Overkill

had been physically fit and presumably an equal match with Jeremy in a fistfight. Also that he’d been menacing- looking, and as ugly as Jeremy was handsome. While that fact might have lacked relevance in a technical sense, Jaywalker was nevertheless banking on it to affect the jurors. When you were fighting to keep someone out of prison for the rest of his life or pretty close to it, you looked for every advantage you could find, and you didn’t let the technical stuff get in your way.

JAYWALKER: I see from the autopsy report that you described Mr. Quinones as about five-nine, well developed and fairly muscular? Is that your recollection?

KAPLAN: Yes, it is.

JAYWALKER: Any facial hair?

KAPLAN: A thin, wispy mustache and chin whiskers.

Jaywalker walked over to the prosecution table and asked Katherine Darcy for the autopsy photos. From the half dozen she handed him, he picked out one taken of the victim’s face in which the entrance wound showed the least. Victor had had rather heavy eyebrows, and the wound was right between them, where they met just above his nose. His eyes were closed in the photo, and if you didn’t know better, you might have thought he was sleeping. But his mouth was open, and the “windowpanes” were visible on his teeth, and his cheeks were pockmarked from what looked like old acne scars.

Jaywalker had the photo marked for identification, then handed it to the witness.

JAYWALKER: Is that a fair representation of what Mr. Quinones looked like?

KAPLAN: Yes, it is.

JAYWALKER: I offer the photo into evidence as Defendant’s Exhibit A.

DARCY: No objection.

THE COURT: Received.

Which meant that the jurors would be able to look at the exhibit themselves. Whiskers, windowpanes, pockmarks and all.

JAYWALKER: Can you tell us what those things are on Mr. Quinones’s teeth?

KAPLAN: Those are called windowpanes.

JAYWALKER: What are windowpanes?

KAPLAN: They’re decorative coverings that are placed over the teeth, with a cutout vignette. Sometimes the cutout is a box or a circle, sometimes a heart or a star. It’s my understanding that they’re purely decorative, rather than for any dental necessity. And they covered three of Mr. Quinones’s teeth.

JAYWALKER: And in this particular case, what kind of finish was on the windowpanes?

KAPLAN: They were gold.

Jaywalker turned to the toxicology and serology reports, and brought out the fact that Victor Quinones had had both ethanol and opiates in his system. From the.11 blood-alcohol reading, he was able to get Dr. Kaplan to estimate the number of drinks Victor had consumed at five or six. And it had still been morning when he died. But the doctor had no way of quantifying the amount of opiates he’d taken.

JAYWALKER: And when we say opiates, what drug is the first one that comes to your mind?

KAPLAN: Heroin. Although it could have been dilaudid, or something like that. But heroin would be the most likely candidate.

It was time to get down to the most devastating area of Dr. Kaplan’s testimony, his opinion that the fatal shot had been fired at a distance of no more than four or five inches from Victor’s head. Jaywalker knew he wasn’t going to be able to get the witness to reverse himself on that conclusion, but he wanted to at least show that the basis for it was a fairly narrow one.

JAYWALKER: Are you familiar with the term “muzzle stamp”?

KAPLAN: Yes, I am.

JAYWALKER: What’s a muzzle stamp?

KAPLAN: A muzzle stamp occurs if the gun is placed against the skin when it’s fired, and the pressure and heat of the gasses coming out with the bullet cause an impression. That impression will show up on the skin as a contusion, a black-and-blue mark. And in size and shape it will be identical to the muzzle, the end of the barrel of the gun. Again, it occurs only when the gun is held against the skin, particularly if it’s held against it tightly.

JAYWALKER: Did you find any evidence of a muzzle stamp in this case?

KAPLAN: No. But I wouldn’t have expected to, because the point of entry was largely covered by the hair of his eyebrows.

JAYWALKER: Hair singes rather easily, doesn’t it?

KAPLAN: It can, yes.

JAYWALKER: Any singing of the eyebrows in this case?

KAPLAN: No, sir.

JAYWALKER: What is “stippling”?

KAPLAN: Stippling is the term for little dots caused by tiny blood vessels-known as capillaries-breaking. It, too, is an indication that the shot was fired at close range.

JAYWALKER: Any stippling around the head wound?

KAPLAN: No, sir.

JAYWALKER: What is “fouling”?

KAPLAN: Fouling is the unburned powder that comes out of the muzzle. It would leave a grayish discoloration, if you were within close range. Though it could be washed off at the hospital, in the emergency room.

JAYWALKER: Any evidence of fouling in this case?

KAPLAN: No, sir.

JAYWALKER: So just to recap. With respect to the fatal wound, you found absolutely no evidence of a muzzle stamp, no singed hair, no stippling and no fouling. Do I have that right?

KAPLAN: You do.

There was one last area Jaywalker wanted to explore with the witness. Katherine Darcy had made a point of having Dr. Kaplan testify that a cut he’d noticed inside the victim’s mouth had been consistent with his having bitten his lip when his head had been dropped to the ground, presumably after Jeremy had shot him between the eyes.

JAYWALKER: Let’s talk about this term “consistent with” for a moment.

KAPLAN: Okay.

JAYWALKER: All that “consistent with” means is you can’t rule it out. Right?

KAPLAN: That is correct.

JAYWALKER: In other words, it’s one of perhaps any number of possibilities that you can’t eliminate.

KAPLAN: True.

JAYWALKER: Is there anything at all in the findings you saw that tells you Mr. Quinones’s head was ever picked up and dropped?

KAPLAN: No.

JAYWALKER: Were you ever informed that Mr. Quinones had been in a fistfight immediately prior to his death?

KAPLAN: I don’t believe I was.

JAYWALKER: Is this cut to his mouth every bit as consistent with his having taken a good right-handed punch