was in no position to say for sure who was telling the truth and who was lying, he could go ahead and put his client on the stand and have him tell his story. He could even tell Amanda that her husband was sticking with it. If she were to get the hint and remember it his way, she could bolster his defense. On the other hand, if she were to continue to insist that there'd been no wasp… Well, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.
The afternoon session brought a woman named Lone Thanning to the stand. Thanning was the Rockland County medical examiner, and a witness Jaywalker had been dreading for some time. One of the elements the prosecution is required to prove in a murder case is that the victim died, and that some act of the defendant caused that death. In some cases, that cause-and-effect relationship is thrown into serious debate. Jaywalker had tried cases where cause of death was the issue before the jury. The guy with the. 45 blood alcohol reading, for example, whose stepson had conked him on the head with a bottle. Had the blow really been the cause of death? Or had it been merely incidental to the victim's suddenly collapsing from acute and chronic alcohol poisoning? Or the nineteen-year-old who'd lost his balance after being punched in an alley fight, and had happened to land on a jagged piece of glass that severed his femoral artery? Had the defendant truly caused his death, or had it been a tragic accident?
But when it came to the nine occupants of the van, cause of death was hardly in issue. They'd died, Jaywalker was more than prepared to concede, because the van had rolled over, exploded and burned. Precisely when in the course of those events their deaths occurred, or exactly how, made no difference at all. So Jaywalker had repeatedly offered to stipulate that the medical examiner, if called as a witness, would testify that all nine deaths had resulted from the van's being forced off the road.
But Abe Firestone would have none of that.
Just as Jaywalker wanted to keep the gruesome details from the jurors, Firestone wanted to get as much mileage from those details as he possibly could. And because neither side can be forced to accept a stipulation in lieu of actual evidence, Justice Hinkley wasn't about to intervene. The most she would do was to warn Firestone- and David Kaminsky, who would conduct the direct examination of Dr. Thanning-to keep things as brief as possible and refrain from going into overly graphic details.
Still, Jaywalker knew, it wasn't going to be pretty.
Kaminsky asked Dr. Thanning about her title, training and experience. She described earning her medical degree, doing several internships and residencies, earning board certification in forensic pathology, and working as an assistant medical examiner in the county until her promotion several years ago.
KAMINSKY: What are your duties as chief medical examiner of Rockland County?
THANNING: I run the office and report to the county executive. Along with my staff, I investigate every violent or suspicious death that occurs in the county, as well as a large number of cases where the cause of death is unknown.
KAMINSKY: How do you go about investigating those deaths?
THANNING: Chiefly by performing complete postmortem examinations, commonly referred to as autopsies.
KAMINSKY: How many autopsies have you performed or assisted at?
THANNING: Thousands.
KAMINSKY: Did you have occasion to perform an autopsy on May 28 of last year?
THANNING: I did.
KAMINSKY: Who was the subject of that autopsy?
THANNING: A man by the name of Walter Najinsky.
Walter Najinsky had been the driver of the van, and had long been the forgotten victim in the case. But that was about to change. Najinsky was about to be remem bered in death far more than he had been in life, except perhaps by his immediate family and friends.
KAMINSKY: Would you describe Mr. Najinsky's remains for us as you first encountered them?
THANNING: Yes. The entire body was charred black. The facial features were virtually unrecognizable. Almost all of the flesh had been incinerated, except where one shoe had partially protected one foot. Other than that, what I was looking at was essentially some very burned flesh and a skeleton.
Jaywalker pretended to be taking notes, but only because he didn't dare look at the jurors. The silence in the courtroom told him all he needed to know.
KAMINSKY: What did your examination reveal?
THANNING: It revealed third-degree burns of the entire body.
KAMINSKY: Would you please explain to the jury what third-degree burns are?
THANNING: We divide burns into three degrees, increasing in severity from first degree to third degree. First-degree burns are a reddening of the skin, the sort of thing you might sustain from getting your finger too close to a match, or touching the surface of a pot that's been on the burner of a stove. Second-degree burns involve blistering, where the heat and duration of exposure are enough to kill the outer layers of skin, and cause them to separate from the internal layers. Third-degree burns include charring, much the same way a steak will char if left on a hot open flame too long.
KAMINSKY: Did your examination reveal anything else?
THANNING: Yes. I was able to determine that there were several fractures to bones, specifically the right fibula and tibia, the pelvis, and both the left and right clavicles. In addition, there was a depressed fracture of the skull.
Kaminsky had the witness describe the various bones she'd mentioned. Then he asked her if she had been able to determine the cause of death.
THANNING: Not with absolute certainty. It was most likely the burns. But the skull fracture was also capable of causing death. And it's impossible to rule out internal injuries, which means bleeding from major organs. The body was simply too badly burned to make a determination.
KAMINSKY: Did you take photographs of the body?
JAYWALKER: You can't be serious.
Never mind that it was a line John MacEnroe used to get away with regularly. Jaywalker wouldn't be so lucky. Justice Hinkley banged her gavel once and declared a recess. Then, as soon as the last juror had left the courtroom, she held Jaywalker in contempt for the second time that day. 'Only this time, I sentence you to one day in jail, and I do not, repeat, do not, suspend the execution of that sentence. Mr. Stephens,' she called to a uniformed trooper assigned to guard the defendant and escort him to and from the courtroom. 'Please make the necessary arrangements. Mr. Jaywalker will be a guest of the county tonight.'
Then she asked David Kaminsky to show her the autopsy photos. Jaywalker had asked that she exclude them seven weeks ago, arguing that they were too inflammatory to show the jurors. In addition to the charred remains of Walter Najinsky, there were multiple photos of the bodies of the eight children, smaller than the driver's, but no less jarring. They ranged from moderately disturbing to truly hideous.
'Any probative value they might have,' Jaywalker pointed out, 'is far outweighed by-'
'Quiet,' said the judge. She continued to inspect the photos for several minutes, gradually sorting them into two piles, before looking up. 'These you may offer,' she told Mr. Kaminsky. 'These you may not. The defense's objection to them is noted and overruled.'
Jaywalker noticed that somewhere along the line he'd ceased to be 'Mr. Jaywalker' and had become 'the defense.' One of the prices of vigorous advocacy. He was permitted to see which photos had passed muster. They included five of Mr. Najinsky from various angles, as well as a close-up of the skull fracture, and one of a child, charred beyond recognition. Jaywalker had seen them all, having been furnished copies many months ago. Even he would have had to concede that Justice Hinkley had kept the very worst of them out. There was one, for example, of the eight children's bodies, arranged side by side, that reminded him of concentration camp photos he'd seen. And another of a small blackened skull framing tiny white teeth that seemed to be smiling out at the viewer. Still, the ones the jurors were going to be permitted to see were ghastly enough.
And the thing was, by excluding the worst of them, the judge would no doubt be deemed to have forged an acceptable Solomonic compromise in the opinion of some appellate court, a year or two from now. Judges weren't asked to be perfect, after all, just reasonable.
Once the jury had been brought back into the courtroom, Kaminsky had Dr. Thanning identify the photos of Mr. Najinsky and describe what each one depicted. Then he moved on, out of the frying pan, as it were.
KAMINSKY: Did you conduct autopsies of the additional eight victims, the children?
