comparison. That's not true with blood spatter. You can t just look at an individual blood spot and draw indisputable conclusions. You have to look at the spot in the context of the whole scene. Bloodstains just tell you in general what happened.'
'So two honest experts can look at the same scene and draw different conclusions as to what happened?'
'Sure, in certain instances.'
'I would like you to look at the evidence I've brought and read Officer Yoshida's testimony. Then I would like you to tell me if there is any analysis of the evidence that would support Ellen Crease's version of how the shoot-out in her bedroom occurred.'
Baylor's brow furrowed. He looked concerned.
'Are you questioning Gary's honesty?' he asked.
'No, no. I just want to know if there is a reasonable explanation of the evidence that is different from his conclusions. There isn't any question in my mind that Officer Yoshida gave an honest opinion in court. I want to know if he could be wrong.'
'I assume Gary had the advantage of visiting the crime scene?'
Quinn nodded. 'He was out there twice.'
'Can I visit it?'
'No. Besides, my information is that it has been cleaned.'
'That's going to put me at a disadvantage.'
'I realize that. Just do your best. And let me know if working on the problem without visiting the scene has a critical impact on your conclusions.'
'Okay. When do you want me to get back to you?'
'Actually, I thought I'd wait. Is this something you can do right away?'
Baylor looked surprised. 'I can get to it now. It might take a while.'
'Is there someplace nearby I can eat breakfast?' Quinn asked. He did not have much of an appetite, but a restaurant would give him a place to pass the time while Baylor worked.
'Yeah. Sue s Cafe is pretty good. It's two blocks down just when you turn out of the lot on the right.'
'Okay. I'll be back in an hour.'
' Til see what I can do by then. Uh, one other thing. Should I submit a court-appointed witness voucher for my work?'
'No. I'll be paying for this personally.'
When Quinn returned to Oregon Forensic Investigations, he found Paul Baylor in shirtsleeves with his collar open and his tie at half-mast.
'You find Sue's okay?' Baylor asked as he led Quinn through a door into a large work area. The walls were unpainted concrete blocks and there was fluorescent lighting hanging from the ceiling. The laboratory equipment that sat on several wooden tables looked new and Quinn figured that this was where Baylor and his partner had sunk their capital.
'It was a good suggestion.' Quinn noticed the papers and photographs that covered one of the worktables. 'Are you through?'
'Yeah. It didn't take as long as I thought it might.'
'Were you able to draw any conclusions?' Quinn asked anxiously.
'Yes.'
'And?'
'Okay. First thing, I can't disagree with Gary's findings.'
'You mean the evidence contradicts Ellen Crease's version of the shootings?'
'I didn't say that. Look, as I said before, blood spatter analysis is not an exact science. People can draw different conclusions from the same evidence in some situations. Gary's conclusions are valid. However, Gary's analysis of the significance of the blood spatter patterns on the nightgown and the side of the armoire is not the only analysis one can make.'
Crease's nightgown was lying facedown on top of butcher paper on a long table. Baylor led the judge over to it.
'The spatter pattern on the back of the nightgown was the easiest to deal with.' Baylor pointed at the dried blood that had sprayed over the back of the white fabric. 'In the transcript, it says that the lab concluded that the blood on the front of the nightgown and the spray on the back are Lamar Hoyt's blood, so I'm accepting that as a fact. No question that's high-velocity spatter. So far so good.
'Now, as I understand it, Crease said that she was in bed with the nightgown on, talking to her husband, when Jablonski entered the bedroom and shot him.'
That's how I heard it.'
'Okay. Now, Gary concludes that she was lying about wearing the nightgown because the spray pattern from the high-velocity spatter is across the back of the nightgown. His conclusion is that she's in the bathroom lying in wait for Jablonski and the nightgown is flat on the bed, front side down. That's one explanation for the pattern being on the back, but there is another that's consistent with Crease's story.'
Baylor grabbed two wooden chairs and set them side by side. Then he motioned to Quinn.
'Stand over by that filing cabinet and face me.' Baylor sat in the chair that faced Quinn's left side. 'You're Jablonski and I'm Crease. The filing cabinet is the armoire. I'm sitting on my side of the bed. I've got my nightgown on. The other chair is the side of the bed closest to the bathroom. That's Lamar Hoyt's side.
'Jablonski comes into the bedroom. He moves to the middle of the bed and to the left of the armoire and raises the gun to shoot Hoyt.'
Baylor bent over the side of the chair to his right.
'I'm going for the gun that is under the bed. See how my back is suddenly facing my husband? The fabric is stretched out. If you shoot while I'm bent like this and Hoyt is hit at a certain angle, the spray will cover my back, not my front. Then, when I straighten up, the fabric will rumple a little, making it look like the nightgown was tossed on its front on the bed.'
Baylor straightened up.
'So Crease could have been telling the truth about wearing the nightgown,' Quinn said slowly, more to himself than to Baylor. 'If she was, she would have had to bend over the west-facing side of the bed for the spatter pattern on the nightgown to look like that? She couldn't have been in the bathroom.'
'Yes. But Gary's explanation could also be correct.'
'What about the blood on the armoire?'
'That gets trickier, but there is a way that the spray could have gotten on the armoire with Crease shooting from her side of the bed.
'Let's keep Jablonski on his feet on the west side of the armoire, exactly where Gary placed him. He shoots Hoyt as Crease goes for her gun. Crease's movements distract Jablonski. He turns his head toward the window but does not turn his body. Now Jablonski's right temple is facing Crease's side of the bed. Go on, turn your head.'
Quinn did as he was told.
'Now, the next part gets tricky.' Baylor raised his hand and pretended to fire a gun. 'Bam. Crease's first shot enters the right temple, high-velocity spatter sprays from the wound, but the spray would go forward, in front of Jablonski's body and onto the floor, and it would not travel far, since the amount of spray is small and high-velocity spray is atomized. When Jablonski collapses after the body shot, he would fall on top of the high-velocity spray and obliterate it.'
'If the high-velocity spray from the head shot landed on the floor, what caused the blood spatter pattern on the side of the armoire?'
